QuestionDora (my mom) is 94. She lives in Florida in an
apartment complex for seniors. She has a GP and
he keeps shuttling her around to a cardiologist,
then an internist, then a podiatrist, then a
neurologist. He seems to never really find anything wrong, but she keeps complaining so he
keeps referring.
Mom is sleeping longer these days. She gets up
at 9:30 and is ready for a nap by 11. She makes her breakfast (Oatmeal), her lunch (at noon or 1PM - a salad, maybe with a hard boiled egg, or
some smoked salmon) and then after lunch, if she's lucky, has her bm. But for the last few months, around noon, her eyes feel very heavy -
the pressure behind them, like a horrible headache, and a weak feeling comes over her.
I have had her use a cold pack on her face and
that helps her. So I wondered if she had a sinusitus. Her ENT said no way. She's had van-ce-nase. And I hoped if she did a more thorough job
with it, that maybe her headache would be solved,
but the ENT explained that the symptoms don't match. He suggested the neurologist. But the neurologist gave her an anti-dizziness drug last
year for the same problem, and it didn't help at all.
So - in your experience is there something to look for ?
She takes Plavix and Aricept at night. She has decided to stop taking her Centrum for Seniors and Oscal because sometimes pills make her feel sick. She often has difficult bm's or at least a
day in between them. But prunes seem to be working well.
She had high blood pressure for awhile. Then taking Norvasc, sometimes was feeling very weak,
and then got swollen ankles. I asked if she could take her off the Norvasc, which he did. Then 2 months later the swelling spreading into
the legs, he gave a diuretic and the podiatrist recommended medium surgical stockings and in 3 days the swelling was gone...
She had eye operations for cataracts around 10-15 years ago and one eye bled internally for a year or so. They informed me that her vision would never improve in that eye - that it gives her a blind spot, but that the leakage stopped.
AnswerHi Charlie and thanks for writing,
Obviously there is no way for any one to diagnos over the internet, especially as we can't see test results etc... I assume they have given your Mom thorough Blood Tests to rule out obvious cuases (Diabetes, Thyroid, Hormones, etc...).
I think it would be well worth your while to have your Mom examed by a good Naturopath who can identify common foods she may be allergic to or intolerant of. Many, many people live for years with horrible headaches as they're not aware they're allewrgic to something very common (milk, sugar, wheat, etc...). She might also want to try Pollison Drops from a Health Food store; it's a natural Antihistamine and if it helps her haedaches you'll know you're on the right tract.
I hope this helps and I wish you both all the best,
Margot
