BEFAST - an acronym that stands for “balance, eyesight, facial asymmetry”, “weakness of the arm”, “a slurring of the speech”, the signals that indicate a stroke. Also, T for time, as getting the stroke patient to a medical facility as soon as possible is critical.
“The first line of treatment would be to get the patient to the nearest stroke-ready center, and hopefully with processes that follow very rapidly, the clot that's causing the stroke can be dissolved or can be extracted,” Dr. Patty Francis, a practicing neurologist and President of the Stroke Association of South Africa.
Factors that predispose a person to strokes include, diabetes, high blood pressure, as well as lifestyle factors, such as diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption.
“It's prudent for people to go and have blood pressure checked, glucose checked, cholesterol checked. Stop smoking, stop alcohol. Those are things that are relatively easier to do than dealing with a stroke in the acute phase,” Dr. Francis explains.
To hear more details on strokes, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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