Post-stroke seizures
Do you know about post-stroke seizures? It is a seizure that occurs after a stroke. Usually, this type of seizure mostly doesn’t lead to epilepsy. But if the symptoms are severe, it can be a life-threatening condition. So, you must know how you can prevent a seizure after a stroke. Get a consultation with the best neurologists in Brooklyn.
Learn about post-stroke seizures and how you can prevent them in this article.
The connection between stroke and seizure
Stroke and seizure are two different conditions, but they share a connection. It has been found that having a stroke can increase your risk of seizure. This type of seizure (caused by/after a stroke) is called a post-stroke seizure. It happens after a stroke which could damage your brain. Sometimes, this type of damage can result in scar tissue formation, which causes electrical activity in your brain, and this electrical activity leads to a seizure. If you’ve had a hemorrhagic stroke (brain bleeding), you’re more prone to experience seizures. A severe stroke or a stroke in the cerebral cortex, the vast outer layer of the brain where critical processes like movement, thought, vision, and emotion take place, can also increase your risk of seizures.
Epilepsy is a condition when a person has recurrent seizures. The likelihood of this occurring may be influenced by the location and extent of the stroke in the brain. It does not mean that post-stroke seizures can lead to epilepsy. Epilepsy happens due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain which causes recurrent seizures. Epilepsy is usually caused by head trauma and brain tumors, not by stroke damage to the brain. However, stroke can lead to epilepsy in older people because of weak brain cells. It is also found in a 2019 review that stroke causes epilepsy in around 11% of younger adults and 45% of older adults (over 60).
So, stroke can increase your risk of seizure in some situations, but it cannot lead to epilepsy. In other words, you may only experience an episode once due to stroke, and only if you are younger than 60 years.
Symptoms
A stroke usually occurs suddenly, and you can experience symptoms such as:
- Severe headache
- Dizziness
- Confusion
- Balance issues
- Lack of coordination and difficulty walking
- Vision problems in one or both eyes
- Weakness and numbness on one side of the face or body.
- Slurred speech and difficulty in communication
You can tell if a person is experiencing a stroke by using the FAST acronym and calling an emergency medical helpline number to help them. Here are the questions that are used to tell whether the person having a stroke or not:
- F (Face): Is their face drooping to one side when you ask them to smile?
- A (Arms): Is a person able to raise both of his arms and one arm drifting downward when doing it?
- S (Speech): Ask a person to talk, and notice if their speech sounds slurred or unusual.
- T (Time): Now, note the time, and if you suspect a person is having a stroke, call the emergency medical services immediately to save the person’s life.
Symptoms of a seizure depend on which type of seizure you are experiencing. Usually, a generalized seizure is the most common type, and symptoms include:
- Body shaking/tremors
- Loss of consciousness/ fainting
- Muscle spasms
- Tingling sensations
Other common symptoms of seizure include:
- Altered emotions
- Loss of muscle control
- Confusion
- Changes in sound, look, taste, feel, or smell
- A loss of bladder control
While seizures are not severe, however, if a seizure is still effective after 5 minutes, then you should call for emergency medical services.
Want to know how you can help a person with seizures? Look no further. Call us on +1-347-384-5690 or visit www.doralhw.org and book your appointment with the best Neurologists in Brooklyn at Doral Health & Wellness. Visit us at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212. Keeping you safe and healthy is our primary goal. Contact us to help your loved ones.