Treatment and Prevention for Stroke

It is imperative to recognize the signs and symptoms of stroke and seek medical attention immediately.

Treatment is required in the first few hours after the onset of stroke to prevent the formation of brain damage and disabilities, and promote healing. Brain cells die if they are deprived of blood flow and oxygenating irrigator, if only for a few minutes.

Emergency medical care is needed when you experience symptoms suggesting a stroke because there are treatments that can restore blood flow to the brain and prevent further brain damage or recurrence of an accident stroke. Yet studies show that 40% to 70% of people experiencing a stroke are unable to hospital within 3 hours after onset of stroke that is to say during the period during which drug treatment could dissolve a clot.

Among the drugs used in the treatment of stroke, there are those who act in the short term and long term.

Among the treatments the onset of action is short term, there are injections. They are of two types:

• Thrombolytics (eg. the tissue plasminogen activator, tPA), which aims to dissolve the clot and unblock the blocked blood vessel to restore normal blood flow and limit damage to brain tissue. These medications can be given to certain people within 3 hours after onset of symptoms and are administered intravenously by trained health professionals;
  
•  Anticoagulants (eg. heparin) are used in some cases to reduce the clotting power of blood. They do not dissolve blood clots already formed, but they can prevent them grow bigger and cause other problems.

The long-term treatments include medicines taken by mouth to reduce the risk of recurrent stroke. Among these are:

•     platelet inhibitors (eg. acetylsalicylic acid, clopidogrel, dipyridamole, ticlopidine);
•     anticoagulants or "blood thinners" (eg. dabigatran and warfarin).

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before using herbal products and nonprescription medicines because these medications can increase the risk of bleeding while you are being treated with drugs indicated for the prevention of a stroke.

The following treatments are proving very useful in the prevention of stroke:

•     antihypertensives;
•     drugs that lower cholesterol;
•     surgical procedures (eg. carotid endarterectomy) for some people.

Another way to prevent stroke and related diseases that are long term, reduce your risk factors taking into account the following suggestions.

Make changes to your lifestyle:

•     stop smoking;
•     increase your physical activity level;
•     limit your consumption of alcohol;
•     Adopt a balanced diet;
•     Limit your alcohol consumption to 1 or 2 drinks per day (to a maximum of 9 drinks per week for women and 14 drinks per week for men);
•     reach a healthy weight;
•     reduce the influence of stress on your life.

Manage your medication and take care of your medical conditions:

•     use your medications as directed by your doctor and pharmacist;
•     monitor your blood pressure regularly if it is high;
•     Use your medicine as directed by your doctor if you have a heart condition like congestive heart failure or atrial fibrillation;
•     regularly measure your blood sugar using a glucometer if you have diabetes.