According to a story by Channel 6 Action News out of Philadelphia, there’s been an alarming increase in the number of relatively young people suffering strokes.
The story cites figures by the Center for Disease Control, which found the rate of people hospitalized for stroke between the ages of 15 and 44 has gone up 37 percent between 1995 and 2008.
The report includes an interview with a local woman, Kathy Doyle, who suffered a stroke three years ago because of a blood clot she developed two weeks after giving birth to her daughter.
Pregnancy is a risk factor for developing the blood clots that can trigger strokes. So is a family history of blood clots, long periods of physical inactivity, and use of birth control pills.
While all birth control pills can increase the risk of blood clots, a number of studies indicate that pills with the synthetic hormone drospirenone can increase that risk up to three times compared to other oral contraceptives on the market.
Pills with drospirenone include Yasmin, Yaz, Beyaz and Ocella.
Doyle was taken to an emergency room immediately, where doctors were able to treat her with a device that makes use of a catheter to remove the clot, restoring blood flow to the brain. She now has nearly no effects from the stroke.
The report includes an interview with Dr. Erol Veznedaroglu, who says it’s important for people who have suffered a stroke to get treatment immediately. He says anyone with sudden one-sided symptoms, such as weakness, must get to a stroke center as quickly as possible.
The report quotes Veznedaroglu as saying: “An arm, a leg, a face, vision in one eye, problems with speech, difficulty finding words; it can be subtle, it doesn’t have to be garbled speech or incoherent speech it could be just trying to get a word out.”
Patients should consult their doctors before making any changes in their medication. A consultation with a Beyaz lawyer is also important if there are significant injuries while on Beyaz or similar birth control pills.
See the story here:
https://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/health&id=8815788
