Call 911 or go to the h ospital. CVA's (Cerbrovascular accidents) are a blanket term for two distinct types of strokes, Hemmoraghic and occlusive. Hemmoraghic strokes are the more dangerous as it is characterized by a ruptured artery that will not only keep the brain proximal to it hypoperfused, but also will caused by Intracranial Pressure to increase eventually leading to compression of the brain and herniation through the foramen magnum, both ultimate death. It is characterized by the common. Symptomatic of a stroke, predominately hemiparesis (one sided paralysis), muscle weakness, aphasia (inability to speak), confusion, as well as severe tearing pain, the worst headache, and in the patients view a large gunshot sound.
Occlusive Stroked are cause in the name way as a heart attack, in which a blood vessel supplying brain tissue becomes blocked by plaque to the point that the area proximal to it lack proper perfusion and may begin to infarct. Symptoms and progression is much slower and more moderate, with it lacking the thunderclap noise, and severe headache but it shares the paralysis, apashia, and one sided muscle tone. TIAs or Transient Ischemic Attacks are occlusive strokes that have cleared, one their own, however they are an indication of future stroke.
In either case they are both medical emergencies that need to be treated in the hospital as soon as possible. So take the patient to the hospital or call an ambulance.
