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What Causes Loss Of Consciousness And Numbness In The Hands?
Question: I picked my wife up from work yesterday and she works as a file clerk in a OBGYN office. About 20 min. after wile we where riding in the car with the air on she slumped over and was non responsive. I took her to a hospital who ran some test and kept her over night only to tell us 25hrs later to talk to are family doc. I feal that they did not take all the information into account cuz when he tried to say there was nothing wrong with her. she ca go home. She blacked out. Both arms from her elbows to her hands where numb. And when she was coming back to she said she could not remember how to breath and could not remember how to speak. What I herd on my end was babbling. What do you think.
Brief Answer:
Read below
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
Loss of consciousness can have several causes. The first possibility is a lowering of the blood pressure, a syncope, leading to temporary lack of blood flow to the brain. That can be due to an arrhythmia, an episode with an abnormal heart rate. It can also be due to an exageratted vagal response, a vaso vagal syncope, an overstimulation of the vagus nerve which leads to slow heart rate and low pressure. It can happen in situations on fear, stress, fatigue etc.
The second common cause is seizures. However usually seizures have other symptoms, like head and eyes deviation, contractures or abnormal movements of the limbs, etc. So since you describe it as simply black out I would say it is less likely.
The other common cause is a metabolic abnormality, like dehydration, electrolyte alterations, blood sugar fluctuations etc.
So the duty of the hospital (any hospital) is not necessarily to identify the cause right away, as you can see causes can be many and outside of the episode are hard to identify. What I would expect from the hospital is to take some blood tests, a blood count and biochemical panel, to check for metabolic changes. Also they should have at least an EKG to check for evident heart arrhythmia, if a prolonged EKG monitoring during those 25 hours even better. They should also take the vitals, conduct a general and neurological physical exam.
If that has been done I do not think you have any reason to be discontent with them. Their duty is to identify issues which would require urgent intervention like life threatening arrhythmias. Afterwards the patient is discharged and followed by family doctor. That doesn't mean that they think she doesn't need any more attention, only that she can conduct other tests on an outpatient basis.
Based on your description of the episodes I would say a vasovagal syncope is the most likely cause, a benign occurrence which needs no treatment and if isolated no more tests. The numbness from the elbows to the hands doesn't indicate anything serious, neither her account of not remembering to breath or speak, they are not manifestations of brain lesions. If the episodes keep recurring though other tests may be scheduled such as 24 hour Holter EKG (a recording of the heart rhythm through a portable device during everyday activity) or an EEG to check for possible epileptiform changes.
I remain at your disposal for other questions.
Read below
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
Loss of consciousness can have several causes. The first possibility is a lowering of the blood pressure, a syncope, leading to temporary lack of blood flow to the brain. That can be due to an arrhythmia, an episode with an abnormal heart rate. It can also be due to an exageratted vagal response, a vaso vagal syncope, an overstimulation of the vagus nerve which leads to slow heart rate and low pressure. It can happen in situations on fear, stress, fatigue etc.
The second common cause is seizures. However usually seizures have other symptoms, like head and eyes deviation, contractures or abnormal movements of the limbs, etc. So since you describe it as simply black out I would say it is less likely.
The other common cause is a metabolic abnormality, like dehydration, electrolyte alterations, blood sugar fluctuations etc.
So the duty of the hospital (any hospital) is not necessarily to identify the cause right away, as you can see causes can be many and outside of the episode are hard to identify. What I would expect from the hospital is to take some blood tests, a blood count and biochemical panel, to check for metabolic changes. Also they should have at least an EKG to check for evident heart arrhythmia, if a prolonged EKG monitoring during those 25 hours even better. They should also take the vitals, conduct a general and neurological physical exam.
If that has been done I do not think you have any reason to be discontent with them. Their duty is to identify issues which would require urgent intervention like life threatening arrhythmias. Afterwards the patient is discharged and followed by family doctor. That doesn't mean that they think she doesn't need any more attention, only that she can conduct other tests on an outpatient basis.
Based on your description of the episodes I would say a vasovagal syncope is the most likely cause, a benign occurrence which needs no treatment and if isolated no more tests. The numbness from the elbows to the hands doesn't indicate anything serious, neither her account of not remembering to breath or speak, they are not manifestations of brain lesions. If the episodes keep recurring though other tests may be scheduled such as 24 hour Holter EKG (a recording of the heart rhythm through a portable device during everyday activity) or an EEG to check for possible epileptiform changes.
I remain at your disposal for other questions.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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