Strokes – Critical Illness Insurance

A stroke can occur at any time, day or night, when your at home, out and about or at work and therefore not only will it be a terrifying experience for the person suffering but also anyone around. There are two reasons why someone may suffer a stroke, for your brain to work to its full capacity there needs to be a steady flow of blood to the brain oxygen to keep the blood pumping and also nutrients. If for any reason the brain cells are damaged this could lead to a stroke along with the blood supply being cut off so that oxygen does then not reach the brain.

You would know if you were having a stroke because for example you may start to feel very weak and loose the feeling in one side of your body maybe. Therefore leaving you unstable and sometimes people cannot get their words out clearly as their speech may then be slightly slurred and can even loose slight vision for a short period of time. As the brain controls the rest of your body it can affect people in different ways depending on what part of the brain is affected. There are over a hundred and fifty thousand people who suffer from a stroke every year and therefore there is a large percentage of the population who are now disabled after such an illness, others however do die as a result of a stroke. It is more common for a person to suffer from a stoke over the age of sixty five and this may become even older as the advances in medicines and the health service keep getting better. However the increased awareness in our personal health may also mean that people are more conscious of their health and therefore lead a healthier life which may mean they do not then put their body through unnecessary damage such as smoking, or being over weight for example. Strokes can be prevented purely by assessing how you live your life and if someone makes a few changes it may just stop them from suffering such an illness and prevent either death or being disabled.

Not only should people consider how they live their life but it is also very important for those who have survived from a stroke with no permanent damage maybe to reconsider how they do things. For example, someone should cut down on smoking or ideally stop, if overweight try and bring their weight down as much as possible, reduce blood pressure or cholesterol levels if they are above normal, reduce their level of stress even if this means taking yourself out of an environment that causes the stress such as a working environment but also try and do some sort of exercise every week.

If suffered immediate care is needed and a doctor would maybe do a scan of the brain to identify the level of damaged caused but also identify what treatment is needed as there are two types of stroke both ischemic and haemorrhagic.