My Mother age 93 has been said to be having TIA's. I am not convinced. What else could this be?

Question

She has cholecysistitis and liver damage, sleeps a lot and is confused when awake. She recently had her broken neck of femur pinned. These ? transient events go on for days and are not transient.

Answer 1

There are several illnesses which may seem very much like TIA's. These include migraine, epileptic fits or seizures, a low blood sugar, faints and changes in heart rhythm. TIA's do not usually cause "blackouts", fainting or loss of consciousness. These other illnesses need different treatments and it is important that people with TIA symptoms are seen by a specialist to find out the cause of the trouble.
http://www.vascularsociety.org.uk/patient/tia.html

By definition a TIA last less than 24 hours and the vasy majority last
less than 30 minutes.
Anything which lasts over 24 hours is not a TIA.
http://209.51.172.19/forums/neuro/archive/15537.html

This next site has a lot of technical information but it ends with:
It is likely that previous episodes in this patient were misdiagnosed as "TIA". His clinical state as well as his constructional apraxia improved significantly [Figure - 1] with lowering of ammonia levels and is in keeping with a recent study that showed correlation of serum ammonia levels with hepatic encephalopathy in patients with liver disease.[3] He has been on chronic lactulose therapy and protein-restricted diet over the last 2 years and has not had further overt manifestations of encephalopathy. No evidence of an underlying etiology has also become evident during the follow-up.
http://www.jpgmonline.com/article.asp?issn=0022-3859;year=2006;volume=52;issue=2;spage=157;epage=158;aulast=Peter

Answer 2

It sounds as if your mother has multiple problems. With liver damage she could have hepatic encephalopathy which can make people very delirious. Also at her age any serious illness, cholecystitis, liver damage and femur fracture all being very serious, can trigger delirium. She very well could be having TIA's too. TIA's would generally lead to partial paralysis lasting anywhere from a few minutes up to 24 hours.

Answer 3

TIA, Transient Ischaemic Attack....'mini stroke' where the brain doesn't get a good bloody supply because it is temporarily interrupted. Symptoms include confusion, impairment in speech and often some weakness down one side. They are called transient because they pass, then it is possible to have another one so it seems continuous.

Hope that helps

Answer 4

I take TIAs due to brain haemorrhage's sometimes just tingling other times no feeling down one side & left feeling very weak afterwards
TIAs can be caused by blood not circulating properly due to blockages or narrowing of blood vessels also blood platelets clotting to much she should have a cartoid doppler scan done to check her blood flow last about 20 mins & is painless
these attacks are frightning for the person & their familys