Pregnancy can be a time of joy and anticipation, but for some, it holds a hidden risk -- the increased risk of stroke.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that although relatively low compared to other health issues, the risk of stroke is increasing in pregnant women. In fact, pregnant women may be up to three times more likely to suffer a stroke than non-pregnant women of the same age.
Briana Grant was 24 years old and 24 weeks pregnant when she found herself alone and slipping in and out of consciousness.
“I couldn’t see anything. I mean, I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face,” Grant said.
When she woke up, she phoned a friend who called for help.
“She was having symptoms because of a blockage of a major vessel in the head,” said Dr. Richard Bellon, a neurointerventional surgeon at Swedish Medical Center. “She wasn’t getting enough blood flow to the brain. When that happens to people, a small portion of the brain dies pretty much immediately within a matter of minutes.”
Bellon said that although rare, some problems associated with pregnancy can increase the risk of stroke. They include high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and blood clots -- and once a stroke happens, every minute counts.
“We try to get the blood vessel open as quickly as possible,” Bellon said.
He used a catheter through a small puncture in Grant’s hip.
“We navigate that up into the neck and then we put an even smaller tube up into the brain and essentially apply suction to that to suck the clot out,” Bellon explained.
When Grant woke up, her speech was slurred, and her entire left side was weak, but the stroke didn’t affect her unborn baby.
“(I was) more worried at that point about him than I was myself,” Grant said.
Grant’s doctors still don’t know what caused her stroke, but they emphasize the importance of keeping yourself and your baby healthy during pregnancy by not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, choosing healthy foods, and staying physically active.