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What Causes Confusion And Agitation?
My dad just had a CT of the brain to try and rule out mini strokes. He is 86 and has had Type II Diabetes for years. He has peripheral neuropathy and we were trying to determine if anything other than the peripheral neuropathy was contributing to his difficulty in ambulating. He has also had confusion and increased agitation lately. The scan showed "chronic small vessel ischemia in the left basal ganglia and internal capsule" but says there were only small changes in his brain related to circulation. Should we be concerned about his increased risk for stroke or is this more or less fairly normal given his age and medical hx? Thanks.
Wed, 21 Jan 2015
Hello,
Welcome to HCM and thanks for your query.
Your father has decreased blood flow to several areas in the blood. This is due to the vasculopathy caused by diabetes in addition to his age. People with diabetes have an increased incidence of strokes and this is increased if he also has other problems like hypertension, hyperlipidemia and smoking.
What would help him would be a fair control of diabetes avoiding hypoglycemia, control of blood pressure and smoking if present.
He could take aspirin if he does not have any contraindication to it like abdominal pain, heart burn etc. There are some herbal preperations that some of my patients take and say has helped them and there are some studies on Ginkgobiloba improving circulation. He can take them if he believes in them.
I shall be happy answer if you have further queries.
Dr Noble Zachariah
Welcome to HCM and thanks for your query.
Your father has decreased blood flow to several areas in the blood. This is due to the vasculopathy caused by diabetes in addition to his age. People with diabetes have an increased incidence of strokes and this is increased if he also has other problems like hypertension, hyperlipidemia and smoking.
What would help him would be a fair control of diabetes avoiding hypoglycemia, control of blood pressure and smoking if present.
He could take aspirin if he does not have any contraindication to it like abdominal pain, heart burn etc. There are some herbal preperations that some of my patients take and say has helped them and there are some studies on Ginkgobiloba improving circulation. He can take them if he believes in them.
I shall be happy answer if you have further queries.
Dr Noble Zachariah
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