Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. A stroke victim may suffer permanent brain damage when people fail to recognize what's happening. Now, doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke, simply by asking three questions:
- ask the individual to smile.
- ask him or her to raise both arms.
- ask the person to speak a simple sentence.
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, time lost is brain lost, so waste none of it dithering on a phone in hopes of getting a dispatcher to say "Gee, your friend has had a stroke; you'd best get her to a hospital." Because a new drug ( Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) has been shown to limit disability from strokes caused by clots (ischemic) provided victims receive it within three hours of the onset of stroke symptoms.