Anonymous

2 years

Prolonged effects of vertigo

My father is a 57-year old male with type 2 diabetes. A month ago, he had, what we suspected as vertigo because he was vomiting and he said that everything was spinning in which he could not even sit up straight, without someone supporting his back or else he would collapse. Symptoms included blurred or double vision, slurred speech, imbalance in coordination and loss of control in motor function. When he was first sick, he was very weak and we called for a house call doctor and he administered multiple IVs for my father and his blood glucose level was at 17.8 mmol/L (before breakfast). The doctor advised him to rest and get his blood glucose level under control. He was taking metformin to reduce his blood glucose level and we started to monitor his meals and sugar intake. After a week or so, we had his blood work done and the results came back with his cholesterol level of 7 . Before this, he had normal cholesterol level and we regularly check his blood pressure which turned out to be normal too and there is no known family history of heart diseases. He also sustained an injury on his leg, a quite severe burn specifically, from the thermal massage bed which took so long to heal.

And now, a month later, we managed to control his blood glucose level with the average of 8.0 (before breakfast), and even at one point, the lowest it had ever been was 6.8, but there were still no major improvements to his condition. He regularly takes his meds, he is on casprin, metformin, cholesterol meds, (crestor rosuvastatin & simvastatin). He still has not regained his sense of balance, he still cannot walk because of the numbness in one side of his legs and arms, and his speech is still slurred and garbled. He also experienced occasional series of dizziness although not as severe as before, and sometimes, difficulty in urinating. Although there are some minor improvements such as his arms and legs do feel ‘lighter’ and he was able to lift them up by himself, occasionally and he was able to sit up straight on his wheelchair for hours. My family is worried and unsure of referring him to hospitals due to the current covid situation but we are running out of options and this has persisted for too long. Please help me. Thank you.

Hello, thank you for your enquiry.

From your description, your father has type 2 diabetes, currently having vertigo, blurred or double vision, slurred speech and incoordination, one sided numbness of his upper and lower limbs, and loss of function. He is on casprin, metformin and statins. We understand your concern, we will try to help you.

For your information, the symptoms your father experienced may due to cerebrovascular accident (CVA), or stroke. It happened when the blood vessels supplying oxygen to the brain is clogged with thrombus, thrombotic stroke or when the blood vessels ruptured, hemorrhagic stroke. Either of these are critical situation, which medical treatment is essential to prevent further complications and to preserve his body’s functions.

Other than that, these symptoms may also due to nerve injury, nerve inflammation or other nerve disorders, which causing weakness, vision problem, vertigo, incoordination and so on.

We highly recommend you to bring your father to hospital as soon as possible to receive the require management. All hospitals throughout Malaysia are having Covid prevention protocol, and they are making sure to reduce the risk of spreading Covid in hospital.

Therefore, do not hesitate to bring your father to any hospital of your recommendation in your area, so that he can receive a medical examinations and investigations to find out the exact diagnosis for his symptoms and receive the proper treatment.

For more information, you may contact us for an online consultation for further assistance as well.

Thank you, we hope our answer has been helpful.

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