2023-08-04 09:16:00
A real scourge, stroke is the leading cause of death for women ahead of breast cancer.
Each year, France records no fewer than 150,000 strokes, 40,000 of which cause death.
Many external factors are largely responsible for strokes such as smoking, physical inactivity or heavy alcohol consumption.
These warning signs differ depending on sex, but also on age, as shown by the testimony of a 20-year-old British nurse who suffered a stroke at the end of 2022.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Esmae Hodgetts looks back on her unfortunate experience and warns regarding the little-known symptoms she felt during her stroke.
The young woman did not think she might have a stroke at her age she said: “It is often said that you should not worry regarding it before the quarantine and that you have to be careful of numbness and sagging of the face, but I had nothing all of this. There was no reason for this to happen, it just happened randomly. I was not lucky. »
Severe neck and shoulder pain
It all started with severe neck and shoulder pain a few days before the stroke, the nurse had not paid attention to it.
However, neck pain can be a sign of a tear in the wall of the carotid artery or the vertebral artery, the two arteries that supply the brain. This is called dissection of the cervical artery.
“Dissection of the cervical arteries is a major cause of stroke in young subjects. It consists of bleeding which occurs in the very thickness of the wall of the carotid or vertebral arteries and which will “tear” the artery (hence the term dissection) longitudinally without breaking the vessel. This bleeding will cause a hematoma which will reduce the diameter of the artery and potentially cause it to be blocked” explains Inserm.
It’s New Year’s Eve 2022 that the young woman felt a very intense headache and dizzinessalmost preventing him from walking.
Symptoms little known to doctors
While hospitalized, it took two days for the medical team to know that Esmae Hodgetts had suffered a stroke due to no obvious symptoms.
Indeed, his speech had not been affected, which is however a recurring symptom of a stroke. It was the MRI that revealed the stroke that the young woman had suffered.
She suffered no serious long-term side effects following the stroke. His vision, coordination and speech were unaffected.
Although the nurse had no serious consequences, her unfortunate experience affected her on an emotional level: “I eat much healthier and I don’t drink at all because I don’t even want to risk having dizziness and it left me with a bit of anxiety because now I’m scared to do anything, there was no reason for that to happen. »
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