Oct. 3, 2014 -- About 10% of the 800,000 strokes that happen in the U.S. each year strike adults younger than 45.
A stroke -- an event where blood flow to the brain is disrupted, either by a blood clot or bleeding -- can be devastating at any age. But when a younger adult has one, they're affected “in the prime of their life, in their most productive years,” says Jose Biller, MD. He's the chairman of the department of neurology at the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University in Chicago.
And while adults over 65 seem to be having fewer strokes, studies suggest that these “brain attacks” may be on the rise in younger adults.
What’s more, many doctors don’t recognize stroke symptoms in younger patients, and a delay in diagnosis may lead to more permanent damage.
Struggling to Start Over
That’s what happened to Lauren Rushen, who suffered a stroke at 24.
For 2 weeks, experts chalked up her fatigue, jaw pain, and dizziness to infections, inflammation in her jaw joint, and spinal compression.
When she finally collapsed on the floor of her parents’ home, unable to move her legs, doctors at the local hospital suspected she was abusing drugs and tested her for narcotics, rather than starting the clot-busting drugs that might have prevented permanent brain damage.
“I laid in my small-town ER for 2 hours. And we know now that time is everything,” Rushen says. “That's really not where I needed to be spending 2 hours.”
People having a stroke who get to the hospital within 4 and a half hours of their attack are eligible to get a drug that can break up a clot in the brain, restoring blood flow.
And studies show younger stroke patients are more likely than their older counterparts to benefit from this early treatment.
But sadly, few are eligible to get it, because they wait to get to the hospital, writing off early symptoms or waiting to see if they’ll go away before they seek help. This is especially true for women.
Today, 6 years later, Rushen knows she’s lucky to be alive. But sometimes, she misses the life she had before -- the one that included a full-time career, a regular jogging routine, and cute shoes.
One of her arms and a foot are still paralyzed. Instead of jogging, she spends hours each day in physical therapy. Rather than high heels, she wears thick-soled sneakers that help to keep her toes from dragging on the ground when she walks.
She’s had to move back home with her parents. Although she still works, it’s a part-time job at a church daycare, where her duties are limited for fear she might lose her balance and fall as she’s helping the kids. Mostly, she says, she supervises their bathroom trips.
“It's really ironic, because I help the kids fasten their pants when I have my own issues with pants,” Rushen says, with a sad chuckle. “You've got to start over, I guess.”
source : Strokes and the Toll They Take on Younger Adults
