10 Early Warning Signs of a Stroke Everyone Should Know
A stroke usually doesn’t give you a long period of warning. The most important clue is that symptoms often appear suddenly. Recognizing them and getting emergency treatment quickly can reduce brain damage and disability.
Watch for these sudden symptoms:
- Face drooping — especially on one side.
- Weakness or numbness in an arm or leg, particularly on one side.
- Slurred or unusual speech.
- Difficulty understanding what someone is saying.
- Sudden confusion.
- Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
- Sudden dizziness or loss of balance.
- Sudden difficulty walking or coordinating movements.
- A sudden, severe headache with no known cause.
- Sudden double vision, nausea, vomiting, or unusual drowsiness can also occur, although these are less typical.
🧠 Remember B.E. F.A.S.T.
- B — Balance: sudden loss of balance or coordination
- E — Eyes: sudden vision changes
- F — Face: one side droops when smiling
- A — Arms: one arm becomes weak or drifts downward
- S — Speech: speech becomes slurred or strange
- T — Time: call emergency services immediately
🚑 Don’t wait for symptoms to disappear
Even if the symptoms last only a few minutes and then completely resolve, they could represent a transient ischemic attack (TIA). A TIA is a medical emergency and can be a warning of a future major stroke.
Do not drive yourself to the hospital. Call an ambulance and note the time the symptoms began, because treatment options depend partly on how long ago the stroke started.
