You are at a store and you hear someone yell, "My mom's having a stroke!"
You hear someone else say, "No, she is having a seizure!"
Today in this post, the whole confusion over these two complications will end for good.
First, let's define the two diseases. A stroke is when the blood supply is cut off from the brain. There are mainly two different types of stokes. One type is called an Ischemic Stroke. An Ischemic Stroke is when a blood clot or piece of fatty plaque blocks the blood flow to the brain.The other type is called a Hemorrhagic stroke. This is when a blood vessel breaks and the blood leaks into the brain tissue. This type of stroke is usually caused by complications such as high blood pressure and brain aneurysms. Especially when having an aneurysm, it aggravates the vessels, making them weak.
On the side of things, there are seizures. A seizure is caused by excessive amounts of synchronous electrical activity in the circuits of the brain causing patients to burst into spasm attacks. Seizures are most likely caused by a disorder call Epilepsy. An epilepsy is when there is an abnormal amount of neurons traveling into the brain. Although most seizure victims share the common disorder, anyone can have a seizure.
Why are these two so confusing then? Obviously, their causes are different, so how can someone incorrectly define them? How can we clearly tell the differences between them? The next step of "unconfusing" the two is by the physical signs. Even though you can have a stroke anytime, the largest group of people to have strokes are in the more elderly class. When having a stroke, you will usually start to become numb around the facial area or on one side of the body. Victims of strokes are usually hard to understand, slurring their words or sometimes just talking gibberish. Strokes can cause a person to start losing vision in one or both eyes and have extremely severe headaches. If a stroke doesn't receive medical assistance, it can cause a victim with a massive amount of dead brain cells. They can to lead to long term effects such as losing the ability to walk or being paralyzed on parts of the body. It can even cause death, if it is severe!
Seizures can happen at any age, at any time. The signs of a seizure can range from twitching to violent shaking to repeating themselves. Seizures are hardly, if ever, as dangerous as strokes. When seeing a person having a seizure, it isn't as easy to declare they having one like you see in the movies. Although most seizures are not life threatening, if you do see one that portrays a movie scene, get medical attention immediately. If a person has epilepsy, there are anti-epileptic medications to decrease the chance of having a seizure. Unlike Strokes that are most likely life-threatening, the only major outcomes to a seizure is some dead brain cells and short memory loss. Unless, it is like the movies where it can cause an unknown death.
Another main reason why Seizures can be portrayed as Strokes or vice versa is because seizures can come after a person has stroke. It can be weeks later after a victim has a stroke and when a person sees the victim not acting "normal" in a medical way, they can confuse the seizure as a stroke again! If a person has more than one seizure after a stroke, it can cause a person to inhibit the disorder, Epilepsy.
Whether a person is having a seizure or stroke, remember to always get medical assistance immediately. You could save a person's life, with one call. Thanks for reading! Bye!
The wonderful sources:
Webmd.com
Neurology.stanford.edu
Livestrong.com
Strokesafe.org
Differencebetween.com
Remember to comment below or contact me for questions, requests, or concerns!
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