Stroke symptoms

A brain stroke is a dramatic, life threatening condition. Brain strokes, or cerebral apoplexy, are cerebrovascular disorders that includes three types of vascular disorders: cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarct and subarachniodal hemorrhage.


A cerebral hemorrhage defines bleeding in the brain tissue due to rupture of an intracerebral artery or vascular anomaly.


A cerebral infarct is due to blood thrombosis in a brain artery. During this condition, an arterial thrombosis causes the circulation (ischemia) of blood to stop; necrosis (death) of brain tissue follows.


Finally, a subarachnoidal hemorrhage defines bleeding in the subarachnoidal space due to the rupture of a vascular anomaly (aneurism) of the arteries at the base of the brain.


All vascular disorders in the brain occur suddenly and their manifestation depends upon the location in which they appear and the severity of the case.


Cerebral hemorrhages and infarcts can not be distinguished between one another according to the symptoms or physical examination, but can only be properly identified with a CT-scan. Cerebral hemorrhages and infarcts manifest the same signs and symptoms: headache, dizziness, paralyses or pareses, disturbed speaking or swallowing, disturbed orientation and consciousness, comma, death.


Subarachnoidal bleeding can be distinguished from a brain hemorrhage and/or infarct because the condition manifests some more specific signs and symptoms: headache, unprovoked vomiting, photo and audio phobia, neck stiffness, specific meningeal signs, comma and death.


You can have your symptoms examined by a primary physician first, and seek help from a specialist, if necessary. It is possible that the symptoms that you are experiencing are caused by any number of possible reasons, but are probably not an indicator of stroke.