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Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 1419
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 4:05 pm: | 
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I recieved this email from a friend today... and, as I do with virtually ALL of his email, I checked it out to see if it had been debunked on Snopes or another "myth buster" website. I found out that it is indeed accurate, so I am posting it here.
Subject: Is it a stroke?
Read and Learn!
SOMETHING WE ALL NEED TO KNOW, IS IT A STROKE? Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
*Ask the individual to SMILE.
*Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
*Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE.
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
Commentary:
The procedure for identifying a stroke that is outlined in this email forward is valid. According to information available on the American Stroke Association's website, the three questions outlined in the email are a medically viable method for a layperson to ascertain if a person is presenting with stroke symptoms.
The procedure was originally outlined in a report to the American Stroke Association's 28th International Stroke Conference. The report states that a bystander may be able to spot someone having a stroke by giving the person a simple, quick test to see if they can smile, raise both arms and keep them up, and speak a simple sentence coherently...
Certainly, the core information in the email is worth heeding. Knowing how to conduct this simple test could indeed save a person's life. The aforementioned report explains that if bystanders can relay results of this test to an emergency dispatcher, it could speed treatment to stroke patients. Time is crucial in treating stroke.
America's National Stroke Association lists the following as common symptoms of stroke:
Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden severe headache with no known cause
Given this list of symptoms, it is easy to see how the simple three-question test could help identify a stroke.
However, there is an important point that needs to be considered. While the central information in the email is true, the absence of these symptoms does not necessarily indicate that a person is NOT having a stroke. It could be extremely dangerous to reach the conclusion that a person did not require medical attention just because he or she could successfully carry out the three steps outlined in the test. A site visitor relates the following real life experience, which graphically illustrates this potential danger:
My mother-in-law suffered a stroke this morning. I had just told her last week about the three simple tests for identifying someone who might be having a stroke (which I received via e-mail). She was having difficulty walking and had a little numbness on one side of her face but she was able to smile, lift her hands above her head and speak in coherent sentences. Thus, she concluded that she was not having a stroke and delayed seeing her doctor. The three simple tests certainly could help a bystander identify someone who might be having a stroke but the absence of these symptoms doesn't mean that a person is NOT having a stroke. I feel just awful that she delayed treatment because of what I told her and that she missed the window of opportunity to receive the thrombolytic (clot-busting) therapy. The damage is already done.
Furthermore, it appears that someone has seen fit to embellish the story by adding a description of an alleged incident in which the diagnostic test was used to good effect. However, there is no way of telling if "Susie" and "Sherry" are real people or just fictional characters designed to emphasize the information and add a folksy element to the message. Interestingly, the sentence, "A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people, you can bet that at least one life will be saved" is lifted verbatim from a hoax email that outlines a dubious "cough CPR" procedure for heart attack victims. Notably, earlier versions of the email did not include the "Susie and Sherry" story.
In any case, such embellishments are completely unnecessary and detract from the underlying message. A problem with email forwards is that the core information tends to become garbled or diluted as various individuals decide to add to or modify the message as it travels through cyberspace. For example, the current version implies that stumbling is potentially a key element in diagnosing a stroke. However, there is nothing about stumbling mentioned in the Stroke Association report. Although the NSA does identify loss of balance and difficulty walking as potential stroke symptoms, stumbling alone is hardly a valid indicator of an impending stroke.
This unfortunate tendency for messages to mutate as they travel means that it may not always be a good idea to pass on even those rare email forwards that contain factual and verifiable information. Also, as explained above, the misuse of such information due to false assumptions or lack of understanding can have dangerous repercussions. If you do decide to forward this email, I would suggest that you first remove the superfluous information it contains. Secondly, include a warning about the danger of not seeking medical attention just because a person can successfully perform the three steps. Thirdly, I think it would also be a good idea to add a link to the original source so that recipients can check the information for themselves. The link to the American Stroke Association report is included below:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3008841
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Bajou
Citizen
Username: Bajou
Post Number: 88
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 4:38 pm: |
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Hi Case:
I received this e-mail a few weeks ago at work. Normally I do not participate in the "forward-this-to-a- friend" insanity but for some reason I forwarded this one after I checked it out on myth buster.
An ex-colleague with whom I haven't spoken in years replied. She told me she wished she had received this sooner because her mom had a stroke and they didn't notice it for a whole day. They just thought she was tired.
So learn CPR..know the signs of stroke and know what a drowning person really looks like. I was shocked by that...When a person is drowning it doesn't look anything like what one would think. It usually is fairly quiet, there is no huge splashing. Kids have drowned in pools right in front of people but nobody realized they were in trouble.
http://www.winktv.com/x16129.xml
Bajou |
Glock 17
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 720
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 6:42 pm: |
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And that's why you learn BSA lifeguard certification...not Red Cross. |
The Libertarian
Citizen
Username: Local_1_crew
Post Number: 1987
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 7:55 pm: |
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i was 36 when i had my stroke. scariest ten minutes of my life. i got really light headed and disoriented. when my head started to clear i realized that my left arm not only had zero feeling but i also had no control of it. it was like block of wood. i picked it up and went to say "what the f**k?" but it came out all slurred cause the left side of my face was paralyzed. i got real lucky. afte ten minutes the clot cleared. i have balance issues that have been getting progressivly better since that day. if i get tired or dehydrated my left side feels tingly and my balance gets worse. the tests for 6 months afterwards were awful. at one point i had a camera the size of a plum shoved down my throat so that they could get a picture of the back side of my heart. now i take an aspirin every day and a pill that controls nerve impulses in the area that give me phantom stroke effects.
all in all i was very lucky. |
Lou
Citizen
Username: Flf
Post Number: 121
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 9:33 pm: |
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wow, Libertarian, thanks for sharing that. I wish you the best.
Couple years ago our family doctor told my husband (that is now 30yo) that his heart shows signs as if he already had a heart attack. We never noticed anything different about him and that caught us completely by surprised. He made few tests and it seems he is ok, except for the fact that his rythm of his heart shows that irregularity. We never really understood or found out exactly if he really did have an heart attack before age 30 or if it's just the way his heart is, but we have always been very nervous and scared about him having something since then.
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Lou
Citizen
Username: Flf
Post Number: 122
Registered: 8-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - 9:33 pm: |
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And thanks for posting that, Case. |
Just The Aunt
Supporter
Username: Auntof13
Post Number: 4799
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 1:42 am: |
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I survived a very severe major brain hemorrhage (which I've been told is the same as a stroke) mid October 2003. The only real symptoms I had was a serve headache, nausea to the point I'd throw up if I even raised my head off the pillow, and vertigo. Luckily a friend of mine who was a nurse, thinking I had Meningitis, persuaded me to call my doctor.
My doctor thinking the same think insisted I get to the emergency room right away. My sister driving me wasn't an option as I could barely sit up. By the time the Medics got here my blood pressure was something like 175 / 145. By the time they got me to the hospital I was slipping in and out of consciousness. The swelling was so severe, the ER staff couldn't believe I wasn't in a coma.
I spent 10 days in a drug induced coma in ICU while they tried to get the swelling down.at home in bed. Think I only ate ice pops for the better part of that month. |
Mergele
Citizen
Username: Mergele
Post Number: 386
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 5:32 am: |
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This is stuff to really pay attention to. All too many times, those of us who are generally healthy are conditioned to think that calling the doctor is somehow wussing out...
In my case, the pain in my leg that I walked around on for a month thinking it was a weird charley horse turned out to be a DVT (blood clot in the deep veins of the leg). By the time I saw the doctor and she sent me for tests, part of it had broken off and traveled to my lungs: bilateral pulmonary embolism. At age 39. I was lucky - people die from this stuff.
It taught me an enormous lesson about going to the doctor - I will never feel like a wuss again.
It also precipitated much discussion in my family about family medical history - something else that it seems like generally healthy adults don't always have a handle on. Turns out that my paternal grandmother had this at one point. Almost a year after my clot was found, my father developed one in the same spot in the same leg.
Talk to your doctor. Talk to your family. This stuff is serious. |
las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 1667
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 9:39 am: |
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Lib and JTA, were there warning signs ahead of time? How was your blood pressure before your strokes? |
Ink
Citizen
Username: Pageturner
Post Number: 95
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 10:11 am: |
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I had the symptoms you're describing when I was 14, and it turned out to be encephalitis.Luckily, I was quickly taken to the hospital. I had the same symptoms JTA describes when I was 18, but I was away at college, around people I didn't know, and just attributed it to depression. I got very, very sick by the time May came around, and it turned out to be bacterial meningitis - the worst kind. I was lucky to get out of it alive. So, being alert is not just something for adults... |
The Libertarian
Citizen
Username: Local_1_crew
Post Number: 1991
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 12:03 pm: |
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Lib and JTA, were there warning signs ahead of time? How was your blood pressure before your strokes?
i had slightly below normal blood pressure. i had a physical 2 weeks before the stroke and was healthy as a horse. no warning signs and still no explanation as to why i had a stroke.
just a bolt out of the blue. |
las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 1668
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 12:17 pm: |
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wow. Do they know what caused it? I mean, can they locate the clot and/or where it came from? How long ago was this? |
The Libertarian
Citizen
Username: Local_1_crew
Post Number: 1997
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 12:23 pm: |
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the clot cleared so they never saw it. they have no idea where it came from. it was 2 years ago. |
Bajou
Citizen
Username: Bajou
Post Number: 95
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 2:49 pm: |
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WOW and everyone thinks this kind of stuff is rare. I mean listen to all of your stories. I will add one myself because maybe it will help one of you lovely people.
Three years ago I started getting blood clots in my right hand (at 35 yrs. old??) which would travel up my arm and into my lungs. Well they were not deep vein clots so you feel them and they scare you but they won't kill you unlike Deep Vein Thrombosis. Well I would get them fairly regularly and nobody could tell me what was wrong. We did test after test and nothing. The regularity of them started to make me suspicious so I did some tracking and sure enough they coincided with the monthly "you know what" (actually it would occure right before). So I did some more checking and found out I have "Hemochromatosis" which is a genetic decease. Basically if your ancestors came from a cold climate country (I am from Austria) they rarely got fresh vegetables or fruit which is the main sorce of natural iron. So theie bodies started to store iron. A healthy body asorbs as much iron as it needs and flushes the rest. People with hemocromatosis continue to store no matter how much is in their system. To much iron is extremely unhealthy because the body starts storing it in the heart, lungs, liver, kidney, joints and so forth. Your blood becomes to thick and you end up with clots. The only way to releave the symptoms of hemocromatosis is -oh yes- blood withdrawal. Remember the old leaches and the saying "his blood is too thick". Well I now go and give blood on a regular basis (like once a month) because that is the only way I can keep it in check. Both men and women can get hemocromatosis. Women are actually in slightly better shape because we have our monthly ... and therefor reduce the storage naturally. But what I didn't know was absolutely NO SOY because, estrogen (natural or any other form) helps form clots. Next time u go to the doctor ask him/her to run these tests and not just an iron test:
Elevated serum iron
Elevated TIBC (total iron binding capacity)
Elevated serum ferritin
Elevated percentage of transferrin saturation
That is the only way to really find out if you have it.
Read more if you are interested:
http://www.genetichealth.com/HCROM_What_Is_Hemochromatosis.shtml
My heart goes out to all of you who have suffered such traumatic health issues.
Big hug to you all out there..
Bajou |
las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 1671
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 3:14 pm: |
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Is it coincidence that people here have been in their 30's or is it just a demographic of this Board? |
Bajou
Citizen
Username: Bajou
Post Number: 97
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 3:39 pm: |
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Well I am now almost 39...B-Day coming up. Hope to see you at my party too Las!!
Bajou |
Duncan
Supporter
Username: Duncanrogers
Post Number: 6260
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 3:57 pm: |
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JTA sounds like you had an aneurysm. My mother had the same thing happen to her, but she was asleep. Just started throwing up in bed, unconscious. The pair of you are lucky to be alive. And I am glad you made it!
Of course my mom wanted all us kids to get tested but the only thing to do to an unburst aneurysm is clamp it and that slightly increases the risk of it blowing so why do it? |
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