Treatment and consequences of stroke in old age

1 What causes the disease

In medical practice, it is customary to talk about two types of stroke: hemorrhagic and ischemic. The first type refers to hemorrhage, which occurred under the brain shell or into the substance of the brain. Ischemic in old age can arise because of problems with the flow of blood to a certain part of the brain, which leads to softening of the areas of the brain tissue.

As medical research shows, the main cause of stroke in elderly people are arterial hypertension, kidney disease, endocrine disorders.

Common causes of stroke are also:

• diabetes;
• rheumatic diseases;
• of vascular aneurysms;
• diseases associated with the circulatory system;
• poisoning;
• chronic heart disease;
• acute course of acute respiratory viral infection, influenza.

2 Types of pathology

Regardless of age, all strokes are divided into two types:

1. Hemorrhagic. It is more typical for people aged 45 to 60 years. The cause of occurrence are frequent disturbances and overwork. The hemorrhagic stroke is characterized by the following symptoms: sudden and severe headaches, rapid breathing, bradycardia or tachycardia. Very often, with hemorrhagic stroke over the age of 80 there are no symptomatic changes, body temperature and blood tests remain normal. This makes it difficult to identify the problem in time, which leads to delayed medical care.
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2. Ischemic. Most often, harbingers of this type of stroke are circulatory disorders in the brain. In the elderly, ischemic hemorrhage occurs in the morning or night, very often they occur after the myocardial infarction. The consequences of a stroke of this species will appear gradually, increasing and growing. So, at first sight can deteriorate, paresis begin, and only then there will be a paralysis.

3 The most frequent changes

The consequences of cerebral hemorrhage for people aged are unpredictable, it is unlikely that there will be a doctor who will accurately tell a further prognosis for the patient. If in the first 35 days it was possible to avoid a lethal outcome, then in the future there can come a return to normal life with a partial or limited activity.

It is extremely important to properly treat and care for the patient in the first 35 days. It will depend on this, a relapse will happen or the patient will start to recover.

In the event that changes in the body occur irreversible, people under 65 can be assigned disability groups.

Most common after a stroke:

1. Leg edema. This problem occurs with a violation in the work of the cardiovascular system. Edema can develop slowly, spread throughout the surface of the limb. In order to avoid the development of such consequences, during treatment, patients are prescribed drugs with a diuretic effect. They allow you to remove excess fluid from the body.
2. Cerebral edema. This complication is more typical for the first hours of stroke. After increasing intracranial pressure, the glial tissue of the brain is pathologically swollen. In order to prevent such consequences, it is necessary in the first hours to provide the right therapeutic help regardless of the symptoms. In severe cases, treatment is carried out in the intensive care unit, as in many situations there is a need for artificial ventilation.
3. Paralysis. Unfortunately, for people of advanced age the development of paralysis is very frequent. There may be partial paresis or complete loss of motor activity. In addition, when paralysis often occurs, and speech impairment. Patients may speak inaudible or do not themselves understand their own speech errors.

4 Symptoms and complications for the body after right-sided paralysis

The right side stroke is diagnosed much later than the left side. This leads to untimely seeking medical help.

In the right side stroke, the consequences may be as follows:

• paralysis of the legs, hands and face on the left side;
• many lose the sensation of their body, they claim that they feel a lot of hands;
• total or partial memory loss;
• violations in the measurement of distance, size, difficulty in orientation in the terrain.

Left-sided stroke in older people occurs more often than right-sided. With a left-sided stroke, there can be such consequences:

• speech disorders, a person's words become illegible, it is difficult to understand, he can pronounce only a part of the sounds from the word;The
• body paralyzes from the right;
• the patient can not write, read, has problems with articulation;
• does not remember what it says;
• after a short period of time such patients begin to completely become isolated in themselves, and communication stops completely.

With extensive stroke, hemorrhage affects huge areas of the brain. And on what the extent of the lesion site, the consequences will depend:

• partial and complete paresis of the body;
• for extensive lesion of the left part of the brain is characterized by speech disorders, the person completely stops talking;
• if there is extensive damage to the brain tissue, then it is not subject to recovery, these patients suffer not only motor activity, but also vision, hearing, speech, there may be a complete loss of memory.

What are the effects of a micro stroke? This species is also typical for people from 50 to 65 years. According to doctors, he is the most dangerous, as patients do not immediately understand what happened to them. Many write off their violations in motor activity, memory, vision for other diseases.

The most vivid manifestations of the effects are irritability, nervousness, aggressiveness or tearfulness.

5 Than the coma

is more dangerous. Most often, such a condition occurs in a patient with an extensive stroke, and a large area of ​​tissue is damaged in the brain. The most dangerous is persistent paralysis of various organs and systems. It can be:

• paralyzing the respiratory system;
• vascular center;
• violation of thermoregulation.

Unfortunately, after a coma, older people survive quite infrequently.

If they did not regain consciousness in the first 7 days, there is no chance of recovery. In the following days, a repeated ischemic stroke occurs, which leads to death.

Those who regain consciousness in the first 7 days partially restore their motor activity. But the number of such patients does not exceed 20%.

Stroke at any age is a serious threat to human health. Its consequences are always unpredictable. But a timely appeal to a specialist, proper medical care, proper care of the patient is guaranteed to ensure recovery, return the person to a normal life.