My 90 year old mother lives in assisted living and is having chronic vertigo/dizziness with vomiting. She went to the hospital on Monday and was given every test known to man, all negative. Meds were reviewed and her Gabapentin dose was reduced. She is still dizzy and suddenly incontinent at night; wets the bed in spite of wearing briefs. She was diagnosed with progressive dementia at the hospital.......I don't know if we're dealing with vascular dementia, Alzheimers, or mixed dementia. The biggest issue is the dizziness, which the hospital said was NOT vertigo, but the Physical Therapist at the ALF and the neurologist says IS vertigo. Meclizine is not effective. Anybody going through something similar who can offer advice?
Freqflyer: I am definitely going to talk to her primary care doc & PA about antihistamines and perhaps Flonase as well. She has chronic mucous in her throat, so maybe those would help. Thank you! The physical therapist at the ALF has given her the vertigo treatment twice; the first time it worked, she was feeling ok the next day. This time, not so much. She will get another treatment on Monday. Interesting about the visual vertigo and being triggered by stripes or checks. She has no patterns in her room. She seems to develop vertigo while she's sleeping (she sleeps on her back and does not roll over at all, according to her), which seems odd. She's always worse in the AM and then starts to feel better towards the afternoon hours.
I wrote down my experiences my book "Beating the Dementia Monster."