Rutherglen's Fiona Kleinitz, who suffered a serious stroke 20 years ago, spoke with feeling to nearly 50 people about strokes at October's U3A monthly Meet and Mingle on October 18.
Ms Kleinitz said the first sign of her stroke was when her sister commented on the left side of her face dropping and her speech being slurred. Soon after the entire left side of her body became paralysed.
She was admitted to a hospital is Adelaide but had to wait 20 hours for an MRI to be done and her stroke discovered. That delay hindered her recovery and today her left leg and arm, while not still paralysed, do impede her walking and reasonable and useful left arm movement.
Ms Kleinitz said the first sign of her stroke was when her sister commented on the left side of her face dropping and her speech being slurred. Soon after the entire left side of her body became paralysed.
She was admitted to a hospital is Adelaide but had to wait 20 hours for an MRI to be done and her stroke discovered. That delay hindered her recovery and today her left leg and arm, while not still paralysed, do impede her walking and reasonable and useful left arm movement.
Ms Kleinitz said one in four Australians would have a stroke and it was estimated a couple of years ago that 27,428 Australians would suffer their first stroke of some sort the following year and that would have amounted to one every 19 minutes.
She said it was worrying that 40 per cent of Australians could not name any of the three most common signs of a stroke. They are F for face (facial drop); A for arms (inability to lift arms) and S for slurred speech.
The acronym to remember is FAST, with the T to remind sufferers of the necessity of receiving timely medical intervention, initially by dialling triple zero. Most strokes display one of more of the three signs.
“A stroke is always a medical emergency”, Ms Kleinitz said. “There is no time to lose because a blocked or burst artery, cuts off blood supply to the brain and untreated a sufferer can lose 1.9 million brain cells a minute”.
Most stroke sufferers can make a good recovery, although they may have to learn how to walk, talk and eat again.
High blood pressure is one of the highest risk factors for strokes. But there is also family history of strokes, being overweight, smoking, having high cholesterol or a high intake of alcohol and/or having diabetes.
More information: strokefoundation.org.au.
She said it was worrying that 40 per cent of Australians could not name any of the three most common signs of a stroke. They are F for face (facial drop); A for arms (inability to lift arms) and S for slurred speech.
The acronym to remember is FAST, with the T to remind sufferers of the necessity of receiving timely medical intervention, initially by dialling triple zero. Most strokes display one of more of the three signs.
“A stroke is always a medical emergency”, Ms Kleinitz said. “There is no time to lose because a blocked or burst artery, cuts off blood supply to the brain and untreated a sufferer can lose 1.9 million brain cells a minute”.
Most stroke sufferers can make a good recovery, although they may have to learn how to walk, talk and eat again.
High blood pressure is one of the highest risk factors for strokes. But there is also family history of strokes, being overweight, smoking, having high cholesterol or a high intake of alcohol and/or having diabetes.
More information: strokefoundation.org.au.
Meet and Mingle on Wednesday 15th November is our annual concert, this year featuring items by our new Ukes4Fun group as well as the Recorder Group and the Singing for Fun Group. This year our ‘Patchwork’ group became the ‘Patchwork and Craft’ group, so craft items will join patchwork items on display in their annual exhibition. All welcome!
David Palmer
David Palmer
