Early warning signs (symptoms) of a stroke include sudden dizziness, severe headache, loss of vision, inability to speak, not knowing where you are, or sudden uselessness of a limb. If you get to an emergency room right away, they can limit the damage of a stroke by can administering a clot-busting drug called tissue plasminogen activator or TPA. To be effective, TPA must be administered within 90 minutes of the symptoms of the stroke first appearing.
Sadly, due to the narrow therapeutic window period and the complexity of the administration, less than 10% of stroke patients benefit from TPA therapy. A viable solution that has been largely overlooked by the medical community is the administration of docosahexaenoic acid or DHA—a natural omega-3 fatty acid. A medical study showed that giving as little as 500 mg of pure DHA as soon as someone is having a stroke could limit the size of the infarct (the area of the brain that is damaged) by as much as 77%. For DHA to be effective, it must be administered within five hours of the stroke.
Comments: If you wish to take a proactive role in your cardiovascular health, I recommend that you have your doctor check your blood level of DHA to make sure it is at least 3.4%. If you are found to be low, I do not recommend cod liver oil as there too many issues with contamination from heavy metals and man-made pollutants. Instead of an animal (fish) derived source of DHA, I recommend a plant (algae) derived source: Click here.
