health question

syklops

If this is not the right place feel free to move it.

My father, who is just gone 70, woke up on Monday morning, and when he tried to get about of bed found he was very wobbly on his feet. He lost his balance going to the toilet and has pretty much been bed ridden since. He got up to go to the toilet yesterday, fell getting back into bed, and my mother spent an hour getting him back into bed. She has a dodgy hip and can not move as quickly as she used to. He thought he was better today and got up and fell again. He does not have a temperature, has some aches and pains, but no other obvious symtoms. He had a minor stroke about 6 months ago and is still recovering. He had the doctor come round who examined him and was unable to find anything mysterious, and put it down to a virus. I was happy to leave it as a virus until I rang my mother tonight.

A friend of my father's has been struck with something similar. This man is as hardy as a snipe, and as far as I know has never even taken an aspirin, yet he got out of the car this morning going to the shop and was also very wobbly on his feet. He went to the doctors, and again blood tests were taken etc. but nothing out of the ordinary was found. Both my father and this man were working together putting down tiles at the weekend. My sister, who is studying toxicology in college suggested a solvent they were using has had an affect on them, and hit my father earlier as he was weaker. Both men live in different parts of the county, and apart from both being british in origin, have nothing else obvious in common. Does anyone know of anyone else that they know being struck down with a strange illness that causes them to be dizzy, and unsteady on their feet?

Any thoughts would be appreciated too.

TantraKat

My mother sometimes suffers from Vertigo which causes her to get dizzy and lose her balance if she stands up too quickly. If you father doesn't start feeling better soon push the Doctors for him to be sent to a specialist. At 70 he needs to get checked out properly, and sometimes doctors just brush things off by saying its their age.

Dizzyblonde

There are many causes of dizziness, and if your father doesn't improve then bring him back to the doctor. There is a site for sufferers and their families which doesn't give medical advice but has information and support. It's www.dizzytimes.com - I'm a member as I have a balance disorder myself.
In answer to you question, there are viruses which can cause dizziness and unsteadiness but these also need to be treated by a doctor.

Lollipops23

There's an awful lot of different bugs and viruses going around and even the time of year could just be running him down. I'd probably leave it till the end of the week and if there's been no improvement call the doctor back. And make sure he's keeping nice and cosy in this weather!!

Mulan

My dad has virtigo. He has had 1 or 2 bad attacks this year. He would get the attack midweek as a result of over doing it the weekend. In this I mean he attended a wedding the weekend previous to both attacks.

He would get very dizzy and feel very sick. All he'd want to do would be to get to bed. He has medication for it but, its too late when it comes upon him.

My younger brother has also suffered from vertigo, but it onlt effects him after long haul flights. Had one bad attack for no apparent reason last year.

My dad is very healthy at 62 and my brother 30 trains about 4 nights a week.

Just some info

b3t4

My mother has vertigo too and she has to take medication to control it. What happened to her sounds very like what's happening to your Dad.

Get a second opinion. (and mention about the solvent as well to ease any fears you have about that one)

A

dudara

We really can't offer an opinion on this as we are not medical experts.

I would seek a second opinion from your GP or indeed another GP.

Good luck to your Dad.

Thread closed.

dudara