My mother became non-responsive after taking new blood pressure medicine

Posted , 3 users are following.

My mom left work on a Friday with a severe headache after eating a slice of pizza. She drove to the hospital and was admitted to the ICU with high blood pressure (235/176) in which she's been taking .1 mg of Chlonidine to control over the past 3 years. They coded her as having a ministroke to the brain (TIA) after she displayed temporary stoke-like symptoms (unable to lift arm, stick out her tongue, say her name).

Well, they discharged her from the Hospital on Sunday with 3 new blood pressure medications. She came home and was doing ok (mostly laying down, talking, relaxing). By Tuesday, we called 911 because she became non-responsive after feeling extremely week, hot and sweating profusely. She sat down and frantically called out for help. Then, she had an episode where her face and body became stiff, her eyes stared off in a daze with tears rolling down her cheek. She could see and hear us, but could not talk or move parts of her body. Her face, mouth, limbs, shut down for 30 seconds at a time. Her blood pressure was 170/101. She even Passed out in the ambulance. The doctors in the Stroke ambulance said she was having seizures and not a stroke.

She was admitted into another hospital During the next few days, the episodes (response delays and stiffness) became longer, sometimes up to 5 minutes at a time. even after being readmitted into hospital, these episodes continued throughout the day until she went to bed! The MRI, CT Scan, EEG, Echocardiogram, EKG and blood work all came back negative showing no signs of stroke or seizures. So we have no idea what's going on.

The neurologist from the 2nd hospital performed a 2.5-hour EEG, but found no seizure activity. She scheduled a 24-hour EEG to be performed at a 3rd hospital, so that they can totally rule out seizure activity. She was discharged from the 2nd hospital.

On Friday, my mother started having episodes again. Weakness, heaviness in chest area, she was really faint. I asked her to move her eyes to the left and to the right. She could not. I asked her to lift her arms/legs. She could not. After a about 20 seconds, she could speak, but her Speech was very short and choppy. She tried to start a sentence, but she hesitates, stutters, and pronounces words incorrectly. She said it feels like her brain freezes.

Can anyone shed some light?

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Posted

    This sounds to complicated to try and sort out on a forum but I'm puzzled as to why you need to try. The Drs have a responsibility to inform you about what they think is happening and to give you some advice about how to manage things. Perhaps contacting your GP and talking to them might help, but they really shouldn't have left you in this situation without talking to you, it must be very difficult for you.

    • Posted

      I agree Laroxe. I believe the doctors were relying on the tests, but they all came back negative. I was hoping maybe someone may be familiar with these symptoms and offer some suggestions as to what it could possibly be. We went to her GP and all she did was increase the dose on one of her prescriptions. She also ordered a few ultrasounds to check her kidneys and arteries. We are just confused! The 1st hospital said TIA (miniStroke). The 2nd hospital said it's seizures. We're so confused. Thanks for your response though.

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