Today is World Stroke Day, a day to raise awareness about the signs of stroke, how to lower your risk, and the importance of a fast response.

Our Christine spoke with a stroke Certified Registered Nurse about the most important things everyone should know about strokes.

More about that in today's medical news.

Here to talk to us about stroke care.

Stroke prevention is Rosa Hart.

You are a stroke nurse navigator at Norton Health Care and the host of world renowned podcast Stronger After Stroke.

How many countries?

91 countries.

That's right.

It's heard in 91 countries and prescribed all over the place.

When someone goes home after having a stroke.

For answers to frequently asked questions, as well as encouragement of stroke survivors and caregivers about how to have the best quality of life after stroke.

Okay, so you're the one we need to talk to.

Tell us exactly what is happening when what is happening when somebody is having a stroke.

And are there different types.

So there's two main types of stroke that we talk about.

The most common is ischemic strokes.

And that's caused by a clot or some other obstruction that stops blood flow to the brain.

And it can be called a brain attack.

Like you would have a heart attack, but in the brain.

And, the other kind is hemorrhagic, which is a brain bleed, but not due to an injury.

More like a spontaneous.

Okay, from, like a blood vessel bursting or just.

Yeah.

Okay.

So those are the two types.

Do they have different signs or is it the same, sign to kind of detect if somebody is having a stroke?

We use the same, signs of stroke to identify whether or not you should call 911 and that is B fast where B is for balance.

So a sudden change in balance.

E is for eyes.

A sudden change in vision.

F is for face where one side may have a droop a facial droop a is for arms where one arm may be weaker than the other.

S is for speech, like slurred speech, and T is for time where time saved is brain saved.

So if you or anyone else is experiencing new signs of a stroke, call 911 and get to the ER immediately.

Time saved is brain saved, so you call 911.

When you see any of these signs, you get to the hospital.

What happens then?

How is it diagnosed?

So typically they go to get a sheet of the head to see if there is that bleeding we talked about.

And if there's not a sign of bleeding then they may be eligible.

Depending on a set of questions they will be asked for a clot busting medication that can open up the blood flow and restore their function and reverse their symptoms.

Okay.

Which type of stroke is more common?

The brain bleed or the clot?

The clot, which is called a schematic.

And 80% of strokes are preventable.

Okay.

So there are it's preventable.

So how do we prevent it then?

The number one thing we can do to prevent strokes is control blood pressure.

And that goes in both cases blood pressure when it's too high strains those blood vessels.

And if that chronic damage, that irritation to the blood vessels can lead to the obstruction forming or cause a rupture.

Okay.

So lower blood pressure.

Are there any risk factors, that are genetic besides high blood, which I guess can be genetic?

Well, it could be genetic, but it's one of the things we can control.

So there are genetic risk factors, but, most, like I said, 80% are preventable, which means there are things we can do to stop them.

That includes, controlling blood sugar.

If you're diabetic, you're twice as likely to have a stroke as anyone who is not diabetic because of the strain that puts on your entire body.

Also cholesterol.

If your cholesterol is high, that increases your stroke risk.

Any kind of nicotine use, whether it's smoking, vaping or taking nicotine another way, it has a reaction on your blood vessels and it increases your blood pressure.

And so, nicotine is not a safe thing to be stressing your body with.

What about men versus women.

So women actually are more likely than men to have a stroke.

And it may not be picked up on because they may have signs that are, different, such as fatigue, confusion, generalized weakness, things like that.

And but generally the things we can recognize are in the Belfast.

And that is the same for both.

Okay.

Tell me one myth that you would like to get out of the way about strokes or, stroke survivors or, stroke prevention?

Just one or.

Okay.

Can I tell you to.

Yes, you can tell.

Okay.

Kids can have strokes, too.

Stroke is the in the top ten leading killers of children.

And so it's important to know the signs of stroke at any age.

Other stroke myth I really want to bust is that your recovery is over after about six months to a year.

Neuroplasticity shows us that recovery is possible years into the future, and there are exciting innovations being developed with, technologies and physical, occupational and speech therapy.

There's pelvic floor therapy and vision rehab.

So there's so many options to help direct that neuroplasticity society to have a better recovery.

So giving people hope is the most important thing that I would want to put out there.

Yeah, I like that.

Well, Rosa Hart from Norton Health Care, thank you so much.

This has been so informative.

So thank you so much for being here.

You're so welcome.