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Stroke Care And Early Prevention with Nisha Andrea Raj | Otter.ai

Stroke Care And Early Prevention with Nisha Andrea Raj

Sarah Anati9min

PC Gan

00:04

Hello, this is our first video from Homage. The reason why we are doing this video is because we've been getting a lot of inquiries from our care recipients and care owners themselves on certain medical conditions. Our intent here is to really share certain general awareness on certain conditions, so that we know what to expect, or what are the sort of treatments you can get, especially from home. But again, this just general awareness. If you do feel any pain at all or any of these symptoms, please consult the closest doctor near you and also the hospitals near you. With me today is Andrea. Andrea is our in-house nurse. She's based in Klang Valley. She brings with her 10 years of experience in countries like Saudi, Singapore and now she's back at home, here to treat our Malaysians. She's specifically in stroke unit. So, for this video, we would like to understand a little bit more about stroke. So maybe Andrea if you can share with us what is a stroke?

Andrea

01:20

Okay, stroke is actually when your blood supply to the brain - there's a disruption there. So meaning you have like a blockage or a clot then that's when the stroke occurs. So there's - depending on what type of stroke you're going to get. So that's it.

PC Gan

01:37

Is there like something that I could feel that it's coming or are there any symptoms that I'd know of?

Andrea

01:45

Yes. Usually when someone has a stroke, the first foremost signs that you can see we use F A S T. Which is F A S T. F stands for face, you can see either side of their face is drooping, maybe when they smile they're eyelid is - maybe they smile their nasolabial fold is drooping, their eyelid is drooping. That's one of the signs. Then A is their arms. When you ask them to lift up their arms, it actually drifts. Yeah, you ask them to hold for 10 seconds, it will actually drift one side. Yeah, and then speech, S is for speech. Speech when they're speaking is actually slurred speech, so you can actually tell that they are having slurred speech, compared to a normal speech. Like how now you're speaking is normal. So they will have slurred speech. Yeah, and then time is where you say time, you have to note down the time, what time you notice these symptoms. And then you need to call the emergency ambulance.

PC Gan

02:40

Okay, so I think for this F A S T, the easiest for me to see is really the arms. So, how often do I need to just check on myself to make sure that I'm okay?

Andrea

02:53

Oh no. So like example if you are out with your friends or someone in the public, and then you- you will, the very obvious one you'll notice is their face.

PC Gan

03:02

Oh.

Andrea

03:02

Yeah, you can see their eyelids, their nasolabial fold here is actually drooping. Or when they're drinking water they're drooling. And then you can see they unable to lift up either side of their. If it's left side you can see the whole left side, the weakness. So you ask them to put up their arms, hold for 10 seconds. So if 10 seconds you see them drifting it's very obvious. You know that they're having a sign or symptom of stroke.

PC Gan

03:27

So, say for example if I'm having coffee with a friend and if suddenly I see her left side example starts to droop . Do I have to follow the F A S T straightaway or can I just conclude that, oh, something has happened?

Andrea

03:45

Yeah, you can actually visibly see the F A S T, the F is for the face. You can see the drooping already then the arms, you can, if you can see that she's having - there's some people don't have that weakness. If they have like the mini stroke, they might - it just be there for a while then it will just disappear. So it's still best to seek medical doctors advice. Go to the nearest hospital you can. Note down the time, what time did this happen, what time did your friend notice it. It's very important to know the time.

PC Gan

04:16

So, say for example, if this situation quickly escalates, is there something I can do immediately?

Andrea

04:23

Uh, for you to do immediately is to call the emergency, the ambulance. That's the only immediate action. Do not give them things like - I know some people say take aspirin. Because you don't know whether they're having a bleed or an ischemic.

PC Gan

04:39

I see, okay. So again, I just want to make sure that this is just a general knowledge that we should equip ourselves with but if you do feel any of these symptoms at all please go and see the nearest doctor or go to the nearest hospital. So, let's go on to the second part. If let's say, a person is diagnosed stroke now. What sort of therapy or treatment they usually do at the hospital. And if after that, when I get discharged, what can I do at home?

Andrea

05:16

Okay. So, when you noted all the signs and symptoms, they will send them immediately to a hospital. In the hospital they will do all the scans, CT scans, if there's no bleed MRI and then if it's ischemic stroke they will see treatments like maybe they need to give you a alteplase. It's a clot-busting medication. Those kind of medication is only given in the hospital, so they will see if you fit the criteria. This criteria list, if like 80 and above, they will not do those kind of things. And then they will monitor you for 3 days.

PC Gan

05:47

Oh, in the hospital?

Andrea

05:48

Yeah, in the hospital. So 3 days they'll monitor, depending on what type of stroke. Then again, because you have ischemic, hemorrhagic and TIA. So if it's ischemic stroke, they will monitor you - they will see how, how's your heart rhythm, they will do the echo scans and all that, and all, most of the stroke patient, not most, I can say all maybe 99% of the stroke patient they will need a continuous physiotherapy, occupational therapy or speech therapy.

PC Gan

06:18

Oh okay. What's the difference between - so, I only know of physiotherapy. What is speech therapy?

Andrea

06:23

Okay. So like for occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech therapists they are actually 3 different specialised themselves. So physiotherapists, they focus on your bones and your big major muscles and all that. Occupational therapists they actually focus on your fine motor, and some of them for your cognitive levels and all that. For speech therapists, they concentrate more on your speech and language, and also your swallowing. If you have impaired swallowing, some people after stroke their muscles all weaken. So they need a speech therapist to actually train them - those exercises what to do, how to speak like some things like singing or certain words, and if they have a certain type of stroke, where it's their Broca and Wernicke's is affected, so they will need - they will have like difficulty expressing. So they call that, yeah they have global aphasia and things, so they will need like communication board. This will all be provided by the speech therapists.

PC Gan

07:22

I see, I see. So, if a patient is a stroke victim. Is there any sort of recovery they can do from home?

Andrea

07:35

Recovery like physiotherapists, speech therapists and occupational therapists together, they have to change their lifestyle, their diet, everything. So, in recovery progress right, once they are really stable, then the doctor will discharged them from the hospital. So when they go home, they will always advise you to continue your physiotherapy. If depending on what type of weakness you have, continue your occupational therapies, or continuous speech therapies at home. So they will give you like maybe one week, once you come and see the hospital and then you go back and you train yourself, you do all those exercise activities that was given. So you will be able to see improvement in your daily lifestyle.

PC Gan

08:16

So with these therapies, will a stroke patient recover to almost normal - like before?

Andrea

08:29

Yes, if they continue to do all the therapy, depending what type of stroke again because different type of stroke, and their willpower. Because if some people they have really - they might not be able to recover 100% to how they was. They will be example if they stroke, there will be a minor difference in their lifestyle, because your 100 - it's not like 100% recovery to how you was prior to your stroke, but you will still, they still like something lacking here and there. But with continuous physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy depending on which one you need, you will be able to see improvement. It's like a daily improvement thing.

PC Gan

09:08

This video, serves as a very basic information for the general public. Again, if you need, or if you need any information or you feel any pain at all, please go to the doctors and go to the nearest hospital. If you would like to know more about any medical conditions, or if you have any feedback on this video, please let us know. You can always put it on a comment section. Again, this serves as a very basic information for everybody. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you Andrea for your time.

Andrea

09:46

Thank you so much.

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