Index
A stroke is a stroke with signs and symptoms caused by the violent destruction of a variable part of the brain.
Usually due to cerebral arterial thrombosis (clot in an artery) or cerebral embolism (blockage of an artery by blood clots, fat particles, vegetation in endocarditis), or cerebral hemorrhage, in short, everything that can contribute to the regular interruption of the cerebral blood supply, producing anoxia.
In the first two cases (thrombosis and embolism), brain tissue, which corresponds to the blocked artery, can die from lack of food (oxygen). In the latter case, the tissue is compressed by leakage of blood from the ruptured vessel, which has, apart from lack of blood, compression of the tissue surrounding the rupture. The most common causes of thrombosis and cerebral hemorrhage are arteriosclerosis and hypertension, which rarely occur before forty.
Now, cerebral apoplexy is usually the result of heart disease or aneurysm rupture and occurs at any age. The clots exit with cardiac arrhythmia and “entangle” the arteries of smaller caliber in the brain, stopping the flow of blood from that moment.
Causes or favorable factors
The factors that favor apoplexy are obesity, abuse of stimulants (alcohol, snuff), overeating, and a sedentary lifestyle. The attack of apoplexy is sudden and violent, with paralysis, loss of articulation of words, and loss of consciousness for a time (coma). The paralysis usually extends to an entire side of the body (hemiplegia); this can reach the opposite side, except for the face muscles.
This paradoxical fact seems to have its reason for being: the nerve fibers that control the muscles of the trunk and extremities cross the median line of the cord. At the beginning of the attack, the muscles become limp. Still, after a few hours or days, they return to their normal activities, although with a certain rigidity, but accompanied by contractions.
During the coma, the patient usually breathes with a noise, as if it were snoring, and has a flushed face. If the brain injury is not too severe, most symptoms disappear.
They can persist for longer with the tics and speech difficulties already mentioned in advance.
It is to have an account that, in all cases, measures should be promoted to facilitate and improve the breathing of the affected person and seek immediate medical help. Do not try to give anything to drink or eat in states of unconsciousness; the liquid passes into the bronchi and can produce severe bronchopneumonia.
It must be taken into account that each case is particular. The suggestions should be followed as prescribed by the doctor since only under these measures will be able to find success in the treatments applied to apoplexy.
