High Blood Pressure Causes Stroke: Signs and Symptoms of Stroke

An acute stroke occurs when the blood flow to certain part of the brain is cut off. The brain cells do not get its nutrition such as oxygen and glucose, to perform its normal function as a result of this damage.

Patients who have high blood pressure are susceptible 4 to 5 times more, to suffer from stroke.

This may happen due to spontaneous intra-cerebral bleeding from minute blood vessels in hypertensive subject.

Over a period of time, high blood pressure in a subject can give rise to atherosclerosis and hardened arteries. This leads to weakening of the walls of small blood vessels such as capillaries in the brain. Due to high blood pressure, the capillaries and arteriole become fragile and they burst resulting in paralysis or stroke as it is called.

Stroke can be due to ischemic causes due to cerebral thrombosis with or without atherosclerosis, arteritis, blood disease such as polycythemia sickle cell anemia etc.

Hemorrhagic strokes account for 20% of all the strokes, and it is caused due to high blood pressure in great majority of the elderly hypertensive individuals, 50 to 75 years of age.

Signs and Symptoms of Stroke

  • Sudden severe occipital headache.
  • Numbness in the arm and leg.
  • Inability to move limb or a part of body. Usually one sided.
  • Sudden vomiting and dizziness.
  • Blurred vision.
  • Dilated pupils.
  • Confusion
  • Brief loss of consciousness.
  • Coma may set in the later stage.

An immediate medical care is necessary when a person has suffered from stroke. Call 911 immediately when you have the symptoms of stroke.

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