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What Causes Lethargic And Weakness In Young Adults?
Question: My daughter, age 29, became ill at work yesterday. Her co-workers found her very confused, lethargic, and weak. She could not answer simple questions. She was taken to the E.R. and they did blood work and a CT scan of her head, all of which were normal. The symptoms lasted about 4 hours, then she went back to normal and was released. She is now just very tired. What could be the cause.
Brief Answer:
It could be due to Low Sugars or Drug Induced.
Detailed Answer:
HI
Greetings from Dr.Divakara.P
Thanks for posting your query.
Well there could be many conditions which cause this kind of problem. Common among them are :
1. Hypoglycemia ( Low blood sugars ) : If she has not taken her breakfast or meals it could have lead to low blood sugars which can causes these symptoms. You said blood work was normal , just check if blood sugars were tested or not .
2. Seizures : She might have had a fit ( Convulsions ) which can cause the symptoms that happened to her . The blood work and the Ct scan may not pick up Seizures.
For this I would recommend MRI Brain scan and EEG. Kindly get this done and revert back .
3. Drug Induced Giddiness : The medicine which she is taking Lyrica when combined with anti depressants can cause severe giddiness and she might have fainted due to that.
She need to either reduce the dose of either Lyrica or Anti depressant after consulting her Psychiatrist.
4. Psychogenic : It could be just due to her depression itself but this has to be considered once other conditions has been ruled out.
Hope this information was useful to you.
Any clarifications feel free to ask .
It could be due to Low Sugars or Drug Induced.
Detailed Answer:
HI
Greetings from Dr.Divakara.P
Thanks for posting your query.
Well there could be many conditions which cause this kind of problem. Common among them are :
1. Hypoglycemia ( Low blood sugars ) : If she has not taken her breakfast or meals it could have lead to low blood sugars which can causes these symptoms. You said blood work was normal , just check if blood sugars were tested or not .
2. Seizures : She might have had a fit ( Convulsions ) which can cause the symptoms that happened to her . The blood work and the Ct scan may not pick up Seizures.
For this I would recommend MRI Brain scan and EEG. Kindly get this done and revert back .
3. Drug Induced Giddiness : The medicine which she is taking Lyrica when combined with anti depressants can cause severe giddiness and she might have fainted due to that.
She need to either reduce the dose of either Lyrica or Anti depressant after consulting her Psychiatrist.
4. Psychogenic : It could be just due to her depression itself but this has to be considered once other conditions has been ruled out.
Hope this information was useful to you.
Any clarifications feel free to ask .
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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