Know the Signs of Stroke

Most people who spot a stroke are not medically trained. They are a partner across the breakfast table, someone in the next seat at the footy, a workmate on the other side of a shed. Which is why the signs are worth knowing before you ever need them.

The Stroke Foundation uses F.A.S.T. to describe the three most common signs, and the one thing that matters most once you see them.

Face. Has their mouth drooped on one side? Ask them to smile.

Arms. Can they lift both arms and keep them up? Does one drift down?

Speech. Is their speech slurred, or are they struggling to find words? Do they understand you?

Time. This is the part people get wrong. If you see any one of these signs, call 000 immediately. Not after a cup of tea to see whether it passes. Not after a phone call to a relative to ask what they think.

Why the time part matters so much

Stroke treatment is time-critical in a way that few other emergencies are. The treatments that can limit damage only work within a limited window after symptoms begin, and that window starts closing from the first moment, not from when someone finally decides it looks serious.

That makes the waiting-and-seeing instinct the most dangerous part of a stroke, and it is a very human instinct. Symptoms can be painless. They can come and go. Someone having a stroke may insist they are fine, and may not be able to judge that accurately.

Call an ambulance rather than driving. Paramedics can begin assessing on the way and take the person to a hospital equipped to treat stroke, which is not always the nearest one.

If the signs disappear

Signs that resolve within minutes may have been a transient ischaemic attack, a TIA, sometimes called a mini-stroke. It is not a false alarm. A TIA is a warning that a larger stroke may follow, and it should be treated as urgent even though the person now seems perfectly well.

Lowering your own risk

A number of the things that raise stroke risk are the same things a routine check-up looks at: blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose, atrial fibrillation, smoking and alcohol. High blood pressure in particular often has no symptoms at all, which is exactly why it gets missed.

If you have not had those things looked at in a while, it is worth raising at your next appointment.

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Source: Stroke Foundation, Signs of stroke.