Every five minutes, a stroke strikes in the UK. Potentially life threatening, someone suffering from one needs to have urgent medical help in hospital.
Data from the Stroke Association highlights that 100,000 people have strokes every year, with 1.3million survivors in the UK.
Sometimes having a long-lasting impact, the NHS explains that a stroke is when blood stops flowing to a part of your brain. Often with a long recovery time, it can affect things like speech and movement.
While it can happen to anyone at any age, there are various people with an increased risk including those over 50, people from a Black or South Asian background, those on the combined contraceptive pill and people with an unhealthy lifestyle.
It’s vital to act on a stroke immediately, so a consultant in neurology and stroke medicine has laid out the six symptoms and warning signs someone may be suffering from one.
A stroke occurs due to the lack blood flow to the brain. (Getty Stock)
Trouble speaking or understanding speech
Dr Branimir Nevajda of Basildon University Hospital told the Telegraph all of these symptoms give an insight into what’s going on in the brain.
In this case, if a stroke affects the brain’s language centres, it disrupts the communication pathways and makes speaking clearly or understanding others difficult.
And as a result, the person may have slurred speech or be struggling to find the words.
Severe headache
This symptom is mostly associated with hemorrhagic strokes, happening due to bleeding in the brain which ups the pressure within the skull.
Sudden numbness or weakness
Quite a well-known stroke symptom as sufferers often lose the ability to grip things or lift certain limbs.
It happens when a stroke disrupts blood flow to the brain parts in control of muscle movement or sensation therefore stopping the proper signals for corresponding body parts.
Dizziness and vertigo are symptoms. (Getty Stock)
Problems with vision
If the stroke happens anywhere along the ‘visual pathway’ then it will affect eyesight.
This might mean blurred or double vision or even partial or complete loss of vision in one or both eyes.
Difficulty walking
Differing from the numbness or weakness symptom, this is when a stroke impairs leg movement.
It might be through weakness or paralysis in the leg muscles or because of cerebellar function being impacted and causing balance issues.
Dizziness or loss of balance
When a stroke has an impact on the regions of the brain in control of balance and coordination, a person may experience dizziness and vertigo.
When it comes to a stroke, Dr Nevajda says: “Seek immediate medical attention if you notice any symptoms of a stroke, even if they seem to come and go or they disappear completely.”