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Suggest Treatment For Dizziness And Depression In An Elderly Person
Question: wha can cause dizziness, I'm 65yrs old, suffering from depression, blood pressure is 155/69/51, take medicine for cholesteral, blood pressure, depression. sleeping pill. suffer from allergies, but only this week felt dizzy, stubbling around when getting up from bed or sitting, or when bending to pick something off the floor, only a couple of times is it bad were I walk like I had way to much to drink, no aches or pain or fever, have not fallen from it
Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I understand your concern and would explain that it is important to perform a comprehensive differential diagnosis between different possible causes that may lead to this clinical scenario:
- an inner ear disorder
- chronic degenerations of the cervical spine
- orthostatic hypotension
- a brain disorder including a stroke or low blood perfusion to the brain.
For this reason, I would recommend consulting with an ENT specialist first for a careful physical exam and performing labyrinthine tests.
If an inner ear disorder is excluded, I would recommend performing further tests to investigate for the possible underlying causes:
- a cervical spine X Ray study
- a Doppler ultrasound of the cervical arteries to examine the blood flow in them
- a brain CT scan or MRI to examine your brain
- some blood lab tests (complete blood count for anemia, thyroid hormone levels for thyroid dysfunction, fasting glucose, blood electrolytes)
- a Head Up Tilt test would be necessary if suspicions of orthostatic hypotension are raised during physical exam.
From the other hand your blood pressure values are slightly elevated. For this reason, I would recommend discussing with your doctor on the possible changes in your actual therapy, in order to have a better control on your blood pressure values.
I recommend discussing with your doctor on the above issues.
Hope to have been helpful!
Feel free to ask me again whenever you need!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
I would recommend as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I understand your concern and would explain that it is important to perform a comprehensive differential diagnosis between different possible causes that may lead to this clinical scenario:
- an inner ear disorder
- chronic degenerations of the cervical spine
- orthostatic hypotension
- a brain disorder including a stroke or low blood perfusion to the brain.
For this reason, I would recommend consulting with an ENT specialist first for a careful physical exam and performing labyrinthine tests.
If an inner ear disorder is excluded, I would recommend performing further tests to investigate for the possible underlying causes:
- a cervical spine X Ray study
- a Doppler ultrasound of the cervical arteries to examine the blood flow in them
- a brain CT scan or MRI to examine your brain
- some blood lab tests (complete blood count for anemia, thyroid hormone levels for thyroid dysfunction, fasting glucose, blood electrolytes)
- a Head Up Tilt test would be necessary if suspicions of orthostatic hypotension are raised during physical exam.
From the other hand your blood pressure values are slightly elevated. For this reason, I would recommend discussing with your doctor on the possible changes in your actual therapy, in order to have a better control on your blood pressure values.
I recommend discussing with your doctor on the above issues.
Hope to have been helpful!
Feel free to ask me again whenever you need!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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