How is a silent stroke treated?

If a person has a brain scan and their doctor detects one or multiple silent strokes, they may prescribe medications. For instance, blood thinning medications can help to lower blood pressure, and cholesterol medications can help to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.

What happens after a silent stroke?

Once you suffer from a silent stroke, your chances of suffering from more strokes in the future increase. The damage caused to the brain can result in significant cognitive decline or even death. It may also lead to vascular dementia.

How do you tell if you've had a silent stroke?

Why did I have a silent stroke?

A silent stroke is most often caused by reduced blood flow in one of the smaller arteries that feed the brain. It can occur without noticeable symptoms if it affects a part of the brain that doesn't control major movements or vital functions.

Is a silent stroke common?

Silent strokes are much more common than strokes that cause classic symptoms such as face drooping, arm weakness and speech difficulty and affect nearly 800,000 Americans each year. According to the statement, one in four people over 80 have one or more silent strokes.

Uncovering Facts on Silent Stroke

Can you recover from a silent stroke?

Silent Strokes More Common Than You'd Expect

A study of middle-aged people with no apparent signs of stroke found that about 10% had brain damage from one. The damage that happens is permanent, but therapy might help stimulate other parts of the brain so you regain abilities that may have weakened.

Can stress cause silent strokes?

It's known that stress from work is bad for your health, including causing an increase in your risk for cardiovascular disease, particularly high blood pressure and heart disease. If you've wondered specifically if stress can cause a stroke, too, the answer is unfortunately, yes.

Can silent strokes cause dementia?

But some strokes don't cause any noticeable symptoms. These silent strokes still increase dementia risk. With both silent and apparent strokes, the risk of vascular dementia increases with the number of strokes that occur over time. One type of vascular dementia involving many strokes is called multi-infarct dementia.

What is another name for silent stroke?

A silent stroke (or asymptomatic cerebral infarction) is a stroke that does not have any outward symptoms associated with stroke, and the patient is typically unaware they have suffered a stroke.

Can doctors tell if you had a stroke in the past?

Usually, a silent stroke is discovered unexpectedly on a brain CT or brain MRI. These imaging tests can easily distinguish past strokes from recent strokes.

Where do silent strokes occur?

Silent strokes occur when a clot blocks a blood vessel in the brain, but the person experiences no noticeable symptoms. This can cause damage to a small part of the brain. Due to a lack of noticeable symptoms, silent can be difficult to identify. However, people may have slight mobility or memory issues.

Do mini strokes show up on MRI?

You will likely have a head CT scan or brain MRI. A stroke may show changes on these tests, but TIAs will not.

Will an old stroke show up on CT scan?

If a stroke is suspected, a CT scan is usually able to show whether you have had an ischaemic stroke or a haemorrhagic stroke. It's generally quicker than an MRI scan and can mean you're able to receive appropriate treatment sooner.

What's the difference between a mini stroke and a silent stroke?

TIA Has Symptoms, Silent Stroke May Not

Seshadri. A TIA causes some symptoms, while a silent stroke, by definition, does not. But both are warning signs to pay attention to the well-known risk factors for stroke, such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, obesity, and smoking.

What happens if a mini stroke goes untreated?

Even if a major stroke is avoided, repeated mini strokes can have a cumulative negative effect on one's brain health and cognitive function. In severe cases, vascular dementia may result from untreated cerebrovascular events.

How long can a stroke go untreated?

In fact, ischemic strokes unfold over a period of 10 hours. That means that with every second you wait for treatment, the brain damage gets worse. If a stroke is untreated for the full 10 hours, the brain ages up to 36 years! With every minute you wait, the brain loses two million brain cells.

What does a silent stroke feel like?

The silent type

Brain damage from silent strokes is minor and limited to areas of the brain that don't control parts of the body that would prompt typical stroke symptoms, such as blurry vision or trouble raising an arm. Rather, you might have difficulty concentrating or remembering things.

Can a silent stroke cause personality changes?

Having a stroke can affect your emotions and personality. You may laugh or cry for no reason. These changes can be hard to adjust to, especially for those closest to you. Emotional and personality changes can get better with time.

What does a stroke feel like in your head?

In addition to the classic stroke symptoms associated with the FAST acronym, around 7-65% of people undergoing a stroke will experience some form of a headache. People describe a stroke-related headache as a very severe headache that comes on within seconds or minutes.

Can a blood test show a mini-stroke?

Blood tests for stroke. There is no blood test that can diagnose a stroke. However, in the hospital, your doctor or nurse may do a series of blood tests to learn the cause of your stroke symptoms: Complete blood count (CBC).

What are the 5 warning signs of a mini-stroke?

Call 9-1-1 immediately if any of these signs of stroke appear: Numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg; Confusion or trouble speaking or understanding speech; Trouble seeing in one or both eyes; Trouble walking, dizziness, or problems with balance; severe headache with no known cause.

Can anxiety give you a stroke?

The greater the anxiety level, the higher risk of having a stroke, according to research published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke from December 2013. The study is the first in which researchers linked anxiety and stroke independent of other factors such as depression.

What mimics a stroke?

One of the most common stroke mimics is a seizure, which researchers believe account for as many as 20% of all stroke mimics. Other common stroke mimics include migraines, syncope, sepsis, brain tumor and metabolic derangement (low sodium or low blood sugar).

How do hospitals check for strokes?

Tests to diagnose stroke include the following: Computed tomography (CT) uses X-rays to take clear, detailed pictures of your brain. It is often done right after a stroke is suspected. A brain CT scan can show if there is bleeding in the brain or damage to the brain cells from a stroke.

What are the odds of having a second stroke?

Even after surviving a stroke, you're not out of the woods, since having one makes it a lot more likely that you'll have another. In fact, of the 795,000 Americans who will have a first stroke this year, 23 percent will suffer a second stroke. What can stroke patients do to avoid a recurrence?