Two main causes of stroke. A blood clot or aa aneurysm. Aneurysms are caused bt blood vessel in the brain weakening and ballooning out and bursting. Those are generally fatal. If the clot goes to the heart, heart attack, to the lungs, a pulmonary embolism.
A stroke can happen with no warnings, but generally there ate signs. mine was caused by extremely high blood pressure., 245/75 the dy before it hit. I hd warning signs, but I was a dumb pollack. Months before my stroke, I had a TIA (transient ischemic attack). A numb region would travel around my body every few minutes. Since it moved, I said "It's not a stroke". Closer to the stroke, I was getting weaker, couldn't concentrate, had problems regulating my temp.
Went to a picnic and several people asked if I was OK. I said "I have been a little sick but I'm OK." I find out after I left the picnic that a friend's wife was crying that
i was sick and someone should get me to go to the ER to get checked out. She called a former girlfriend of mine who I hadn't seen in ~2 years and got her to call me and she spent two hours talking me to go and get checked out.Finally the next day, I went to the ER at about 4 PM, expecting to be home in several hours.
First thing they take my BP and tell me I am being admitted. At about 10 PM I ask why i am stil in the ER and they say I am waiting for abed in the ICU. The next morning I am having my brain scanned and I had the stroke and threw up. I wasn't unconscious, but the next clear memory I had was two days later when I had visitors.
Because of the immediate response, the only lasting signs for me are a very, very,very slight weakness on my left side (shows up when lifting something heavy) and balance problems if I look up in trees, but it stops soon as I look straight ahead.
I regard the time since my stroke in 2014 as bonus time as I could g\have died then. The high BP also damaged my kidney (as I only have one since i was 4). I have been going to a nephrologist since 201 and in the last year or so, my kidney function has been going down and I am now in stage 4 CKD and will need dialysis/transplant in the future.
Luckily I recovered my motor skills but some people aren't as lucky.