TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC ATTACK

• During a TIA or “mini-stroke”, you may have some or all of the symptoms of a stroke. However, the symptoms usually go away on their own within 24 hours.

  The symptoms may include:

  • Sudden weakness or numbness in the face or limbs, often on just one side of the body
  • The inability to move one or more of your limbs
  • Trouble speaking and understanding
  • Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
  • Dizziness or loss of balance
  • A sudden, severe headache with no known cause

  Even if the symptoms stop quickly, you should see a doctor right away. Call 9–1–1 (don’t drive yourself to the hospital). It’s important to get checked and to get treatment started within 1 hour of having symptoms.

  A mini-stroke is a warning sign that you’re at high risk of having a stroke. You shouldn’t ignore these symptoms. About one-third of people who have mini-strokes will have strokes if they don’t get treatment.

  Although a mini-stroke may warn of a stroke, it doesn’t predict when a stroke will happen. A stroke may occur days, weeks, or even months after a mini-stroke. In about half of the cases of strokes that follow a TIA, the stroke occurs within 1 year.

STROKE

The symptoms of stroke are the same as those of mini-stroke, but the results are not. A stroke can cause lasting brain damage, long-term disability, paralysis (an inability to move), or even death.

Getting treatment for a stroke right away is very important. You have the best chance for full recovery if treatment to open a blocked artery is given within 6 hours of symptom onset. Ideally, treatment should be given within 3 hours of symptom onset.

Call 9–1–1 as soon as symptoms occur (don’t drive yourself to the hospital). It’s very important to get checked and to get treatment started within 1 hour of having symptoms.

Make those close to you aware of stroke symptoms and the need for urgent action. Learning the signs and symptoms of a stroke will allow you to help yourself or someone close to you lower the risk for damage or death from a stroke.

Is there any treatment?

Generally there are three treatment stages for stroke: prevention, therapy immediately after the stroke, and post-stroke rehabilitation. Therapies to prevent a first or recurrent stroke are based on treating an individual's underlying risk factors for stroke, such as hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and diabetes. Acute stroke therapies try to stop a stroke while it is happening by quickly dissolving the blood clot causing an ischemic stroke or by stopping the bleeding of a hemorrhagic stroke. Post-stroke rehabilitation helps individuals overcome disabilities that result from stroke damage. Medication or drug therapy is the most common treatment for stroke. The most popular classes of drugs used to prevent or treat stroke are antithrombotics (antiplatelet agents and anticoagulants) and thrombolytics.

What is the prognosis?

Although stroke is a disease of the brain, it can affect the entire body. A common disability that results from stroke is complete paralysis on one side of the body, called hemiplegia. A related disability that is not as debilitating as paralysis is one-sided weakness or hemiparesis. Stroke may cause problems with thinking, awareness, attention, learning, judgment, and memory. Stroke survivors often have problems understanding or forming speech. A stroke can lead to emotional problems. Stroke patients may have difficulty controlling their emotions or may express inappropriate emotions. Many stroke patients experience depression. Stroke survivors may also have numbness or strange sensations. The pain is often worse in the hands and feet and is made worse by movement and temperature changes, especially cold temperatures.

Recurrent stroke is frequent; about 25 percent of people who recover from their first stroke will have another stroke within 5 years.

Source

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/stroke/stroke.htm