Once a stroke has occurred there is often little that can be done, at least as far as the stroke itself is concerned. The doctor will want to check to see if a part of the body is throwing off little clots – such as a damaged heart valve. If a source of clots is found it may be appropriate to thin the blood to prevent these clots forming, and later becoming lodged in the brain. In some cases, it may even be necessary to surgically remove the offending area.
At the moment, most stroke victims have to wait for the body to recover naturally, by itself. On the horizon, however, are some interesting clot-dissolving drugs, and in the future it may well be that stroke victims immediately get sent to hospital for clot-busting injections given directly into the veins, as is often done now with heart attacks.
Because most stroke victims are elderly, all other types of headache affecting the elderly can combine to multiply their effects and cause greater headaches. For example, a patient with a stroke may also have a considerable degree of osteoarthritis of the neck, which irritates the neck further, causing even more headaches from muscular tension. As well as muscular imbalance, which aggravates the neck problem, there may also be anxiety, tension or depression as a result of worrying about the illness itself. This further knots up the neck muscles and causes yet more headaches.
Prevention of stroke is important. You’re more likely to have a stroke if you’ve had high blood pressure for a long time, – and by .that I mean many years. We now know that bringing the blood pressure down, and keeping it down, reduces the chance that you’ll suffer a stroke. This is why doctors are so keen to discover those who’ve got high blood pressure. Treating a thirty-year-old’s high blood pressure may prolong his life by years
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