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What Do Light Headedness And Unresponsiveness In An Elderly Person Indicate?
Question: What does this symptom indicate, standing, unresponsive, the person can think of a task to do but cannot move. Slight light headless. I called an ambulance and findings were heart rate, blood pressure good and she passed a stroke prodicol. Person is 87 and being treated for congestive heart failure. Please advise.
Brief Answer:
I would explain as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully passed through your question and would explain that these symptoms could be related to different causes:
- TIA (transitory ischemic attack). This disorder would be suspected if her symptoms lasted less than an hour. How long did she stay in this situation?
- Stroke. This disorder would be suspected if her symptoms lasted more than one hour.
All the above disorders are related to low blood perfusion in one region of the brain (probably frontal, parietal or temporal lobe), which would lead to these symptoms. The fact that she suffers from congestive heart failure, is a risk factor for possible cardioembolic stroke.
A careful neurological exam is necessary to investigate for possible neurological signs, which can not be detected by patients family.
A brain CT scan or MRI would help differentiate between possible stroke or TIA (CT scan is normal in TIA).
If these symptoms were transitory a careful differential diagnosis should be done before TIA and epilepsy seizures. An EEG would be needed for this purpose.
In case TIA or Stroke is confirmed, she may need to start anti-platelet or anticoagulation therapy to prevent possible stroke. Further tests would be needed for this purpose:
- a cardiac ultrasound
- an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring to investigate for possible atrial fibrillation or other types of cardiac arrhythmia
- a Doppler ultrasound of the cervical vessels to investigate for possible atherosclerotic stenosis
- some other blood lab tests (complete blood count for anemia, kidney and liver function tests, blood electrolytes, fasting glucose and HbA1C for diabetes, blood lipid profile for possible dyslipidemia,etc.).
You should discuss with her 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 explain as follows:
Detailed Answer:
Hello!
Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!
I carefully passed through your question and would explain that these symptoms could be related to different causes:
- TIA (transitory ischemic attack). This disorder would be suspected if her symptoms lasted less than an hour. How long did she stay in this situation?
- Stroke. This disorder would be suspected if her symptoms lasted more than one hour.
All the above disorders are related to low blood perfusion in one region of the brain (probably frontal, parietal or temporal lobe), which would lead to these symptoms. The fact that she suffers from congestive heart failure, is a risk factor for possible cardioembolic stroke.
A careful neurological exam is necessary to investigate for possible neurological signs, which can not be detected by patients family.
A brain CT scan or MRI would help differentiate between possible stroke or TIA (CT scan is normal in TIA).
If these symptoms were transitory a careful differential diagnosis should be done before TIA and epilepsy seizures. An EEG would be needed for this purpose.
In case TIA or Stroke is confirmed, she may need to start anti-platelet or anticoagulation therapy to prevent possible stroke. Further tests would be needed for this purpose:
- a cardiac ultrasound
- an ambulatory 24-48 hours ECG monitoring to investigate for possible atrial fibrillation or other types of cardiac arrhythmia
- a Doppler ultrasound of the cervical vessels to investigate for possible atherosclerotic stenosis
- some other blood lab tests (complete blood count for anemia, kidney and liver function tests, blood electrolytes, fasting glucose and HbA1C for diabetes, blood lipid profile for possible dyslipidemia,etc.).
You should discuss with her doctor on the above issues.
Hope to have been helpful!
Feel free to ask me again whenever you need!
Kind regards,
Dr. Iliri
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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