Would you recognize a stroke?

Before stroke specialists can intervene to save a person who is having a stroke, someone else — a loved one, co-worker, bystander — has to recognize the signs of a stroke and call 911.

Hesham Masoud, MD

Clues might include a sudden droop on one side of the face, sudden weakness or numbness in one arm or one side of the body, sudden trouble speaking or slurred speech, sudden confusion, sudden trouble seeing or walking, or a sudden severe headache with no known cause.

(See how three Central New Yorkers each survived a stroke.)

Upstate neurologist Hesham Masoud, MD, says the sudden loss of a function — for instance, you could see clearly, and now you can’t — warrants an emergency trip to the hospital.

(Stroke expertise extends to rural areas of Central and Northern New York.)

For more on the risk factors for stroke, click here.

This article is from the winter 2020 issue of Upstate Health magazine.