Hi doctor, My 58 years old mother is under treatment for hypothyroidism, hypertension, osteoarthritis of knee joints, and mild anemia. Her hemoglobin is 10.5 to 11.0 g/dL. She is currently on the following medicines, Eltroxin 50 mcg, Olmezest 20 mg, Gemcal D3, Uprise XT, and Folvite. Six months back, one day after breakfast, she had reported an incident of reeling of head and darkness in eyes, which got normalized after she laid down on the bed. She also had a fever (100 to 101 F) with cold and cough that time, which took 3 to 4 days to settle down with antibiotics. One day after lunch, she again reported reeling of head and darkness in eyes, after which she got bent towards left side with her left-hand palm shaking for 15 to 20 second. And she was almost about to fall, which was stopped by us. She seemed to be in a subconscious state for 3 to 4 minutes, and she stared at something during that time. When we attempted to talk to her, initially she could make out only some sounds, followed by normal words, but in a strange voice, which got normal the next moment. However, coming back to sense, she was worried about the ongoing health issues of her son, and she had no memory of the incident at all. She was back to normal activities in next 10 minutes, and she did not report any arm or leg pain during that time. She also had a little cold the previous day, for which she took Cetirizine tablets. We consulted a doctor after 5 to 6 such incidents, who mentioned this as a case of sodium and potassium imbalance due to viral infection. He also examined her physically, and he said that her BP is 122/82 mmHg. As there was no history of convulsion, as well, without ordering for any further investigations. However, I would like to summarize a few symptoms as follows, which keep me worried. She reported feeling very tired and sleepy until at least two weeks of the incident. She had quite a few occurrences of constipation followed by gastritis 5 to 6 times of motion along with weight loss in the last 3 to 4 months. After the day of 5 to 6 times of motion, she reported feeling heaviness in legs, difficulty in walking along with a severe headache right from the morning. When we reported this to our doctor, he asked to test her sodium (138.4 mEq/L) and potassium (3.72 mEq/L) levels, which came back normal. Since the last couple of months, she felt a significant increase in her left knee joint pain, which I am not sure if totally because of existing osteoarthritis or not. Since the last couple of months, she felt difficulty in lifting heavy objects, especially, with the left hand and to some extent with right hand too. I have attached her recent routine test reports along with the doctor's prescription. Could you please review the incident along with the reports? Is it a stroke or TIA or something serious?
Hi. Thank you for your question. You have described your mother's symptoms very well. I will be happy to answer any other questions you have. For further queries consult a neurologist online -->