Dizziness and lightheadedness. Virus or Med?

[sierra]

Bean Sprout has a heck of a virus. Bad cough and real weak. Low fever though. I have a call in to the doc to see if all his symptoms are viral or if some could be caused by Prozac. He's been taking it for about 3 weeks now.

He's lightheaded and dizzy. When he sits or stands up his head just spins. He stumbles when he tries to walk. Especially on stairs.

Any ideas?

Dang I didn't even get to hit Post. The doc's real concerned about his dizzyness and wants us to head for the ER.

I'll let you know what we find out later I guess.

Cross your fingers.

[Linda]

Oh my gosh sierra .I hope he is all right! I am guessing an ear infection...let us know.

[AnneM]

Sierra ... Good Luck ... Poor Bean Sprout ... whether this is the infection OR the meds it needs sorting ...

GOOD LUCK !!

[mom2tj]

middle ear infection could cause dissiness and lighteadedness often without pain.... let us know...

[sierra]

Dehydration mostly. His BP was low and pulse was high. I had a feeling the doc was being too dang cautious sending us to the ER.

Nothing to do with meds.

He's tired and disoriented and cranky that he had to go spend two hours in the ER instead of go back to sleep.

Can't say I blame him. But if the doc says "ER". I jump.

[Jenn]

at least it is not the meds. The last time i was told the meds won't do that Kat got so dang sick her bowels got backed up and might be what caused her to end up having her appendix out.

I always would be on the side of caustion instead of letting it go.

Hope he feels better soon.

[Jorgy]

Dehydration is a great reason to go to the ER. Your dr called it right. Dizziness and lightheadednes with position changes are classic signs of dehydration. The problem is that it can be hard to rehydrate. Did he get IVs? What happens with dehydration is that the body doesn't compensate. It makes the symptoms worse like increasing the body temp and causing vomiting which of course causes worse dehydration. Sorry about the medical lesson but by the time a person is dehydrated enough to be dizzy and lightheaded they generally need medical intervention. I always feel it is best to err on the side of caution. Glad to hear he is ok and is home. Sue

[sierra]

Well now that's the strange thing. He didn't have any gastro upset. Just the lightheadedness.

No IV. The figured his blood pressure wasn't too low I guess. He's been drinking like a fish. But not much water. I figure plain water may throw his electrolytes even further out of balance.

I think the reason he got a little dehydrated is because of how much he's been sleeping. We put something to drink in his hand all the time while he was awake. He just hasn't been awake all that much.

You know they didn't even check his ears? Temp. EKG. Pulse. Monitored his BP sitting and standing. Checked his lungs.

Looked like the ER Doc was checking his pulse in his ankles. Haven't seen that before but I'm glad to say I haven't spent much time in emergency rooms.

He's still pretty woozy and groggy but he's talking a lot more sense. Not a lot of balance improvement yet though. If he's not better tomorrow I think I'll get him in to see his regular doc.

[Jorgy]

This is strange. The Prozac could be making him sleepy but after 3 weeks I would think he might be beyond that. If he hasn't had vomiting, diarrhea or a high temp then how is he getting dehydrated? To check for dehydration you check the blood pressure and pulse lying, sitting and then standing. The bld pressure will go down and the pulse will go up with each position change. There is a pulse in the ankle area, maybe he was checking for circulary problems? That I don't know but if he isn't better tomorrow call your regular dr and get him in to see him. Sue

[Jenn]

don't forget the flu going around. I have had it twice in the past month. You don't need high fever or throwing up for flu. Mikie had maybe 100-101 fever as opposed to me and kat at 104-105.

I agree with getting to the doc, like I said in the other post about kat's appendix. Her illness started as just really bad dizzy to the point where it looked like seizure the way her eyes would jerk around. It was an intolerance to the Lamictal.

Please let us know.

[sierra]

We'll see how tomorrow goes when he wakes up.

Get this. He can't walk downstairs without lurching or stumbling. But' he's been strumming his acoustic guitar for over an hour. His fingers seem to be plenty spry. I'm surprised he hasn't turned up the electric guitar. He prefers playing it unless he has to move his amp.

It's 10 my time. Time to shut the kids down I think. Ya'll take care.

[eaccae]

I saw a post about inner ear infection - definitely ask your doctor about that as well. I had an inner ear infection - there was no pain - but I was so dizzy - it got to the point that if I sat up in bed - I would throw up. I could barely stand because I was so dizzy and lightheaded. But again, with an inner ear infection there is no pain - it affects your balance, etc. I would just mention it to rule it out.

[sierra]

His doc saw him a little while ago and he doesn't appear to have an ear infection. He woke up still dizzy but it passed by the time his appointment rolled around. He's still very tired and ready to hit the sack again. After he has some more to drink.

He did one of those annoying sudden recoveries about 10 minutes before time to hit the road. Then he had a sudden relapse on the way back out to the car after the apointment. Not dizziness though, just real tired. So I take an apparently spry and spunky teen in to see the doc.

"Honest doc, he was at death's door when I called for the appointment!"

So looks like he may survive after all. Until he sees how much homework and schoolwork is waiting on him when he's up to it. He's missed 3 school days and counting. Even if he's well tomorrow I'll keep him home so he can start digging himself out of his homework hole.

Starting today he'll be taking that prozac at night. It wasn't making him drowsy before he got sick but I think it has worsened his daytime slumps since he got sick. We'll see how that works.

[Honeysmom]

Did they do the test for mono? I just thought of that and someone here talked about it a week or so ago. That is exactly how I was when I had mono. I could not get enough sleep and was really shakey and dizzy. Not a sick feeling like I was going to vomit, but extremely run down, and if I remember correctly I thought it was either strep throat or a sinus infection at first. It took 2 weeks before I could stay awake long enough to go to work and honstly I was tired for a long time. Of course, I found out I was pregnant a little while later so I am sure that added to the fatigue.

Hope he starts to get better. You'll probably have to negotiate his homework priorities again, but he'll make it. Good luck...Becky

[sierra]

They didn't test for mono. I called the school today and found out that they had to send a kid home from school yesterday because he was too dizzy to walk straight. Sounds just like Bean Sprout when this came over him.

I'm not dragging him to a doc 3 days in a row. We'll give him a couple more days and see how he does. He was some better yesterday. Not awake yet today but it's only 8 am.