If someone you know shows signs of stroke, call 9-1-1 right away.
If you have a stroke, you may receive emergency care, treatment to prevent another stroke, rehabilitation to treat the side effects of stroke, or all three.
Your emergency treatment starts in the ambulance. The emergency workers may take you to a specialized stroke center to ensure that you receive the quickest possible diagnosis and treatment.
At the hospital, health care providers will ask about your medical history and about the time your symptoms started. Brain scans will show what type of stroke you had. You may also work with a neurologist who treats brain disorders, a neurosurgeon that performs surgery on the brain, or a specialist in another area of medicine.
If you get to the hospital within 3 hours of the first symptoms of an ischemic stroke, a health care provider may give you a type of medicine called a thrombolytic (a "clot-busting" drug) to break up blood clots. Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a thrombolytic.
tPA improves the chances of recovering from a stroke. Studies have shown that patients with ischemic strokes who received tPA are more likely to recover fully or have less disability than patients who do not receive the drug.1,2 In addition, patients treated with tPA are less likely to need long-term care in a nursing home.3 Unfortunately, many stroke victims dont get to the hospital in time for tPA treatment. This is why its so important to identify a stroke immediately.
Medicine, surgery, or other procedures may be needed to stop the bleeding and save brain tissue. For example:
If you have had a , you are at high risk for another stroke:
That's why it's important to treat the underlying causes of stroke, including heart disease, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation (fast, irregular heartbeat), high cholesterol, and diabetes. Your doctor may give you medications or tell you to change your diet, exercise, or adopt other healthy lifestyle habits. Surgery may also be helpful in some cases.
After a stroke, you may need rehabilitation (rehab) to help you recover. Rehab can include working with speech, physical, and occupational therapists:
Read more from the original source:
Stroke Treatments | cdc.gov - Centers for Disease Control ...