Elderly people always feel that they do not get enough sleep. They should be wary of atypical cerebral infarction. How to prevent it?

Mr. Ding, who is over 60 years old, has been feeling sleepy recently. However, he doesn't care. He says that he is "sleepy in spring, tired in autumn, napping in summer, and sleepy in winter". It is good for the elderly to get more sleep, which is much better than insomnia.

But Uncle Ding's good mood soon ended. He was playing cards with his friends when he suddenly fell headfirst onto the card table. His friends called an ambulance and took him to the hospital, where they found he had a cerebral infarction.

1. After the treatment of atypical cerebral infarction, Mr. Ding was out of danger. He was a little puzzled. Isn't it said that when a cerebral infarction occurs, the hands and feet will lose function? Why is he different from others?

The doctor told him that usually, when a cerebral infarction occurs, there will be typical symptoms such as unilateral limb control failure, facial paralysis, slurred speech, blurred vision, etc. However, some people may not have typical symptoms of cerebral infarction. For example, Mr. Ding's drowsiness before fainting may be a symptom of cerebral infarction.

2. The elderly should be more careful about the nerve cells in the brain, which are very sensitive to lack of oxygen. If the oxygen supply is completely stopped, the nerve cells will die within 4 to 6 minutes. Once dead, there is no way to regenerate, and the body functions they are responsible for controlling will be lost.

The drowsiness that Mr. Ding had experienced before might be due to severe stenosis of the cerebral arteries, but it had not caused complete blockage. It was just that the blood and oxygen supply to the cerebral arteries were reduced, causing a significant decrease in nerve cell activity, resulting in the inability to wake up.

Therefore, if older people suddenly become sleepy, they must be wary of blockage of cerebral blood vessels and go to the hospital for examination as soon as possible.

3. To prevent cerebral infarction, we should pay attention to two diseases. Huazi often said that there is no cerebral infarction without reason. Every cerebral infarction is premeditated. It needs a process from quantitative change to qualitative change under the long-term effect of the underlying disease. There are two main diseases that cause cerebral infarction, one is atherosclerosis; the other is left atrial fibrillation.

When cerebral arteries develop atherosclerosis, the hardened plaques are unstable and may rupture, inducing platelet aggregation and forming thrombi. Smoking, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes are the main risk factors for atherosclerosis. It is necessary to quit smoking, control the "three highs", and take statins and aspirin for prevention.

Various types of heart diseases, such as rheumatic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, and coronary heart disease, may induce left atrial fibrillation, which prevents the blood in the atrium from being pumped out of the ventricle normally. The blood flow rate slows down and turbulence occurs, which can easily cause blood clots to form in the auricle and enter the cerebral arteries, causing cerebral infarction.

People with atrial fibrillation can use antiarrhythmic drugs to control atrial fibrillation, or use electrical stimulation, catheter ablation, etc. to eradicate atrial fibrillation. However, some people's atrial fibrillation cannot be controlled, so they need to take anticoagulant factor drugs for a long time to prevent the formation of blood clots.

4. Rapid identification of cerebral infarction is the key to rescue. After cerebral infarction occurs, blood vessels need to be reopened in time to minimize the damage to the brain nerves. However, the time for blood vessel reopening should not exceed 6 hours, and it is best to do it within 3 hours. This requires that a diagnosis should be made promptly and quickly when cerebral infarction occurs.

How to quickly identify cerebral infarction: In addition to the sudden onset of drowsiness, you can also check whether the patient's face is symmetrical, whether the tongue will lean to one side when sticking out the tongue; whether one side is weak when raising both arms horizontally; and whether the patient repeats a sentence unclearly. If any of these symptoms occur, you should call the emergency number immediately and go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible without delaying the condition.

To sum up, if the elderly suddenly experience symptoms of drowsiness, they should be wary of atypical cerebral infarction. Quit smoking, eat healthily, and exercise regularly. If you have "three highs", atherosclerosis, or atrial fibrillation, you need to use medication for prevention under the guidance of a doctor. If you have any questions about medication, please consult a doctor or pharmacist. I am pharmacist Huazi, welcome to follow me and share more health knowledge.