There is little on-scene treatment that paramedics can do for a stroke except cannulate the patient and transport them to hospital. If the patient is medically stable and if the time frame is greater than 4.5 hours then, generally, it will not be an urgent transport.
While you are waiting for the ambulance to arrive:
Loosen any restrictive clothing that could cause breathing difficulties. If weakness is obvious in any limb, support it and avoid pulling on it when moving the person. If they are unconscious, check their breathing and pulse and put them on their side.
Staff in the emergency department will administer acute stroke medications to try to stop a stroke while it is happening. Ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, is treated with the 'clot-busting' drug known as tPA.
A stroke is a serious, life-threatening medical condition that happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. Strokes are a medical emergency and urgent treatment is essential. The sooner a person receives treatment for a stroke, the less damage to the brain is likely to occur.
Call 911 immediately
If you do nothing else, act quickly to call 911. “The hardest thing you have to do is recognize symptoms of a stroke,” Dr. Humbert explains. “If you do observe any symptoms, you should call 911 immediately.
If you think you, or someone you know is suffering from a stroke you need to call 999 for an ambulance immediately. A stroke is also sometimes called a brain attack, because it is just as life-threatening as a heart attack and has similar causes.
The main treatment for an ischemic stroke is a medicine called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). It breaks up the blood clots that block blood flow to your brain. A doctor will inject tPA into a vein in your arm. This type of medicine must be given within 3 hours after your symptoms start.
Depending on how serious your stroke is, you may stay in hospital for anything from a few days to a few months. You might move to a rehabilitation ward. You'll work with a team of health professionals specialising in stroke.
In fact, ischemic strokes unfold over a period of 10 hours. That means that with every second you wait for treatment, the brain damage gets worse. If a stroke is untreated for the full 10 hours, the brain ages up to 36 years! With every minute you wait, the brain loses two million brain cells.
If you're caring for someone else having a stroke, make sure they're in a safe, comfortable position. Preferably, this should be lying on one side with their head slightly raised and supported in case they vomit. Check to see if they're breathing. If they're not breathing, perform CPR.
Stroke patients can often hear, even if they can't speak, and other facts about stroke. Three things you might not know about stroke: 1. People having a stroke usually are able to hear and comprehend what's happening around them.
If you get to the hospital within 3 hours of the first symptoms of an ischemic stroke, you may get a type of medicine called a thrombolytic (a “clot-busting” drug) to break up blood clots. Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a thrombolytic. tPA improves the chances of recovering from a stroke.
As you begin to recover, you might feel that your behaviour changes or improves. You may start feeling better physically and emotionally. But some changes will be long term. You are still the same person, but a stroke may change the way you respond to things.
A door-to-treatment time of 60 minutes or less is the goal. This 60-minute period is often referred to as the “golden hour” of acute ischemic stroke treatment during which a focused diagnostic workup must be completed to rule out conditions that may mimic stroke as well as contraindications to rt-PA administration.
“The first three months after a stroke are the most important for recovery and when patients will see the most improvement,” says Raghavan. During this time, most patients will enter and complete an inpatient rehabilitation program, or make progress in their outpatient therapy sessions.
Depending on the location and extent of brain tissue affected due to your stroke, you may have different vision issues, such as reading problems, poor visual memory and decreased depth perception and balance. Vision is more than just sight. It's the process of your brain that derives meaning from what you see.
Stroke impacts the brain, and the brain controls our behavior and emotions. You or your loved one may experience feelings of irritability, forgetfulness, carelessness or confusion. Feelings of anger, anxiety or depression are also common.
PROTOCOL: STROKE ALERT. PURPOSE. To establish a standard, well-coordinated and integrated approach to the recognition and treatment of any patient exhibiting signs and symptoms of acute stroke less than 8 hours in duration or arriving within 8 hours of waking up with stroke-like symptoms. INCLUSION CRITERIA.