Stroke alert: Know the signs of a stroke

Stroke: Warning signs for women and men
Headache: A sudden severe and unusual headache can be a sign of an ongoing stroke or a type of mini-stroke -- a transient ischemic attack (TIA). People who have a TIA are at high risk of developing a full-blown stroke.
Weakness: Sudden loss of strength or sudden numbness in the face, arm or leg, even if temporary.
Trouble speaking: Sudden difficulty speaking or understanding, or sudden confusion, even if temporary.
Vision problems: Blurring, even if temporary.
Dizziness: Sudden loss of balance, especially with any of the above signs.
If you experience any of these symptoms, call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.
(From the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.)

Preventing a stroke
Family history, age, gender and ethnicity are all major risk factors for stroke and, unfortunately, there's not a lot you can do to modify these risks. But there are some risk factors you can modify. These include: obesity, poor diet, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. Managing these conditions in partnership with your family doctor will significantly reduce your risk of stroke.

To help remove you from the stroke fast track, the Heart and Stroke Foundation is offering a unique test.

Risk assessment
The Heart and Stroke Risk Assessment is a personalized risk profile and a customized action plan for healthy living that includes tips, tools, recipes and much more to help you reduce your risk. To take this test, click here.

Stroke: The psychological aftermath
Going through stroke recovery can be tough physically, but physicians are only now beginning to understand the mental costs. Everyone thought Candace Allman, 64, had made a magnificent recovery from her stroke. So why was she feeling so bad about herself? Candace had a stroke in March 2005. The blood clot in her brain was successfully removed and after about six weeks of rehabilitation the successful businesswoman was back in the workplace.

But then she began fighting a losing battle against waves of depression and anxiety. “I started imagining I had every disease going,” says Candace. “If my blood sugar was up a bit, I would worry about diabetes. I was tense and was experiencing a great deal of anxiety relating to work and my lifestyle. And I kept having these awful moods of despair and anxiety.” When her husband became concerned that she might be considering suicide, he took her to the emergency department at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

Battling depression
Candace was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety. “I was told that having the clot on my brain had altered my brain chemistry,” she explains. She spent eight weeks in the psychiatric unit at Sunnybrook, where she was treated with antidepressant drugs as well as electroconvulsive therapy.

“I have been fine ever since, although I must continue -- for now -- with the antidepressants,” she says.

Family history
Dr. Kenneth Shulman, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, warns that stroke can be a risk factor for depression. Some estimates place the risk of developing depression as high as 40 per cent in the first year after a stroke. “Some people might say, ‘Why shouldn't someone be depressed? After all, he's just had a stroke,' ” says Shulman. “But it goes beyond that. There seems to be a specific biological effect of the stroke that causes depression. Evidence suggests that strokes affecting the left side of the brain and the frontal lobe are more likely to result in depression.”

Shulman also says that a family history or personal history of mood disorders or depression can make post-stroke depression more likely. “On the positive side, depression can be effectively treated,” says Shulman. “Know the signs and symptoms of depression and let your family doctor or other health-care professional know what you are going through. You don't have to put up with this!”

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