In order to diagnose a stroke, it is important to study the patient’s symptoms but also his or her medical history. In addition to that, the physician will perform a physical but also a neurological exam. Imaging scans and blood tests could also prove important in deciding on the severity of that stroke and the surface of the brain damaged by it.
Stroke Symptoms
A stroke might have different kinds of symptoms. Sometimes, a stroke can be developing step by step or it can happen all of a sudden while sleeping. It all depends also on what half of the brain has been damaged and the specific area hit by that stroke. If, let us presuppose, stroke injured the left half of the brain, the right part of the body will be the affected one.
Stroke symptoms may be different from one patient to another:
- Unexpected paralysis of the face, leg or arm – only one part of the body is generally affected
- Difficulty understanding and speaking
- Problems with visual perception, blurring, dimness or even blindness in one eye, sometimes in both of them
- Walking and standing problems, vertigo, poor balance and co-ordination
- Terrible headache with unknown causes
- Changes in personality, confusion, chaotic judgments
- Vomiting and nausea
- Swallowing problems as well as possible drooling caused by weak facial muscles
