Myths about symptoms of cerebral ischemia
Specialist doctor II Vo Don (Tam Anh General Hospital) said that cerebral ischemia is a common mechanism due to acute brain damage when blood flow to the brain is impaired. Anemia to the brain is a medical emergency; If not treated, there is a high probability of cerebral infarction or brain disease due to lack of oxygen, ischemia. At that time, the patient can die or risk permanent disability.
Many people often mistakenly think that stroke is common only in winter, when the temperature is low and the body is prone to colds. In fact, people are also prone to accidents in the summer due to erratic weather changes, high temperature difference between day and night.
In hot days, high air humidity causes fatigue as well as dehydration, which can cause coagulation/hemostasis and complications, especially in middle-aged and elderly people. The aging of the organs in the body, so the adaptation to the environment is not as fast as the youth.
On the other hand, in order to counteract the increase in body temperature before the temperature of the environment (or the increase in temperature due to exercise, playing sports), the body regulates temperature adaptation by increasing the excretion of sweat. sweat to cool down. Sweating causes the body to lose water and salt, leading to a decrease in circulating volume in the body. If the rehydration, salt is not timely, it is easy to cause hypotension, cerebral ischemia, transient cerebrovascular accident.
Cerebrovascular accident is the leading cause of disability worldwide and the third leading cause of death in Vietnam.
Prevention of cerebral ischemia in young people
Stroke is common in the elderly. However, many hospitals have now recorded cases of young people being hospitalized due to cerebral ischemia and stroke. Elderly stroke is often caused by atherosclerosis, narrowing of blood vessels in the brain or high blood pressure; Stroke in young people often occurs suddenly and has common causes such as: Cerebral vascular malformations - are anatomical abnormalities of cerebral blood vessels such as cerebral aneurysms, arteriovenous shunts, hemangiomas; Cardiovascular diseases such as arrhythmias, heart valve disease, leading to the formation of blood clots in the chambers of the heart, coagulation diseases, etc.
Currently, many young people are sedentary, use a lot of alcohol, beer, greasy, fat, low fiber foods, fast foods, often stressed at work, etc., that is the cause. increases the risk of cerebral ischemia, high cholesterol, hypertension, stress, diabetes ...
Worryingly, stroke symptoms in young people may be different from those of older people, so family members are often subjective, do not go to the emergency room early and do not know how to give first aid before taking the patient to the hospital.
In many cases, the patient started with a severe headache, vomiting, stiff neck, blurred vision ... but the family members subjectively performed first aid at home with folk tips such as shaving the wind, pricking the blood of 10 fingers. hand, taking cold medicine, etc., only when the disease worsens, then the ability to recover is very difficult, often leaving severe sequelae.
“Symptoms of cerebral ischemia when not progressing to a severe level will manifest with headaches, nausea, numbness of limbs or face… transient. Most of the symptoms of cerebral ischemia will disappear on their own after 10-20 minutes, relatives need to find out how to handle the disease so that the patient does not fall into a dangerous state. When the above symptoms appear, people can lay the patient on a well-ventilated surface, with the head low, loosen the clothes so that the blood can flow to the brain better. Immediately after that, quickly take the patient to the nearest medical facility for early examination and treatment. In addition, relatives need to closely follow their lifestyle and eating habits and support patients with cerebral ischemia to stay away from factors that can lead to stroke such as bathing at night, staying up late, stress ..." - Specialist doctor II Vo Don recommended.
