HHS HealthBeat (February 08, 2007)

Take stroke seriously

Researcher Virginia Howard of the University of Alabama-Birmingham says people were ignoring sudden weakness and numbness.

"The symptom that was the most commonly ignored was the sudden numbness or a dead feeling on one side of the body. The second one was a sudden painless weakness on one side of the body. And the inability to express yourself verbally or in writing. And the key here is the suddenness of the symptoms." (19 seconds)

Last revised: February, 16 2007