Stroke symptoms include impaired speech, blurred vision, numbness on one side of the body, or sudden, severe headaches, stiffness of tongue. The medication helps to restore blood flow to the brain by breaking up the clots. The affected person can receive Activase (alteplase, also known as tissue plasminogen activator or TPA), only if he begins the treatment within three hours after their stroke symptoms start and only after they have had a scan to rule out bleeding in the brain. Read the rest of this entry »