When a ‘brain attack’ strikes

A stroke is now known as a "brain attack." It could strike anytime, with little warning; it could greatly impair one’s physical and mental function; and it could happen to anyone.

Consider this scenario. A man, still in his early 40s, experienced his first brain attack, but had another one less than two years later. Before his first stroke, he had never known he had high blood pressure. He smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, drank heavily, and in most days hardly left his office desk.

He had his first brain attack while walking. It was only mild. He suddenly felt disoriented, as if he didn’t know where he was. He also felt like his right leg was dragging behind him.

For more than a week, he had difficulty moving around, but he got better after about three weeks. Upon his doctor’s advice, he quit smoking, drinking, and eating fatty foods. He even started taking medicines to control his blood pressure.

Unfortunately, this phase of good behavior ended after a few months – he went back to smoking and drinking, and stopped taking his medicines.

He had his second stroke while driving with a friend. One moment he was making small talk as he tried to swerve to another lane, the next moment he couldn’t step on the gas pedal, his hands lost their grip from the wheel, and he collapsed. Alarmed, his friend took control of the car and completed the dangerous swerve.

After the stroke, he couldn’t move his right arm and leg. When he spoke, his words sounded garbled, something that obviously frustrated him. He also became easily irritable.

In many ways, he was lucky. Some people are severely disabled by just one brain attack, while others do not survive a second stroke. There are also people who experience multiple brain attacks throughout their lifetime.

What the man experienced is an ischemic stroke, the most common kind of brain attack. What usually happens is that an artery leading to the brain hardens and is blocked with fatty deposits. These deposits could rupture and get dislodged anytime.

Because of this, blood carrying oxygen and other important nutrients can no longer reach the brain. Deprived of oxygen, the nearest tissue dies. And if the brain tissue that dies is in charge of certain physical and mental functions – movement, speaking or memory – the patient may lose that function.

It is important to focus on the importance of the build-up and rupture of fatty deposits in the artery because it is a disease process responsible for the greatest number of deaths worldwide. Called atherothrombosis, it is the main culprit to the occurrence not only of brain attacks, but also of heart attacks.

Atherothrombosis develops because of a number of factors: a strong family history (a member of one’s immediate family had a stroke or heart attack), smoking, a diet high in fat and salt, lack of physical activity, and the presence of another disease like hypertension or diabetes.

A patient with atherothrombosis who experiences a stroke has a serious risk of having another, possibly a fatal one in just a few months. Also, atherothrombosis could make a patient die of a heart attack a month after experiencing a brain attack.

But a brain attack, like atherothrombosis, can be prevented. A healthy lifestyle, even if one has a strong family history of the disease, contributes significantly to preventing the disease.

Stroke survivors, meanwhile, can prevent the occurrence of a heart attack or second stroke. A healthy lifestyle is still necessary, but close medical attention is also important. A doctor may require a patient to be on long-term therapy with a drug that dissolves blood clots, such as aspirin or clopidogrel. If a patient has high blood pressure, he may be given another drug that regulates his blood-pressure levels.

Surviving a brain attack may also require physical and mental rehabilitation. A specialist usually recommends certain exercises that will help a patient function as close to normal as before. Walking, communicating and other exercises greatly benefit from individualized rehabilitation programs.