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What Causes Constant Headaches In An Elderly Person?

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Posted on Fri, 2 Dec 2016
Question: Hello Dr , My mom age is 50 and weight 55 , she is suffering headache that also rarely monthly once or twice for last few years if she get an headache she will take rarely vicsaction 500 tablet and some time if slept good time, then headache will cure automatically , and she is having bit stressed and tensions due to family reason.... My mom is very slim, physically very fit and hard worker ,until now she don't have any health issue..., for past one month she didn't get good sleep and headache also coming very frequently ( weekly twice)...we thot of due to family reason she didn't get good sleep..on last Sunday she was suffered headache in whole day and slept by 9 pm ...midnight 2 am she went to unconscious stage and got a FIX..and we admitted hospital by 3 am and she back to normal stage by 4 am....we done a blood , urin , brain scan and EGC ,chest scanned everything done ....I have attached all reports for your reference , Pls review all scanned and test reports and share your result ....pls let me know why suddenly my mom got a fix like that..... Right now taking a tablet livatira 500 mg tablet for one month ...is this medicine cure or my mom need to check with any specialist Dr ? ...can you pls review all reports and share your suggestions. pls. Is that any specific health issues cause for fix ? Or do we needed to some more test to identity?

if any reports not clear pls let me know I will share new photo copies. thank you .
doctor
Answered by Dr. Olsi Taka (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
Read below

Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully an I understand your concern about your mother.

I am afraid some more information would be useful though. You say that she has been suffering headaches from a long time but no description on the type of headaches. Headache can have many causes (the classification alone is about 200 pages) so information about the characteristics is needed to at least try to differentiate the cause. By information I refer to location of the headaches, type (pulsating, compressing, sharp, lancinating etc), duration of the episodes, phenomena before of during episodes (visual symptoms, abnormal sensations in the limbs, nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and noise, fever, nasal congestion, eye redness and lacrimation etc), triggering factors (stress, foods, beverages etc), other possible conditions she is under treatment for.

Also you speak of a fit (I suppose that is what you mean by fix), a seizure, but seizures can be of different types as well, so a description is needed, including any sensation before the seizure, seizure manifestations such as head turning, flexing or extending the limbs in a fixed position, shaking of the limbs or other abnormal movements, tongue smacking, eye blinking, tongue biting, unconscious urination. The duration and time when it happened is also necessary, also circumstances such as lack of sleep, not having slept, fever, consumption of alcohol or medications etc. All these are needed for evaluation.

For the moment based on the current info I would say that the doctors have done well to do a CT scan which has excluded threatening issues such as tumor, stroke etc. However the EEG (from what I can understand by that handwriting) finds epileptifom activity focused on a certain area of the brain, so it was correct to initiate treatment even if no cause was found. However I think an MRI is necessary in order to study the temporal lobe where the seizure activity was noticed, the MRI may detect more subtle issues which the CT scan might miss. I agree with the use of Livatira for the moment, it is a good antiepileptic drug which is effective for many types of seizures, the only remark I would make is that only 500 mg per day is perhaps a low dose, I would use at least 2 tablets per day (dosage can go much higher actually).

I remain at your disposal for other questions, but with some of the above mentioned information.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Olsi Taka (12 hours later)
Thanks for brief explanation Dr, Whenever she suffered headache that sometimes she getting vomited other than that no symptoms ....

yes , seizure time head is turning , shaking legs limps and hand limps , tongue smacked, eye blinking and white bubbles of saliva started to coming out of her mouth ...these are all symptoms .we seen it ....the seizure attack is this is first time .

based on EGC report as you found , finds epileptiform activity focused on certain area of brain , is that mean anything impacted in brain ? can u pls explain pls. wht does mean.



yes ,mom is taking 2 tablets per day only .

is that blood and sugar contains are normal ?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Olsi Taka (12 hours later)
Brief Answer:
Read below

Detailed Answer:
Hello again. Sorry about the late answer but your follow up had come when I had just gone to sleep.

Thank you for the additional info on the seizure, it does look like a true seizure (at times it may be mistaken with syncope or psychogenic issues). Seizures at your mother's age rarely come out of nowhere, usually there is some lesion responsible or a metabolic cause such as changes in electrolyte or sugar levels. The blood count is to be considered normal, there is a very slight increase in the white blood cell count but that is common after a seizure. As for sugar or electrolyte levels they are not in your reports, but I am confident that they have been done and resulted normal or you would have been told so.

So yes, given the temporal focus on the EEG, the fact that the abnormalities are concentrated in a certain area there is a possibility that there might be a damage in that area. The CT might miss some slow growing tumors (like low grade glioma) or an infection (though usually there is fever involved) so a MRI as I said is necessary to confidently exclude brain damage.

Let me know if I can further help you.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Olsi Taka (31 minutes later)
thank you Dr , I really appreciated your way of explained to ppls , I would like to know if good sleep and without stressed can chances to eliminate seizure ? and we will make sure to do MRI scan in future do complete investigation....pls advise how to avoided seizure in future, health tips pls ...and also we make sure that to reduce a personal tension and stress level to mom .
doctor
Answered by Dr. Olsi Taka (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
Read below

Detailed Answer:
Sleeping enough and on a regular schedule can help in seizure control. Also avoiding alcohol, caffeine and energy drinks can be beneficial. Staying well hydrated and eating regularly is also important.
Mind you these measures are not a cure, but do help alongside medication in achieving seizure control.

I hope to have been of help.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
doctor
Answered by
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Dr. Olsi Taka

Neurologist

Practicing since :2004

Answered : 3673 Questions

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What Causes Constant Headaches In An Elderly Person?

Brief Answer: Read below Detailed Answer: I read your question carefully an I understand your concern about your mother. I am afraid some more information would be useful though. You say that she has been suffering headaches from a long time but no description on the type of headaches. Headache can have many causes (the classification alone is about 200 pages) so information about the characteristics is needed to at least try to differentiate the cause. By information I refer to location of the headaches, type (pulsating, compressing, sharp, lancinating etc), duration of the episodes, phenomena before of during episodes (visual symptoms, abnormal sensations in the limbs, nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and noise, fever, nasal congestion, eye redness and lacrimation etc), triggering factors (stress, foods, beverages etc), other possible conditions she is under treatment for. Also you speak of a fit (I suppose that is what you mean by fix), a seizure, but seizures can be of different types as well, so a description is needed, including any sensation before the seizure, seizure manifestations such as head turning, flexing or extending the limbs in a fixed position, shaking of the limbs or other abnormal movements, tongue smacking, eye blinking, tongue biting, unconscious urination. The duration and time when it happened is also necessary, also circumstances such as lack of sleep, not having slept, fever, consumption of alcohol or medications etc. All these are needed for evaluation. For the moment based on the current info I would say that the doctors have done well to do a CT scan which has excluded threatening issues such as tumor, stroke etc. However the EEG (from what I can understand by that handwriting) finds epileptifom activity focused on a certain area of the brain, so it was correct to initiate treatment even if no cause was found. However I think an MRI is necessary in order to study the temporal lobe where the seizure activity was noticed, the MRI may detect more subtle issues which the CT scan might miss. I agree with the use of Livatira for the moment, it is a good antiepileptic drug which is effective for many types of seizures, the only remark I would make is that only 500 mg per day is perhaps a low dose, I would use at least 2 tablets per day (dosage can go much higher actually). I remain at your disposal for other questions, but with some of the above mentioned information.