Influencer Ina suffered a stroke almost two weeks ago – and that at the age of only 26. We explain what risk factors are for younger people – and why the risk is increasing for them.
Just a few weeks ago, Ina was in the middle of life. The 26-year-old successful influencer shared her everyday life with partner and now wife Vanessa on Instagram and YouTube with millions of subscribers. Then, a good two weeks ago, the shock: Ina suffered a stroke in the presence of her wife – at the age of only 26. At that time, his wife Vanessa was heavily pregnant.
“Half her face didn’t move properly anymore,” Vanessa describes the situation in a YouTube video. Ina wanted to do sports, lay down on a mat on the floor. After just a few seconds, Vanessa noticed that something was wrong with Ina.
Shortly thereafter, she can no longer move or speak. The young woman is taken to the hospital by ambulance. There, the doctors put her in an artificial coma for several days. The diagnosis: “A severe stroke.”
An explanation for the fact that Ina could suffer a stroke at such a young age has not yet been given by wife Vanessa. In fact, such heart attacks are very rare in young people – but it is possible.
“In Germany, we assume that there are 30,000 people under the age of 55 affected each year,” explains Lars Kellert, senior physician at the Munich University Hospital on the website of the German Stroke Foundation.
Younger people, people under the age of 40, would usually be affected without any discernible risk. Instead, there are people in their mid-40s and mid-50s who already have cardiovascular risk factors, i.e. those that affect the heart.
According to experts, the number of strokes among young people is increasing. The reason for this is the lifestyle of those affected, with unhealthy eating, too little exercise, excessive partying and smoking. Never before have there been so many obese and smokers among adolescents and young adults – the latter applies above all to young women. A third of young women smoke. Many also ignore the warning that smoking and the pill increase the risk of stroke.
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“The classic juvenile stroke without any kind of risk factor actually hits people like a blow,” says physician Kellert. “It’s an acute disease that cannot be predicted.” However, there are certain factors that increase the risk of stroke.
These included certain lifestyle factors such as
According to studies, other factors can promote cerebral infarction.
In addition to the lifestyle factors, physician Keller also names certain chronic diseases as risk factors, such as
However, the latter played “almost no role” in young people. Instead, according to Kellert, younger people can, for example, experience a “spontaneous vessel dissection of a cervical artery”. This small injury causes a tear in the inner wall of the vessel. “A wall hematoma forms, which leads to a constriction or even a vascular occlusion. These patients are often in their mid-40s or younger, and such dissections are a rarity in older people,” explains the doctor.
“Spontaneous” means that in these cases it is unclear what triggered the dissection. Although this disease occurs rarely, it is common in younger people who have strokes, explains Kellert. “We assume that 15 to 25 percent of juvenile strokes are caused by these dissections,” explains Kellert. Other, rarer causes include coagulation disorders. Such causes cannot always be traced, however.
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Apart from the acute treatment in the hospital and various rehabilitation options, there are also self-help groups and associations for those affected to exchange information on the subject.
The “German Stroke Aid Foundation” names the following Facebook groups for those affected and their families:
Ina is now awake again and her condition is stable. However, she can no longer move some parts of her body. The doctors don’t know if and how well she’ll be able to do it again one day. It is clear that she still has a long way to go back in life.
She is still making progress. “She also understands everything I tell her,” says wife Vanessa. It’s an incredible relief that Ina’s head is clear. Ina can also speak again – even if she doesn’t always understand her. The daughter of the two is now healthy in the world and was allowed to visit her mother in the hospital, says Vanessa. “Ina touched her foot. And she was so proud.”
The original of this post “German influencer suffers a stroke at the age of 26: Young people are at risk” comes from Bunte.de.
