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What Causes Involuntary Movements In Upper Part Of Body In An Elderly Person?

Posted on Thu, 7 Jan 2016

Question: Grandmom is an 89 in good health. She is on no meds. Sitting on the side of her bed her upper torso started shaking. She says she is not cold. I have put on an extra blanket. We are inside at the house and the temp is set to 71 degrees. She does have some chest congestion and hacks a 'wet-hack' once in a while.

The symptoms seem to go away when she takes deep breaths.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Muhammad Sareer Khalil (37 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
LRTI should be excluded

Detailed Answer:
Hello and Welcome

I appreciate your concern

Lower respiratory tract infections / pneumonia in the elderly are associated with significant morbidity and needs to be ruled out. This should especially be a priority if there is acute onset of fever, chills and cough (productive or non productive). An x ray chest and complete blood count can be advised. If there are typical findings on the x ray with a raised TLC count and the clinical symptoms described above then antibiotics should be initiated. If the physical exam, chest x ray and other findings are normal then steam inhalation , mucolytics and bronchodilators alone would suffice. Annual Flu vaccine and pneumococcal vaccination should also be advised in consultation with your doctor.

Wishing you best of health

Thanks

Let me know if you have any query

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Dr. M.S. Khalil

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