How often does this happen? If frequent can you stay with her and observe what initiates this? Is it clear she falls to the floor?
Yes, thank you â I have. Her team has followed these protocols, including implanting the loop recorder, which showed no arrhythmia . . .
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Thanks â these catastrophic episodes have happened 3 times in the past 2 years, each leading to extended hospital stays and rehab and all have happened at night when I wasnât present. In each case she was immobile on the floor for many hours until I arrived to check on her. Fall detection didnât function. Just wondered if anyone on this forum has a parent whoâs experienced similar unexplained loss of consciousness.
I have a couple friends edited - had fainting spells -a few years ago. Donât know all particulars. Chalked up to mini stroke in one case, another, prediabetic. One started wearing compression socks when standing for long periods of time.
Low blood sugar is an interesting idea. I have been having them lately but am awake and can address with juice. For a person not on insulin, though, the body tends to recover so that hours on the floor would not make sense.
Is it possible she remains unconscious on the floor because of the fall (hitting head?) rather than the initiating event?
One of my kids has temporal lobe epilepsy and loses chunks of time. But is not unconscious or on the fall.
POTS or other cause of fainting- again, she would regain consciousness.
If heart is okay it would seem that the issue might be neurological/brain.
If it happens that infrequently I guess it is impractical for you to sleep in the same room with her to observe!
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My mother has been in bed for 25 days now. Sleepy until anxiety starts in the mid-afternoon. I am experimenting with various meds and also with no meds and not really getting a handle on it yet.
This can go on for some time, I am told, though her anemia was bad when we tested just before hospice, and is certainly approaching a stage where breathing is hard. There is evidence of uterine bleeding, which was missed by docs for years.
It is hard watching suffering every day. Her main complaint is vague and about âher head.â She has vascular dementia and with INR running high may have some brain bleeding going on.
She is performative in the sense that she can converse with visitors and even appear perkier. I am more like part of the furniture (!) and see a different picture. The reality may lie between the two though I think I am seeing the most accurate view of her condition. Visits from others tire her out and she sleeps the next day.
She eats a few bites at most meals (2-6 bites) and is still drinking water. If I am not there, the staff leave the tray in the living room and she does not get up. So I am trying to be there for meals but determining boundaries at the advice of hospice regarding burnout.
She talks about dying. In the morning she is okay with it, in the late afternoon she is scared. I called her church and they are starting to visit, including bringing communion, which was always important to her
The view of blue sky and greet trees out the window from her bed continues to give pleasure.
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So sorry! `So she didnât faint during the time period of the testing? Meaning that a heart test wouldnât have registered any abnormality if it was a vasovagal reaction? You found her in the bathroom this timeâwhere was she the other times?
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Has she worn a 30 day monitor? Itâs tough when the episodes are so infrequent. I guess it would be hard to say with certainty that it is not the heart.
Does she have concussion afterward at all?
Many hugs for you and your mom!
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Low blood sugar can also cause periods of forgetfulnessâshe could have forgotten she was even cooking dinner and later fainted.
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Thank you â I think the big question is not so much why she fainted but why she doesnât regain consciousness. Low blood sugar and low blood pressure have both been suggested as possible reasons, but the doctors have said people usually regain consciousness quickly after fainting for those reasons.
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Yes, she wore a Holter monitor for a month and now has a continuous loop monitor. Theyâve shown nothing. No concussions, but pelvic and shoulder fractures.
Do you really know though how long sheâs out? You havenât been present for any of the episodes to know when it actually occurred. How is her breathing when youâve found her?
Yes, we know exactly. For example, she always cooks dinner at 6 pm. She left her dinner half cooked on the stove and the fridge door open. So she must have collapsed sometime between 5 (when I last checked on her) and 7 (because she never cooks after 7 pm). Then I found her at about 10 am unconscious on the bathroom floor.
PS Her breathing was fine.
She was on the kitchen floor one time and the living room floor another times. Through phone records and things we observed in the house (bed never slept in, e-mails sent, etc,) we were able to figure out when she collapsed.
What about putting in some cameras, temporarily. It feels like an invasion of privacy, but if you can figure out a cause and fix it, then it could be worth it. We installed inexpensive Wyze cameras in several areas of our home when my mother lived with us and was failing and falling, It helped me greatly not to jump up at every weird noise or just frisson of concern.
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An Apple Watch has a fall indicator, my mom has an other alert system but she kept setting it off 
so now she only wears it occasionally. But EMS came swiftly and so did her neighbors who were her local support.
Iâm positive you can set up a system to indicate that sheâs passed out, either by an alert system or a ring camera type set up.
Iâd much rather have a system than have to move if sheâs in good shape otherwise.
If I understand things when she passes out, she is also falling, correct?
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Thatâs a really good idea â thanks for the suggestion.
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Correct. She does have a fall detection device but of course she wasnât wearing it. The camera/Ring idea is terrific â thank you.
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