F is for Face: Smile and see if one side of the face droops. That's a possible sign of muscle weakness or paralysis, which often show up on just one side of the body.
A is for Arms: Raise both arms. Does one arm drop down? That's another sign of one-sided weakness.
S is for Speech: Say a short phrase and check for slurred or strange speech. A stroke can make it hard for you to talk clearly or choose your words.
T is for Time: If the answer to any of these is yes, call 911 right away. Remember to look at the time and write down when you first saw any of these stroke warning signs.
Thx
Had: (F) face droop,
(A) no one-sided (A)rm weakness,
(S) Definite (S) speech disruption, shortening, dropping.
(T) Quick (T)time, in UofM ER, amazing how fast they rush
you past the room full of coughing and bored “Emergents”.
After head MRI (neck too), and various xrays, blood flow measurments and endless FAST checks.
No evidence of stroke. They thought for sure. Nor of mini-stroke but could be missed but not likely. went away in 8 hrs after rest, better blood pressure (way up), calm dark room. Had some visual migraine activity - always consider that, they really don’t understand it well.
bottom line - high (very high) sodium and caffeine and middle eastern dining experience for a 90 y/o friend birthday in the couple hours before the issue and sleep deprivation, dehydration pulled all the levers in the wrong ways. No recurrence in three years so far. Lots of ways to have prevented that scare.