What kind of stroke happens?
There are two main types of stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic. Both cases are extremely dangerous because when brain cells stop receiving oxygen, they die.
Hemorrhagic stroke
- occurs due to bleeding in the brain. Vessel rupture can occur due to a sharp jump in blood pressure, the presence of an aneurysm or atherosclerosis. In most cases, a person experiences a sharp headache, suddenly loses consciousness, and sometimes there may be convulsions. If someone near you has lost consciousness, do not waste time, call an ambulance.
Ischemic stroke
– occurs in most cases and may develop over time. Often it occurs due to blockage of a vessel by a blood clot, vasospasm, or compression due to injury or tumor.
A precursor to a stroke can be a transient ischemic attack—a short-term disruption of the blood supply to the brain. Brain cells are damaged but not killed. A TIA significantly increases the risk of stroke and requires medical evaluation.
A stroke has a number of symptoms, which, if noticed, can save a person’s life.
“Just like a vegetable.” Why do people continue to get sick a year after Covid?
MOSCOW, September 29 – RIA Novosti, Alfiya Enikeeva. According to various sources, from 20 to 75 percent of those who have recovered from COVID-19 still suffer from its consequences six months later. The main symptoms include chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, hair loss, panic attacks, and sleep problems. Doctors call this post-Covid syndrome. In Russia, every fifth patient is diagnosed with it. How these people live and deal with complications is in the material of RIA Novosti.
“I couldn’t do anything”
I got sick with Covid almost a year ago, on October 29th.
A nurse from the clinic came and took a test for coronavirus. It turned out to be negative, but ten days later my temperature rose, my nasopharynx became dry, and the vessels in my nose began to ache. My whole body ached—muscles, bones, joints. Otherwise, everything developed according to not the worst scenario: the temperature did not exceed 37.8 for only two days, and the saturation did not drop. A CT scan showed four percent lung damage. But there was a very strong tachycardia mixed with panic attacks. At rest, the pulse reached 120. And so it is until now. Plus, problems appeared with blood vessels in the legs and eyes. I even thought that I had a retinal tear due to oxygen starvation and vascular damage. But the ophthalmologist found nothing, thank God. He prescribed drops, but they didn’t help - my eyeballs seemed to hurt from the inside. I consulted with different doctors, no one could really say anything. Prescribed medications. Some only made things worse, while others had no effect at all. I decided to take one drug, an anticoagulant, on my own, the minimum dose. The doctors said that it was not needed: the coagulogram was normal, fibrinogen and d-dimer too. But at my own peril and risk I started drinking it, because my condition was like this: I just lay there like a vegetable and couldn’t do anything.
After the first pill I felt better - as if I had emerged from the water. The swelling decreased, the fog in the head went away, and - what is very important - the tachycardia disappeared, it just went away. I have been taking this drug for nine months. I tried several times to get off him, but in vain. If I don’t take the pill, the tachycardia returns. There was still total chronic fatigue. I get tired very quickly. In fact, I can only walk. I am unable to do any exercises. Cleaning the house is already a heavy physical activity. I almost stopped cleaning the floor; I use a robot vacuum cleaner.
Since I am an individual entrepreneur, I was able to organize a very light work schedule for myself. For the first three months, until January, I didn’t work at all. Business just stopped. No income - the airbag was eaten away.
“I had to quit my job”
Alexander Korchevny, 39 years old, Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan.
Now he is being treated at the Novosibirsk Center for the Prevention of Thrombosis. I fell ill at the beginning of June 2021, and was infected, presumably, at work. Took a PCR test - positive. I was sent into voluntary isolation in an infectious diseases hospital for 18 days. As it turned out, it was in vain: one after another, relatives fell ill with Covid.
In the hospital there was no special treatment, only observation, since the disease was not severe. There was a slight malaise for about three days, then for two days the temperature was difficult to bring down to 38. Smells disappeared, appetite decreased, and problems with sleep appeared. The first “call” was ten days after the diagnosis. An unexpected tachycardia began, a panic attack began and the pressure jumped. They gave me an injection of aminophylline. It seems to have gotten a little better.
He left the hospital neither sick nor healthy. I really wanted to go home after isolation. But things only got worse. New symptoms related to nerves and blood vessels were gradually added. Endless visits to doctors began. None of them fully understood what was wrong or how to treat me. All tests are more or less calm. Over the course of a year, I took courses with five neurologists in different cities. Everyone made two diagnoses: vegetative-vascular dystonia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Everyone hinted at a psychologist. I also visited him, he did not reveal any violations.
All this year the disease develops in waves: at times you feel well, at times you lie down and cannot get up. After courses of treatment there were minor improvements, but overall my health was far from normal. In the last 12 months I have taken more medications than I have ever taken in my entire life. I had to quit my job due to endless sick leave. I asked the local therapist what to do in such a situation, because I am disabled, but she just threw up her hands.
“My hair was coming out in clumps”
Nailya Vagizova, 38 years old, Kazan On June 1st I felt unwell.
I called the doctor. He said it was an acute respiratory infection, prescribed an antibiotic, an antiviral, vitamins, but it didn’t get any better. And already on the ninth I ended up in the hospital. There were problems with breathing. She spent five days in intensive care. Lung damage is more than 75 percent. Doctors told relatives that everything should be prepared for the worst. But I pulled myself together and began to get out. My husband brought drugs that the hospital did not have, and thanks to this I survived. She was discharged on June 19th and recovery began: exercises, proper nutrition, pills. In theory, they should be given to everyone for free, but they ran out on me, and my family bought everything. Three and a half months later, I still don't feel healthy. About two months after discharge, my hair began to fall out, just in clumps. Constant pain in my legs, aching joints in my arms. When I left the hospital, no one warned me that it could take so long and the recovery would be so difficult. There is no help from state medicine now. The doctors at the clinic don't say anything. I myself take all the tests for a fee, take vitamins, collect information on the Internet from people who have also been ill. I am a laboratory doctor by profession, so I began to independently understand the topic and control my condition.
“It’s easier for me to think that it’s not Covid”
Evgenia Yurfeld, Moscow I am not quite a standard post-Covid person.
I was given the third group of disability even before Covid, for the main disease. Atrial fibrillation provoked three strokes and bradycardia; a pacemaker had to be installed. So I started fighting dizziness, arrhythmia and disturbances in the functioning of the vestibular apparatus long before Covid. I got sick with coronavirus at the end of last fall, but in December I had a good test. The doctor immediately warned me about post-Covid. She herself suffered from COVID-19 and knows what it is. Now from time to time I experience some typical symptoms, but I consciously attribute them to the underlying disease. It's easier for me.
I am constantly under medical supervision. The doctor visits me regularly. They give me antiplatelet drugs for free, and I get a rather expensive anticoagulant at the pharmacy. Subspecialists come to your home to inspect it and take tests. But I rarely bother the clinic with requests. I learned to cope with attacks on my own. Overall, I just hope that sooner or later the body will adapt to someone else’s virus. If you have still survived with such a list of diseases and even suffered from Covid, then you have to thank your genes and your guardian angel.
“The main thing is to trust the doctors”
Valentina Nelyubova, 59 years old, Moscow I was diagnosed with Covid in January.
I was very sick. I almost went to another world. I was treated by private doctors at home for two weeks. Afterwards I was treated absolutely free of charge under the policy. And also very good. Plus, the family doctor constantly monitored me. She is also shocked: how did I survive with such bad tests and my condition is below par. When I was sick, I realized: the main thing is that there are good doctors nearby, and it doesn’t matter whether they pay or not. It is important how they are treated, and patients must trust doctors. Now, thank God, it's all over. I recovered from Covid for several months, it’s a long story. But everything ended well. I am very grateful to the doctors of the branch of the Alekseev Day Hospital at Polyclinic 121, in South Butovo. They really help cope with post-Covid syndrome and depression. Many people are afraid of mental hospitals. This is some kind of misinterpretation, misunderstanding. But only qualified psychologists can get to post-Covid problems and help. At least they helped me.
“This is already an independent disease”
According to researchers from Sechenov University, in Russia more than 20 percent of patients who have suffered coronavirus infection suffer from post-Covid syndrome.
Among the most common complaints are weakness (more precisely, fatigue), shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, sleep problems and hair loss. “Post-Covid syndrome (PCS) is a symptom complex that occurs as a result of a coronavirus infection. This is a very broad concept, which may include damage to the nervous, cardiovascular systems, gastrointestinal tract, and muscle atrophy. There may even be some mental manifestations. Its duration is a purely individual matter. For some, the main symptoms are resolved in a mild form within two to three months. For others, they last up to a year or even more. It’s too early to talk about maximum terms. We are just observing this disease and studying it. In my experience, patients last the longest with various neurological disorders, lesions of the peripheral nervous system,” Professor Evgeniy Achkasov, head of the department of sports medicine and medical rehabilitation at Sechenov University, expert of the National Health League, told RIA Novosti.
According to him, PCS symptoms, their severity and duration often depend on the severity of COVID-19, but not always. Thus, among the patients there are many people who suffered from Covid itself relatively easily, but have been suffering from its complications for more than a year.
“The basis of rehabilitation programs for post-Covid syndrome is breathing exercises, cyclic physical exercises, and cardioprotection. We strive to protect the heart muscle both with medication and with various physical therapy options. We use massages and pressure chambers. Quite a wide range. But we must understand that it is often very difficult to rehabilitate such patients at home. It's better to be hospitalized. Post-Covid syndrome is already an independent disease, and it must be taken very seriously,”
- the professor emphasized.
However, if the symptoms of ACL are pronounced, and there is no opportunity to see a doctor, then experts advise doing Nordic walking. This type of physical activity has a good effect on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. But in no case should you inflate balloons to restore lung volume, so as not to cause additional pulmonary injury.
Link to publication: ria.ru
Signs of a stroke
1. Facial asymmetry
The sign that first catches your eye. If you have a stroke, you may experience sudden numbness and tingling on one side of your face.
2. Numbness of the limbs
Most often, muscle numbness occurs on only one side. The muscles do not obey, the person cannot lift an arm or leg.
3. Speech impairment
Speech becomes incoherent, confused, and a person may not understand what is being said to him.
4. Loss of coordination
You need to be wary of sudden dizziness, accompanied by imbalance, loss of balance. The person loses the firmness of his gait and has problems with coordination.
5. Severe headache
It is unbearable and may be accompanied by vomiting. The pain occurs for no reason and does not decrease when taking painkillers.
6. Vision problems
Clarity is lost, objects begin to appear double. One or both eyes can lose good vision at once.
Diagnosis of abnormal breathing
The disease “hiccups” requires a thorough diagnosis of the whole organism in order to establish the cause of this pathological condition. First of all, consultations with a cardiologist and neurologist are prescribed to rule out myocardial infarction and cerebral stroke. The examination usually involves an electrocardiogram and magnetic resonance imaging, respectively.
Depending on the clinical picture, the following studies may be required: radiography, computed tomography, gastroscopy, spirography, electroencephalography, bronchoscopy, esophagomanometry, as well as tests for calcium levels in the blood serum, creatinine content, functional state of the liver, etc.
Frequently asked questions about hiccups
How to stop hiccups?
To get rid of it, you can slowly drink a glass of cool water, eat something sour (a slice of lemon, for example) or sweet (a spoonful of honey), and do breathing exercises.
Which drug is effective?
Unfortunately, there is no medicine yet that would help for the shortest possible period of time. You can take an over-the-counter digestive aid.
Which organ is responsible for hiccups?
The mechanism of this disorder involves the diaphragm and intercostal muscles.
