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• Back to Cardiovascular Medicine
• Diseases and Conditions
• Angina
• Arrhythmias
• Cancer-Related Heart Disease
• Coronary Artery Disease
• Diabetic Heart Disease
• Familial Heart Diseases
• Heart Attack
• Heart Failure
• Pericardial Disease or Pericarditis
• Peripheral Artery Disease
• Stroke
  • Signs and Symptoms
  • Risk Factors
  • Causes
  • Diagnosis
  • Treatments
  • Physicians and Services
• Valve Disease
• Women's Cardiovascular Disease

Signs and Symptoms

Sypmtoms Start Suddenly

Symptoms start suddenly. They may differ depending on what part of the brain is being affected. Signs and symptoms of a stroke include:

• Difficulty walking including sudden dizziness, loss of coordination or loss of balance.
  
• Difficulty speaking - your speech may be slurred or you may not be able to find the right words to explain what is going on with you or understand what people are saying to you.
  
• Paralysis or numbness on one side of your body including the face.
  
• Difficulty seeing - vision may be blurry, double, dimming or lost.
  
• Difficulty swallowing
  
• Severe headache - it may come on quickly and may be accompanied by stiff neck, pain between your eyes or vomiting.
  
• Confusion
  
• Seizures
  
• Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) - also called a "ministroke," a TIA is a warning sign of an impending stroke. A TIA is a temporary reduction in blood flow to a part of your brain. The signs and symptoms of a TIA are the same as for a stroke, but they don't last long -- a few minutes up to 24 hours. Then you return to normal. If the symptoms last longer than 24 hours, it is not a TIA but an actual stroke. You may have more than one TIA. Having a TIA may indicate you are at risk for a full-blown stroke. If you have a TIA, see a doctor right away.