Yes, in my mother's situation, her potassium level was very low. Tests showed this, and the culprit is doctor will order water pills but these deplete your body of needed nutrients, like potassium. My mother's potassium was increased three times over a 4 month period to get it right. You can only check potassium via a blood test.
Hopefully you're already on your way, but if not, consider all the advice you've been given, especially DeeAnna's and Barb's: think stroke, TIA, or orthostatic hypotension.
Go now, and post back when you're home from the ER.
I'm curious why you WOULDN'T take her to the ER if she blacked out twice in a single day?
Is this something that happens to your L.O often, and that the doctor has told you how to treat?
Or have you been to the ER with her in the past and there were no findings and so you think that it's time wasted?
In any event, as posters above point out, blacking out is NEVER "normal". There are many possible causes; vasovagal, seizure, stroke, TIA, low blood sugar, heart block, a-fib (those are the ones that I have personal knowledge of; i'm sure there are a slew of others).
If you decide NOT to go to the ER, then please call her PCP and schedule an emergency appointment so that s/he can start investigating what may be causing her to go down.
One of the hard and fast rules we had in elder care was if your client had sustained a fall (either in your presence or not, and you were then made aware of it) you had to go to the ER or minimally, the PCP. Even if the fall didn't happen on your "watch" we were still help liable.
Yes, ER's are often just a pain and nothing definitive is found, but in the meantime, if it's a stroke, it must be treated within the 3 hours window or the clot busters don't work. Also, if she's falling repeatedly, something is up that needs to be dealt with.
Take your 83 year old Mother to the ER NOW!!! Because she "has fallen twice in a 3 hour span...She said she blanked out"--she could be experiencing TIAs (mini-strokes) OR very low blood pressure which is causing the fainting spells OR she could be experiencing Atrial Fibrillation or low pulse.
[My Mom would say that she has "blacked out" and the doctors assumed that it was neurological until they saw her EKG and found that she had a heart rate of 36 (normal range 70-90 beats per minute). The doctors put a pacemaker in the next day.]
Let us know what the ER Doctor(s) say is your Mother's problem.
I should if I were you, yes. If she is resistant/doesn't want you to fuss, tell her you will stop fussing if she will indulge you and go along with "better safe than sorry."
Go now, and post back when you're home from the ER.
Is this something that happens to your L.O often, and that the doctor has told you how to treat?
Or have you been to the ER with her in the past and there were no findings and so you think that it's time wasted?
In any event, as posters above point out, blacking out is NEVER "normal". There are many possible causes; vasovagal, seizure, stroke, TIA, low blood sugar, heart block, a-fib (those are the ones that I have personal knowledge of; i'm sure there are a slew of others).
If you decide NOT to go to the ER, then please call her PCP and schedule an emergency appointment so that s/he can start investigating what may be causing her to go down.
One of the hard and fast rules we had in elder care was if your client had sustained a fall (either in your presence or not, and you were then made aware of it) you had to go to the ER or minimally, the PCP. Even if the fall didn't happen on your "watch" we were still help liable.
Yes, ER's are often just a pain and nothing definitive is found, but in the meantime, if it's a stroke, it must be treated within the 3 hours window or the clot busters don't work. Also, if she's falling repeatedly, something is up that needs to be dealt with.
Because she "has fallen twice in a 3 hour span...She said she blanked out"--she could be experiencing TIAs (mini-strokes) OR very low blood pressure which is causing the fainting spells OR she could be experiencing Atrial Fibrillation or low pulse.
[My Mom would say that she has "blacked out" and the doctors assumed that it was neurological until they saw her EKG and found that she had a heart rate of 36 (normal range 70-90 beats per minute). The doctors put a pacemaker in the next day.]
Let us know what the ER Doctor(s) say is your Mother's problem.