Identifying the warning signs of stroke and standard home first aid procedures

Stroke is a neurological disorder caused by a sudden local blood supply disorder in the brain. Many patients with cerebrovascular disease will experience some warning symptoms several hours or 1-2 days before the onset of the disease: (1) Numbness in the limbs: numbness in the face, tongue, lips or limbs, with paroxysmal numbness. Some patients may suddenly fall to the ground without loss of consciousness. (2) Facial dysfunction: sudden facial drooping, drooling, difficulty in speaking and swallowing. (3) Speech disorder: unclear speech or difficulty in understanding language, or even inability to speak. The duration is short, and the longest does not exceed 24 hours. (4) Blurred vision: blurred vision, blackout in one or both eyes, double vision, which recovers in a few seconds or minutes. (5) Dizziness: sudden dizziness, which returns to normal after a few seconds. Some patients may experience balance disorders and unsteady walking. (6) Nosebleed: frequent nosebleeds in middle-aged and elderly patients with hypertension are a warning sign. (7) Choking: occurs when drinking water or eating, due to damage to the swallowing nerve nucleus caused by cerebral ischemia. (8) Short-term memory loss: brief loss of orientation, including time, place, and people, lasting 3-4 hours and recovering. (9) Headache: sudden headache or worsening of existing headache, accompanied by nausea and vomiting. (10) Mental changes: brief loss of consciousness or intellectual decline, sudden change in personality. Home first aid steps: (1) Lay the patient on their side, never on their back. Generally, do not move them easily, do not shake the patient back and forth, and minimize head movement. (2) Slightly raise the head. If there is vomit in the mouth, turn the head to one side, loosen the collar, and remove dentures to facilitate the discharge of vomit. (3) Call 120 for emergency help as soon as possible. If the patient is conscious, comfort the patient and relieve their tension. Do not cry or shout. Avoid strong light stimulation and open the windows for ventilation. (4) Before the ambulance arrives, do a simple check: call the patient to see if they respond; measure blood pressure and record it; use a flashlight to observe whether both pupils are equal in size and round. (5) When moving the patient yourself, you must lift the patient horizontally onto a hard board or stretcher. Do not hug, drag, carry, or lift. (6) Before a diagnosis, do not administer hemostatic drugs or traditional Chinese medicine such as Angong Niuhuang Wan to the patient without medical advice. Treatment for ischemic stroke should aim for ultra-early thrombolysis, generally within 6 hours. Routine therapies include thrombolysis, anticoagulation, and fibrinolysis. Commonly used thrombolytic drugs include urokinase and rt-PA. Fibrinolytic drugs include fibrinolytic enzymes and batroxobin. During stroke rehabilitation, falls must be strictly prevented, and family members should provide care and support.