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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Confusion Along With Nausea And Shortness Of Breath?

My mother is 63 years old and I tried to wake her up and it took several attempts. She was extremely disoriented and confused and very nauseous. I helped her to the bedroom but she was very unsteady. She was recently hospitalized and we are awaiting the results of a partial endoscopy. She has been short of breath constantly but not at this moment. Her bp was about 148/101 and pulse was around 90, however those are normal numbers for her. Also when she was hospitalized last week her ekg strongly suggested a heart attack, thankfully it was not. But her stomach is very depended (for several weeks now) and she often has a hard time swallowing. Being that the hospital released her I don’t want to take her back unnecessarily, we are awaiting many results including multiple biopsies. It was the several attempts to wake her and the extreme confusion and disorientation that caused me to somewhat panic. Should I just watch her over the night or take her to the emergency room.? Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Thu, 21 Jun 2018
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.

Sorry to hear of her sufferings, confusion in elderly can be for so many reasons. Some common things like drugs, disturbed sleep, change of environment can do. However, sudden onset of such type can hardly be explained, here we need to see for reasons (please check his sugar urgently if she has any sugar related disease) like disturbed electrolyes, low or high sugar , infection, sudden onset may be because of stroke or heart attack. So I would advise you should take her to the ER, for proper assessment .

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
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What Causes Confusion Along With Nausea And Shortness Of Breath?

Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service. I have reviewed your query and here is my advice. Sorry to hear of her sufferings, confusion in elderly can be for so many reasons. Some common things like drugs, disturbed sleep, change of environment can do. However, sudden onset of such type can hardly be explained, here we need to see for reasons (please check his sugar urgently if she has any sugar related disease) like disturbed electrolyes, low or high sugar , infection, sudden onset may be because of stroke or heart attack. So I would advise you should take her to the ER, for proper assessment . Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.