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What Causes Sudden Loss Of Balance?

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Posted on Mon, 12 May 2014
Question: Yesterday afternoon, while sitting in my favorite chair watching TV, I suddenly felt unbalanced. It was a strange feeling I've never experienced before, that lasted about 5 minutes. When I felt normal again, I got up and stepped over to my kitchen to get something, and loss my balance once more. I was lucky to keep from falling to the floor by first slamming over to one side into the sink-counter then to the opposite side into the refrigerator. This experience also lasted about 5 minutes. I have no idea what caused this sudden loss of balance. There was no feeling of dizziness, although I did work up a profuse sweat. Other than consuming one beer a couple of hours before, and half of another beer before this experience, I had no other food or drink that could be the cause of this loss of balance. I am a healthy 82 year old male with no medical problems; medications I do take daily are vitamins D and B12, stool softeners, Ibuprofen, and laxatives. I slept well last night, and feel normal today. Before breakfast, I took my usual morning walk of one mile. Q: What was the cause of my loss of balance?
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Answered by Dr. Vidya KR (5 hours later)
Brief Answer: Hypoglycemia, alcohol, Brain ischemia Detailed Answer: Hi, I went through the query and understood your concern. Considering your age and current history, I can think of the following conditions for the loss of balance: 1. Hypoglycemia: Serum glucose levels drop. Hypoglycemia will be recovered with having sugar. Get done blood sugar levels (fasting and postprandial) to rule out hypoglycemia. This will be relieved with some sugar at present and with food habits. 2. Alcohol effect:I can't rule out the alcohol effect as you had taken 1.5 beer before this. 3. Brain ischemia (transient lack of blood flow to parts of brain) and can be diagnosed with CNS examination and a brain scan. You have to get examined and based on the clinical features you required to get scan and evaluated for brain ischemia. So I advice you to consult your doctor for general physical and central nervous system examination once. Hope this information help you. Feel free to ask if you have any further concerns, I will be glad to assist you. Wish you good health. Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T
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Dr. Vidya KR

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2011

Answered : 1664 Questions

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What Causes Sudden Loss Of Balance?

Brief Answer: Hypoglycemia, alcohol, Brain ischemia Detailed Answer: Hi, I went through the query and understood your concern. Considering your age and current history, I can think of the following conditions for the loss of balance: 1. Hypoglycemia: Serum glucose levels drop. Hypoglycemia will be recovered with having sugar. Get done blood sugar levels (fasting and postprandial) to rule out hypoglycemia. This will be relieved with some sugar at present and with food habits. 2. Alcohol effect:I can't rule out the alcohol effect as you had taken 1.5 beer before this. 3. Brain ischemia (transient lack of blood flow to parts of brain) and can be diagnosed with CNS examination and a brain scan. You have to get examined and based on the clinical features you required to get scan and evaluated for brain ischemia. So I advice you to consult your doctor for general physical and central nervous system examination once. Hope this information help you. Feel free to ask if you have any further concerns, I will be glad to assist you. Wish you good health. Regards