Vim & Vigor - Summer 2015 - Phelps County Regional Medical Center - (Page 25)

physical activity to 30 minutes a session. Adhere to your doctor's treatment plan if you're already dealing with heart disease. STROKE BY THE NUMBERS POOR DIET Try: Keep a food diary and cut 250 calories a day from your diet. Avoid cholesterol and saturated and trans fats. Limit salt, sugary foods and red meat. Adopt a Mediterranean-style diet or the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), with an emphasis on vegetables, fruits, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, olive oil, whole grains, ﬁsh, poultry, beans and nuts. Bonus: Such steps also help keep cholesterol and blood pressure levels in check. INACTIVITY AND OBESITY Try: Walk, take the stairs, dance, garden, play with the kids or grandkids. Aim for at least 30 minutes at least ﬁve days a week of any activity you enjoy. Inactivity and obesity also elevate your risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. Spot the Symptoms "Stroke is not a painful condition in most cases," says internist Joel Stein, MD, a specialist in rehabilitation of neurological 795K Number of strokes per year in the U.S. 80 Percentage of strokes that could be prevented NO. 1 Ranking of stroke in preventable causes of disability NO. 4 Cause of death for Americans, resulting in 129,000 deaths annually disorders and the author of Stroke and the Family. "The symptoms often don't seem that alarming to people. They think, 'Hmm, my arm feels a little weak. Maybe I need a nap.' And they will literally lie down and wait to see if they feel better when they wake up," he says. Waiting to seek treatment is the biggest mistake stroke patients make, Stein says, and it's a common one. About 44 percent of stroke patients don't arrive at the hospital until 4.5 hours after the onset of symptoms, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The acronym FAST can help you remember the signs of a stroke in yourself or others. Face drooping. Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Arm weakness. Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Speech diﬃculty. Is speech slurred? Is the person unable to speak or hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, such as "The sky is blue." Time to call 911 for a ride to the hospital if you observe or experience any of these signs, even if they go away. Check the time so you can tell doctors when the ﬁrst symptoms appeared. I F A S T STROKE, DEFINED 3 Stroke: Occurs when blood ﬂow to the brain is disrupted. Deprived of oxygen and other nutrients, brain cells begin to die and brain damage occurs, often aﬀecting movement, speech, memory, vision or behavior. 3 Ischemic stroke: Caused by a clot obstructing the ﬂow of blood within a vessel that supplies blood to the brain. This is the most common type. 3 Hemorrhagic stroke: Caused by a weakened blood vessel rupturing and bleeding into the surrounding brain. 3 Transient ischemic attack (TIA): Caused by a temporary clot, it resembles a stroke but usually lasts less than ﬁve minutes. Sometimes dismissed as a "ministroke," it is more accurately a warning stroke that requires immediate medical attention. SUMME R 2015 25

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Vim & Vigor - Summer 2015 - Phelps County Regional Medical Center