Nausea, Weakness, Sleeping A Lot, Loss Of Appetite. EKG Showed Atrial Flutter. Vomiting In Afternoon. What Can This Be?

Posted on Sun, 20 May 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 20 May 2012 Answered on

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : 94 year old mother has been feeling nauseated and weak for about 10 days now but it comes and goes. After eating breakfast she feels pretty good; however, later in the day she feels awful. Looking at her face you can tell by her eyes she feels awful at times. She is sleeping a lot and had reduced her intake of food. Meat does not appeal to her at all. She is 95 lbs but 5'5 tall so worried about her. Her doctor doesn't have answers. She did take an EKG and showed she had an artirial flutter but won't take the medicine as she says it makes her feel even worse. She has been throwing up in the mid afternoons the last few days. What can this be? Please help.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (6 hours later)

Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
The nauseated and generalized weakness your mother is having may be due to lack of sleep, anxiety, electrolyte imbalance, etc.
Boredom,anxiety and depression also cause such symptoms.
Apart from these ,lack of iron,calcium,B12,FOLIC ACID and hypothyroidism may also result in such presentation.
I advise her for
Try taking out some time to do yoga
Plenty of water
Take calcium,iron and B complex vitamins for few weeks
Get her hemoglobin and hypothyroidism checked up
Do XXXXXXX breathing daily for five minutes before you go to sleep.
In case the symptoms are persistent then a through evaluation and investigations are needed to find out the cause.
I hope this answers your query.
In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me, and I shall be glad to help you out.
Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Praveen Tayal.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar