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Treatment of a stroke usually involves medications, depending on how fast either an ambulance gets you to the patient or the patient gets to the hospital. The first life-saving drug is called tissue plasminogen activator, or TPA. It can only be given up to about four and a half hours after the first onset of stroke symptoms. What it does is break up any blood clot that may have been the cause of the stroke in the first place. Beyond that, what you get changes based on the type of stroke you had. An ischemic stroke will put you on blood thinners if this was caused by stroke. This treatment is in addition to TPA. Anti-platelet agents are given to you if your stroke was caused by buildup of platelets. A hemorrhagic stroke will get you nimodipine, which protects the brain and relaxes your blood vessels in the setting of subarachnoid hemorrhage. And lastly, you may get medications that control blood pressure and prevent seizures.
