What Do My Lab Test Reports Indicate?

Posted on Mon, 16 Oct 2017

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

Mon, 16 Oct 2017 Answered on

Fri, 10 Nov 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : 91 year old female had a fall. Hit knee and top of head in the fall. She had xrays and cat scan with no results. On cumadin with much bruising to entire leg. Knee became warm to touch last week being treated with antibiotics. Home health nurse checking blood pressure it is low they told her to stop her Blood Pressure medicine and they adjusted her Coumadin. She is now getting weaker and weaker and today did not want to eat or drink. this fall occurred the last week in September. She has had one more fall that occurred at home last week. Unsure now what would be causing the weakness and her cognition is declining just a bit. Did the fall cause what is happening now or could something else medical be going on that caused the initial fall. Does more medical need to be ruled out at this time. Last week she was up and moving around just fine a bit unsteady but not unusual for her, but did have the second fall on Thursday.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Ivan Romich (52 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
some tests can be done

Detailed Answer:
Hi and welcome.
It is hard to say the exact cause of her cognitive function disorder, but it could be caused by fall of course. Head injury may affect cognitive functions especially in this age. Even if CT scan was fine, there may be some delayed consequances or some signs of brain injury which may be seen only on MRI scan or EEG scan.
Second, head hit may trigger cerebrovascular insult. And third, some blood electrolyte imbalance may lead to confusion and cognition issues. So I don think this is an emergency, but if this persist or worsens then I suggest to check blood sugar, potassium, sodium and magnesium, do MRI scan or EEG, do carotid artery DOppler exam and have neurologic examination. WIsh you good health. Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T