Health Topics A-Z

What Are the Symptoms?

You should consider these symptoms warning signs and consult your healthcare provider:

• Sudden weakness or numbness in the face, arm, or leg on one side of the body.
• Abrupt loss of vision, strength, coordination, sensation, speech, or the ability to understand speech. These symptoms may become more marked over time.
• Sudden dimness of vision, especially in one eye.
• Sudden loss of balance, possibly accompanied by vomiting, nausea, fever, hiccups, or trouble with swallowing.
• Sudden and severe headache with no other cause followed rapidly by loss of consciousness — indications of a stroke due to bleeding.
• Brief loss of consciousness.
• Unexplained dizziness or sudden falls.

Call Your Doctor If:

If you or someone with you manifests any of the signs of stroke, do not delay.

Call for emergency services.

If the symptoms pass quickly, this may indicate a transient ischemic attack (TIA), a brief blockage of blood flow to the brain that is often a forerunner of stroke. Do not ignore this warning sign. You must get to the hospital immediately. Some treatments must begin within the first few hours of symptoms; early treatment can often help prevent a fatal or disabling stroke from occurring.