What Causes Sudden Onset Of Violent Shaking And Chills In An Elderly Person?

Posted on Fri, 16 Dec 2016

Question: My 74 year old husband suddenly started violently shaking Wednesday evening. We thought he was cold (he is 6 ft tall and weighs 145) so he went to bed piled with blankets and it seemed to settle him down. He awakened yesterday drenched in sweat...which we thought was all the blankets. Yesterday(Thanksgiving) during the day after a nice meal he began to shake again but not as violently, his hands were cold so he helped with the dishes to warm up and the shakes subsided. He awakened this morning at 3:30 shaking again with another drenched pajama shirt and was again shaking but it settled down after he changed his clothes and warmed up. My questions are, what is causing the sudden violent shaking and night sweats?

Answered by Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Convulsions need to be ruled out. Visit a doctor.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

I have gone carefully through your query and understand your concerns. The first thing that I need to ask is whether your husband is having fever. The next thing to ask is whether your husband was alert during the episodes of shaking or did he lose consciousness. If he was not conscious during the episodes, the shaking could be due to convulsion and if that is the case medical attention is necessary. I would insist you to get him evaluated by a doctor. The other thing to rule out would be malaria or urinary tract infection which could present with chills and rigors followed by increased sweating.

Management will depend on the underlying cause. I would insist you not to ignore it.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (51 minutes later)

He did not lose consciousness nor does he have a fever... Although he shared this morning that his urine stream is minimal...takes a while to get it going and takes a while to empty his bladder. Can he have a bladder infection and not experience any pain?

Answered by Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Benadryl could help.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for clarifying. Since he was conscious during the period I would assume that it was not due to seizure or convulsion. That clears half of the worries. If he does not have fever I would not suspect malaria or UTI in the first place. In such a case the explanation could be an allergic reaction or a pyrogenic reaction. Giving benadryl during a subsequent episode might help. But it calls for a careful clinical correlation and I would insist you to visit a doctor and to get him evaluated.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (3 hours later)

We took your advice and went to our medical urgent care since our doctor's offices were closed today. Turns out he does have a UTI but was also severely dehydrated. They gave him an IV to rehydrate him, gave him an antibiotic shot and sent him home with a 10'day perscription with the understanding that we will check back in on Monday to follow up on more tests to make sure he is making progress. Thank you again for your help and encouragement to see the doctor. Had it not been for you, we might have waited until after the week-end to see the doctor.

Answered by Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Glad to be of service

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for the update. It is good to know that it helped and that he has received proper medical attention. Feel free to write back directly to me if you ever have a health related query in the future.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar