A stroke is an acute violation of cerebral circulation. A very common disease that today affects not only the elderly. As for Russia, our country has the highest death rate from stroke. Among those patients who survived it, the figures are not encouraging. Only 20% of people were able to return to normal life.
What are the consequences of a stroke for women? What is the treatment? Why does a stroke happen? What recovery forecasts do specialists provide? We will give answers to these questions in the article.
What is this?
If we talk about ischemic stroke, this is an acute insufficiency of blood supply to the brain, which leads to a violation of the most important neurological functions. Its common causes are blockage of blood vessels by blood clots or emboli. Due to lack of blood supply, entire areas of the brain die. Accordingly, the functions for which they were responsible are violated.
In addition to ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic and subarachnoid strokes are distinguished. But in medical practice, cases of stroke predominate precisely due to ischemictype (70-85%), when there is blockage or squeezing of blood vessels as a result of embolism, thrombosis or other cardiovascular diseases.
With a hemorrhagic stroke, it is not compression, but already a rupture of blood vessels with subsequent hemorrhage in the brain, blood entering its ventricles, under the membranes. Such a stroke is diagnosed in 20-25% of patients.
The rarest type is subarachnoid (1-7%). This stroke is traumatic in nature. It is a consequence of the rupture of an arterial aneurysm, any craniocerebral injury. There is an outpouring of blood into the space between the pia mater and the arachnoid.
A stroke is generally called an attack in which a focal or cerebral neurological deficit lasts more than a day. That is, during this time, the blood supply to the brain cells is acutely disturbed. Those conditions in which neurological functions are restored after no more than three weeks are called a small, microstroke.
The consequences of a stroke in women depend on the period during which parts of the brain lacked blood, and with it oxygen and other elements necessary for cells.
Risk factors
What causes a stroke? Cardiovascular diseases, injuries, as a result of which the vessels supplying blood to the brain suffer. The consequences of a stroke in women can be the most serious. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor your he alth if you are at risk:
- Age from 50 years old (need to payattention to the correct "sleep-wake" mode).
- Hypertension (indicated to keep a blood pressure diary).
- Chronic heart diseases (it is necessary to undergo diagnostics in time, carry out full treatment).
- Ischemic transient attacks (they are alarming harbingers of both stroke and heart attack).
- Work associated with constant nervous strain.
- Smoking addiction (affects blood pressure).
- Overweight.
- High levels of "bad" cholesterol in the blood.
- Asymptomatic stenosis (compression) of the carotid arteries.
- Diabetes mellitus.
- Hereditary predisposition (stroke was diagnosed in close relatives).
Symptoms
In this article, we look at the symptoms and consequences of stroke in women. This dangerous condition manifests itself as follows:
- Paralysis of a limb, half of the body (respectively, a right-sided and left-sided stroke is distinguished), less often - of the whole body.
- Violation of sensation in one half of the body.
- Loss of field of vision.
- Impaired vision in one or both eyes.
- Double vision.
- Unintelligible speech.
- Partially or completely impaired coordination of movements.
- Distorted face.
- Dizziness.
- Nystagmus (uncontrolled rotation of the eyeballs).
- Loss of thread of conversation, confusion of words.
- Turnout, loss of consciousness.
What are the symptoms and consequences of a microstroke inwomen? The same thing stands out, the same signs of this state. May be expressed more weakly or partially.
How do I know about a stroke?
The consequences of a stroke in women can be the most serious. It is important to correctly identify this condition, since the symptoms may manifest themselves partially, in different combinations. You need to ask a person to take a simple test:
- Ask for a smile. The face in a pathological condition will be skewed, and the smile will be asymmetrical.
- If the person is sitting or standing, ask them to raise their arms 90 degrees, if lying, 45 degrees. If he has a stroke, one of his arms will drop.
- Ask for a simple phrase. With a stroke, a person's speech is slurred.
First Aid
We repeat once again that the consequences of a stroke in a woman in old age can be the most serious - up to and including death. Therefore, self-treatment in this case is dangerous for the life and he alth of the patient.
If the test gave you reason to think that a person has a stroke, call an ambulance as soon as possible. Before the arrival of specialists, you can help the victim as follows:
- If the person is lying down, raise their head a little.
- Loosen the clothing that restricts his body, breath.
- Measure your blood pressure.
- Suggest a drug that normalizes blood pressure. But only from those funds that the patient took earlier.
- Dip the patient's legs in a basin of moderately hot water.
- Turn victim overon the right side. If the person feels the urge to vomit, place a tray under their mouth.
- If the patient loses consciousness, take out his tongue and press it so that it does not sink.
Treatment
Treatment is carried out only in a hospital. Includes the following areas:
- Basic therapy. Control of body temperature, relief of seizures, elimination of headaches, maintenance of water and electrolyte balance, control and further correction of cardiac activity, vascular conditions, blood pressure, blood glucose levels. According to indications - oxygen therapy.
- Thrombolytic therapy aimed at restoring normal blood flow in the vessels.
- Anticoagulant therapy aimed at preventing the formation of blood clots in the vessels.
- Elimination of cerebral edema with diuretics.
Proper patient care is also important. Without this, complications associated with prolonged immobility may be added to the consequences of a stroke in an elderly woman. Congestive pneumonia, thromboembolism, thrombophlebitis, bedsores and their further infection.
It is necessary to turn the patient from side to side, make sure that the bedding does not fold into folds. Conduct physical and speech gymnastics with him, do massage.
Additional therapeutic measures
To mitigate the effects of stroke in women (right-sided,left-sided), additional modern methods of treatment are introduced:
- Drug treatment.
- Botox therapy.
- exercise.
- Physiotherapy.
- Massage.
- Kinesthetics.
- Reflexology.
- Bobat therapy.
- Phytotherapy.
- Special diets.
- Psychotherapy.
- Ergotherapy.
Consequences after hemorrhagic stroke
The consequences of a stroke in a woman of 40 in most cases are not as severe as in an older person. But it all depends on the individual course of the disease, the area of brain damage.
In general cases, the consequences of a hemorrhagic stroke are as follows:
- Severe problems with movement, speech, memory, clarity of thought.
- The most common consequence is partial paralysis. It affects one limb - an arm or a leg, part of the face, right or left, depending on the location of the brain lesion. In the paralyzed limb, there is a partial or complete loss of motor activity, a change in sensitivity, muscle tone.
- Change in behavior, psychological state of the patient: speech becomes incomprehensible and incoherent, there is a clear violation of the sequence of letters, sounds.
- Problems with memory, single character recognition, depression, apathy.
Consequences after ischemic stroke
The consequences of a stroke in young women are not as pronounced as inold people. However, this is general data. The clinical picture in individual cases may be completely different.
With regard to ischemic stroke, in most cases the consequences are not as severe as in hemorrhagic. The patient is more likely to recover faster and more fully. But positive forecasts are rare here too - there are few cases when a serious violation of cerebral circulation passes without a trace for the patient.
Most common consequences:
- Speech impairment.
- Swallowing dysfunction.
- Motor dysfunction.
- Difficulties in processing information.
- Changes in patient behavior.
- The appearance of pain syndromes caused not by physiological, but by neurological problems.
Consequences that aggravate the patient's condition
The consequences of a stroke in women (left-sided, right-sided) may be aggravated by additional factors:
- The main focus of brain damage is in its functionally significant areas. In particular, in the speech and movement center.
- The scale of the brain lesion.
- The venerable age of the patient is the main difficulty in restoring motor skills.
- A gross violation of the tone of the muscles of the limbs.
- Impaired musculoskeletal sensation (patient can't feel where his limb is if he can't see it).
- Intelligence reduction.
- Emotional consequences (particularlydepression).
Forecasts
Such may be the consequences of a brain stroke in a woman. Let us now turn to the forecasts of specialists:
- The death rate from strokes in the Russian Federation is the highest in the world - 175 deaths per 100,000 population per year. Within a month after a stroke, more than 34% of victims die. In the course of the year, a lethal outcome is noted in relation to every second patient.
- Of stroke survivors, only 20% recover relatively completely. That is, they are not assigned a disability.
- 18% of victims lose their speech function.
- 48% of stroke survivors lose the ability to move independently.
Chances of recovery while increasing the following:
- Early start of rehabilitation.
- Keep the intelligence intact.
- Active interest of the patient himself in recovery.
- Correctly selected rehabilitation program.
Recovery
Rehabilitation of the patient will be more successful if it is based on the following principles:
- Early start - as soon as the victim's life is out of danger.
- Consistent and systematic application of techniques. It starts with a massage, then moves on to passive gymnastics. Next - physiotherapy exercises, training on simulators, physiotherapy.
- Complexity. Rehabilitation is not limited to the restoration of motor functions. A stroke is a serious blow topsycho-emotional background. The patient needs a speech therapist, neuropsychologist, psychiatrist to restore speech, memory, and clarity of thought.
The consequences of a stroke for women cannot be called insignificant. Their severity is influenced by the age of the patient, and the extent of damage to brain areas, and the type of stroke. General forecasts here may differ radically from individual ones.
