National Stroke Awareness Month

As May is National Stroke Awareness Month, I had to include a mention in African-American Wellness (AAW) about the symptoms or warning signs in both women and men to look out for.  Catching them in the first few hours that they occur, and getting medical treatment as soon as possible, is crucial to recovery from a stroke!  See the website below, for the symptoms:

http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WOMSYMP

Also, did you know that having Type 2 Diabetes is a risk factor for stroke?  Have your doctor give you the a1c blood test, to see what your blood sugar level is for the last 3 months.  The a1c will tell you if you are pre-diabetic—like me!—and then you can go on a diabetic diet to reduce the likelihood of getting full-blown DIABETES.  “Over nine million women in the U.S. have diabetes. And three million of them don’t even know it (FDA, n.d.)!”   See the Diabetes PDF document at the following website:

http://promotions.usa.gov/dearabby.html

Don’t forget that if you already had a stroke, that you could still get another one, so preventative treatment is important!

{DISCLAIMER:  I am not a licensed healthcare practitioner.  If you have any symptoms, you should consult a healthcare practitioner.}

Reference:

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Office of Women’s Health & Federal Citizen Information Center.  (n.d).  “Healthy Women’s Action Kit featured in ‘Dear Abby’”.  Diabetes PDF available from http://promotions.usa.gov/dearabby.html

National Stroke Association.  (May 2010).  “Women and Stroke.”  Retrieved May 30, 2012 from http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WOMSYMP