, stopped smoking eating drinking talking responding to questions for about 2 weeks improving towards to the last 4 days (going to the toilet ok) she has had every test going CT,MRI,EEG, lumberpuncture all kinds of blood tests - for the last 3 weeks she has gradually come back round although was very confused about what had happened, recently she is getting days where she is very hyper which I thought might be her worrying about the last set of test results but she's like it today after learning yesterday that nothing medical has shown up, she has another MRI in 2 weeks - just to be sure. Does anyone have any ideas what occurred? I have looked up mental breakdown but cant see symptoms that match - my mum doesn't get out of bed before smoking and its the last thing she does before going to bed this and the complete switch off are hard to comprehend as a breakdown? with so little write up covering the severity of her symptoms. Last Aug my mother took care of her dying brother at home with support from daughters and aunt, he died at home. In Oct my mother underwent tests for lung cancer and was confirmed as having emphysema no cancer. 7 years ago - following our diasabled sister moving into sheltered accomodation at the age of 25 this caused my mother to have a 'breakdown' but not like this, she has been supported by the mental health team since on a 1/4 basis and takes Fluoxetine (although this was not taken during her confused state for a few weeks) - so there is history of mental illness but has never been a period of not smoking etc. I dont want answers I just want to understand how the human body can 'switch off' and appear to recover slowly with out it being linked to something medical?
Q: My 56 year mother appeared to have had a Stroke as seemed to have lost her memory...
Hi there
I am sorry this has happened to your mother. I am also sorry that nobody here is in the position of being able to diagnose her symptoms. Are you saying that the results from her tests are generally negative?
We do have a heart disease site on Health Central that you might want to ask your question there if you think this was a stroke.
I honestly don't know what to tell you except to get guidance from her doctors.
Let us know what happens. Thank you for reaching out here.
I was just thinking that your mother could be suffering from severe depression, possibly from extended grief about your sister and her brother. Sometimes our emotions can take their toll on our physical bodies in strange ways. Has your mother had any kind of psychiatric evaluation? If nothing else physical shows up from all these tests, that would be my suggestion. Plus, you say she was not taking her medication during this episode, so that could have made things worse. I hope you can find out what's going on; perhaps the doctors will suggest a psychiatric evaluation if they can't come up with anything else. I wish you all the best.
Thank you for your reply.
A psychiatric evaluation was carried out on the 2nd day with a doctor and mental health support person - but they advised that it did not appear to be something for them as my mothers lack of responsiveness.
Funny thing is while they were with us my other sister came by and my mother smiled and appeared to be more receptive to her - but although they witnessed this did not seem to impact their assesment.
She has a psychiatric doctor who she has seen since - so atleast if this is severe depression she has someone who can support her - I think that it was a shame we did not advise her while mum was in hospital as you really needed to see her to understand how detached she was - which is what I'm struggling with.
Thanks again
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thank you