IUBio

Possible Stroke. Please give me your suggestions.

mat mats_trash at hotmail.com
Mon Feb 23 09:33:53 EST 2004


the fact that they're not
> giving him his normal meds probably means
> that they are trying to find a "baseline" - which
> is necessary, but inherently dangerous - > 

It's not unlikely that what was occurring was a
> reaction to the drug s he was taking.
> 
> Drugs are often 'prescribed' overly-casually, without
> proper pre-prescription analyses 


KPC: When did you become a doctor and qualified to give this advice? 
Its one think to impersonate a scientist, quite another to pretend to
know any medicine.

To the original poster: I wouldn't trust any advice you get on a
newsgroup, but the history does not sound like a drug interaction
(unlikely given sudden onset after a long period of time taking the
medication).  It does sound more like a stroke - the initial CT
wouldn't have shown anything (it takes 12-24hrs for the most common
type of stroke to become apparent).

>> news:6d99d0e0.0402210406.16476211 at posting.google.com...
> > My husband (age 74) started having problems walking (complained of
> > "lead feet").  Then a few days ago while at the dentist (after having
> > had novacaine), he again had trouble walking, grabbed a nearby wall
> > and held on and then became unresponsive while standing there for @ 5
> > minutes.  We headed to the emergency room where they took a cat scan
> > and did a EKG and found nothing.  We've got an appointment for an MRI
> > in a couple of weeks (the earliest apt. available).  Meanwhile, he's
> > developed an assortment of symptoms...the most frightening of which is
> > mental confusion.  He's asked me the same question over and over and
> > never remembers any answers. Other problems he's mentioned are
> > heartburn (he's got a very large hiatal hernia, takes prilosec daily
> > and still suffers from frequent heartburn), ringing and other noises
> > in his ears, vision abnormalities (sees lights), constipation,
> > vomitting.
> >
> > Then, on the way to bed, he fell and was unresponsive for @ 5 minutes.
> >  I called 911 and they took him to the hospital for yet another cat
> > scan & EKG (which incidentally showed an old mini-stroke) and this
> > time admitted him.  They're thinking that he might have had a stroke.
> > Another possibility that our Doctor had previously mentioned was
> > problems relating to his medications....especially doxepin (which he
> > took for sleeping and have now discontinued).  He also takes Paxil
> > which (from web searching) I understand might interact.
> >
> > He's also developed slurred speech and, it appears to me that his
> > mouth is drooping on one side a little.
> >
> > My Husband, to say the least, is a lousy patient and is literally
> > BEGGING me to take him out of the hospital and go home.  He's
> > threatening to take a cab home if I won't take him and he's stubborn
> > enough to actually do it.  (He has neither his wallet nor house keys
> > at the hospital and I've told him I won't let him in the house if he
> > tries to pull a stunt like that).
> >
> > So far they haven't done any tests and I've been unable to find out
> > any information except vague info that they have an MRI "scheduled"
> > but I can't find out when.  Also, hubby had bad heartburn last night
> > and I found out that the hospital has not been giving him his usual
> > medications.  Is there a reason he shouldn't be taking his prilosec,
> > etc.?
> >
> > I guess my biggest question is.... Would it be a lousy idea to bring
> > him home from the hospital (and then bring him back for tests)?  His
> > begging is wearing me down.  I admit that I'm starting to agree with
> > him that the hospital is giving less than great care (He didn't get
> > any food till almost 1 PM and that was after I nudged them), no
> > perscriptions were given and he had bad heartburn last night, and I've
> > been unable to get much information from them on anything nor have I
> > been able to talk to his doctor or the neurologist who spoke to him
> > for a few moements in the hospital.
> >
> > Really appreciate some suggestions!  I don't know what to do.  Hubby
> > is using emotional blackmail to try to get me to take him home but I'm
> > still not sure what I should do.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Sandy



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