What Causes Faint Feeling, Reduced Motor Skills In The Limbs And Imbalance?

Posted on Sat, 23 Dec 2017

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

Sat, 23 Dec 2017 Answered on

Thu, 24 May 2018 Last reviewed on

Question : My wife is feeling faint, looses hands, leg and arm function. She has trouble walking and is off balance. This is about the 3rd episode of this problem within the last couple of weeks. Thank You

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (42 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
I would recommend as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Welcome and thank you for asking on HCM!

I passed carefully through your question and would explain that it is necessary performing a comprehensive differential diagnosis between different causes that may mimic this clinical scenario:

- a cardiac arrhythmia
- vertebro-basilary insufficiency (narrowing of the vertebral arteries and low blood flow to the brain)
- orthostatic hypotension
- possible seizures.

For this reason, I would recommend performing further tests to investigate for the possible underlying causes:

-an ambulatory 24-48 ECG monitoring to examine her heart rhythm trends and exclude possible arrhythmia
- a cardiac ultrasound to examine her heart function and structure
- a Head Up Tilt test to investigate for possible orthostatic hypotension
- an EEG
- a Doppler ultrasound of the carotid and vertebral arteries
- fasting glucose and glucose tolerance test for possible hypoglycemia
- blood electrolytes
- thyroid hormone levels.

You should discuss with her doctor on the above issues.

Hope you will find this answer helpful!

Kind regards,

Dr. Iliri

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