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Suggest Treatment For Dizziness And Double Vision In An Elderly Person
Question: Hi, I am a 58 year old woman, and experienced double vision and dizziness for about 20 minutes this morning. I'm planning to call my PCP now and call my husband to come home and take me to the doctor or ER. I have never had this kind of symptom before. I fairly recently stopped taking fish oil and low dose aspirin, because I've had gastritis for a few weeks, and I want to avoid anything that taxes my digestive system. Is there anything else I should do for the time being? I am not diabetic.
Brief Answer:
Read below.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
Those symptoms you describe can indeed be in the setting of a transient ischemic attack (TIA), transitory lack of blood flow in a brain area. Even if you feel well now it must be taken seriously because a TIA can be a herald of a future stroke. Also you should be evaluated for subtle neurological deficits which might still be present but which you do not notice. So it is a good decision to go to the ER to have at least a physical exam, some blood tests, EKG monitoring and perhaps brain imaging.
In term of medication they consist in blood thinners, the most common classes are either antiaggregants like aspirin or clopidogrel or anticoagulants. Anticoagulants are usually used for cardiac causes such as arrhythmia. So since tests are needed to determine whether there are evident cardiac causes, there is not much you should do apart from presenting the ER. Stay well hydrated, blood pressure lowering is not advised for the moment. An alternative to Aspirin would be Clopidogrel which doesn't affect the stomach that much, but it's not something which you should start by yourself, wait to be seen.
I remain at your disposal for further questions.
Read below.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
Those symptoms you describe can indeed be in the setting of a transient ischemic attack (TIA), transitory lack of blood flow in a brain area. Even if you feel well now it must be taken seriously because a TIA can be a herald of a future stroke. Also you should be evaluated for subtle neurological deficits which might still be present but which you do not notice. So it is a good decision to go to the ER to have at least a physical exam, some blood tests, EKG monitoring and perhaps brain imaging.
In term of medication they consist in blood thinners, the most common classes are either antiaggregants like aspirin or clopidogrel or anticoagulants. Anticoagulants are usually used for cardiac causes such as arrhythmia. So since tests are needed to determine whether there are evident cardiac causes, there is not much you should do apart from presenting the ER. Stay well hydrated, blood pressure lowering is not advised for the moment. An alternative to Aspirin would be Clopidogrel which doesn't affect the stomach that much, but it's not something which you should start by yourself, wait to be seen.
I remain at your disposal for further questions.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Thanks! I am at the ER now, so far so good.
Brief Answer:
Well done.
Detailed Answer:
That's great. Let me know if I can further assist you.
Well done.
Detailed Answer:
That's great. Let me know if I can further assist you.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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