Myth: You cannot prevent a stroke.
Truth: Stroke is largely preventable.

Myth: Stroke cannot be treated.
Truth: Stroke requires emergency medical treatment. You should call 911 immediately.

Myth: Only the elderly have strokes.
Truth: Stroke affects all ages, even infants. Nearly 25 percent of all strokes occur in people less than 65 years of age. After age 35, your risk of having a stroke doubles every 10 years.

Myth: Strokes are rare.
Truth: A stroke occurs every 45 seconds with more than 160,000 people dying from stroke each year. Stroke also is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Five percent of the population older than 65 has had some form of stroke.

Myth: Stroke happens to the heart.
Truth: Stroke is a “brain attack,” and is a general name for a variety of disorders that occur within seconds or minutes when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted.

Myth: Stroke recovery is immediate.
Truth: Recovering from a stroke continues throughout life and greatly depends on the severity of the stroke.

Myth: Smoking will not affect my chances of having a stroke.
Truth: Tobacco smoke actually doubles your chances of having a stroke.

Myth: The best sign of a stroke is pain.
Truth: Most commonly stroke symptoms include weakness; paralysis; double vision or loss of vision; sudden difficulty speaking; unexplained dizziness, unsteadiness or loss of balance.

Myth: Stroke does not run in the family.
Truth: Your risk of having a stroke increases if a parent, grandparent or sibling has had a stroke.

Myth: If stroke symptoms pass, you do not need to seek treatment.
Truth: Sometimes, people will experience stroke symptoms that disappear within a few minutes. These transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) or “mini-strokes” are caused by temporary interruptions to the blood supply of the brain. TIAs are a risk factor for stroke and should not be ignored. About one-third of people who have a TIA eventually will have a stroke.