Fewer People Died from Strokes in the U.S. Last Year

High blood pressure and diabetes have always plagued my family. This has also made us more susceptible to having a stroke. There are two types of stroke: one type is caused when a blood clot gets lodged in the brain and cuts off the blood supply. They other is called a hemorrhagic stroke. That's the type of stroke that killed my father-in-law. A blood vessel broke in his brain and he bled to death within his skull.

My grandmother had a series of strokes when she was in her sixties and seventies. After the second one, she was left partially paralyzed on her left side. She could still walk, but she had to drag her left foot behind her. Finally, the last one that she had put her in a nursing home and she passed away at the age of 78.

My mom was hospitalized with pain in her back. She also had atrial fibrillation, which made her susceptible to forming blood clots in her heart which could travel to her brain. For some reason they failed to give her the blood thinners that kept it under control. Within three days of entering the hospital, she had a stroke.

The doctors at the hospital thought that the symptoms she was having was because she was reacting to the pain medication that they were giving her. After I insisted they give her an MRI, they finally admitted that she had a stroke. It was all downhill after that. A few months later she died in a nursing home.

For more than fifty years, stroke has been the third leading cause of death in this country, behind cancer and heart disease. Now it has dropped to the fourth leading cause of death. According to the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

"Heart disease and cancer remained the two leading causes of death, accounting for 48 percent of all deaths. In fifth through 10th places were accidents, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, influenza/pneumonia, kidney diseases and septicemia. Overall, there were 2,473,018 deaths in 2008 in the United States, 49,306 more than in the preceding year."

Doctors think that the reduction in the mortality rate for strokes is because of better treatment. Now if you get to the emergency room on time, there is a fair chance that by giving you new, state-of-the-art drugs, the doctors can reduce the damage from a stroke. But timing is everything.

The new clot busting drugs have been a boon to heart attack and stroke patients in the United States, but again, timing is everything. Once the damage to your brain from a stroke has been done, it's too late.

If you experience sudden numbness of the face, or weakness in either arm, trouble seeing, trouble walking, loss of balance, or a sudden severe headache, get to the emergency room right away. The life that you save may very well be your own.

Source: http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/fitness/article_c629b2ee-7259-578b-ab69-efd43eed3630.html