- Numbness of hands, visual blurring, and slurring of speech are among the symptoms of stroke: Hardeep Sodhi, founder of Stroke Support India
NE HEALTH BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, MAY 31
Stroke, normally considered a disease that affects the elderly, is now affecting more youngsters, according to leading neurosurgeons.
“We are now seeing increasing cases of stroke among youngsters. It has become very common, and it is largely due to lifestyle, stress levels, smoking and other factors,” Dr Rohin Bhatia, a leading neurosurgeon from Jaipur in a conversation with Hardeep Sodhi, founder of Stroke Support India, as a part of Cadila CNS, Cadila Pharmaceuticals’ awareness initiative on various neuropsychiatry disorders.
Numbness of hands, visual blurring, and slurring of speech are among the symptoms of stroke, he said further.
Dr Makarand Hirve, senior neurologist from Bhopal, said that stroke could happen to anyone at any age.
“Strokes happen suddenly, affecting limb movement or sight. The trend of clotting of blood vessels is relatively more common in India due to various factors. Post-stroke seizure, headaches, and vascular dementia are some of the other post-stroke disorders,” Dr Hirve said.
In his comments, Dr Sunit Shah, senior consultant neurologist, Jaipur, said that time is of the essence in stroke cases.
“90 million brain neurons get damaged every minute following a stroke. Recovery of damaged brain parts is very challenging and it all depends on how soon treatment begins. But due to lack of awareness, barely 1% of stroke patients reach the hospital within the window period of four hours, leading to loss of valuable time,” said Dr Shah.
Dr Saurabh Srivastava, a leading neurosurgeon from Gorakhpur, said that medical and non-medical aspects are equally crucial for stroke patients’ recovery.
“Medicines help to a certain extent in cognitive matters, but emotional support of a family is a must for stroke recovery. The patient should not be seen as a burden,” said Dr Srivastava, stressing the need for regular monitoring and taking medicines as directed for proper recovery.
All stroke affected are invited to become members of Stroke Support India community by visiting https://strokesupport.in/or scanning on their mobile device the attached QR Code.”
