stroke question

[Mrsladysoul83]

Ok, my mom's friend was having a stroke the other day & someone that was with her said to give her an aspirin, now i know im in the beginning stages of nursing school & learning the different drugs & i know you give aspirin for chest pain(ami) & ive never heard you give aspirin while having a stroke, ive read that a person takes aspirin to PREVENT STROKES NOT WHILE HAVING A STROKE. I also know that asprirn is an platelet aggregation inhibitor drug which in that drug class its more of prevention or reduction of risk. Am i wrong or was that person right?

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

If the stoke was ischemic in nature, the blood pressure control may be different. It depends on the physician/neurologist. I remember taking care of a patient with an ischemic stroke and the neurologist called me to tell me to not give any antihypertensives unless the SBP was >180.

Obviously BP control is important if they are getting TPA (or, obviously, if they are a bleed). One of our ER attendings said that the prevailing logic is that a higher BP will help to "push" blood past the clot if they are an ischemic stroke and not a TPA candidate.