Finally a possible cause?
After the 13th blood test ordered by the psychiatric clinic, mum had follow-up appointment at Penaga public clinic. This was mainly for her hypertension and high cholesterol but once a year, they conduct full blood test and this time, a new red flag came up: low blood sugar. Hers was 2 whereas the range is about 4.4 - 6.8 with fasting and 4.4 - 8.8 without fasting.
Low blood sugar can also explain the constant dizziness she's having. When asked what can we do about it, the doctor asked her to eat, not to diet, take glucose drink and agreed with suggested honey drink, milk and fruits. He also advised us to monitor the blood sugar by going for test at pharmacy or buy the machine. If result shows low blood sugar, then eat/drink the aforementioned.
The pharmacist advised us to take first reading before breakfast. If the result is low, then eat/drink the necessary and retest a few hours later. If result is ok, then just repeat it the next day.
As for her appointment with physiotherapist, the planned exercises were canceled because of mum's bad dizziness. The doctor advised us to call on appointment day if this occurs again so that they can reschedule the appointment, since they will never get her to exercise in such condition. Also, she requested to be informed once ENT officially ruled out vertigo.
At the 16th blood test appointment, the psychiatric doctor said that although blood sugar of 4+ is technically ok, it may not be sufficient for elderly because they can experience a drastic drop. Hence, she preferred to aim for a level around 5 instead. Mum's reading had been 4.4 - 4.9. After some discussion, the course of action was for her to up the glucose drink intake from once to twice daily and to drink a glass of goat's milk / Milo or eat some oat about half an hour to an hour before sleep. Incidentally, it was postulated that mum's reading of 2 at Penaga was due to the 15-hour fasting period.
Later that afternoon, we got a call from psychiatric clinic saying that the blood test was not good. They asked my mum to skip that night's clozapine and to repeat the blood test at the clinic the next day (Thursday). However, on Friday morning, they called and asked my mum not to take any clozapine until the next appointment on Wednesay :(
Low blood sugar can also explain the constant dizziness she's having. When asked what can we do about it, the doctor asked her to eat, not to diet, take glucose drink and agreed with suggested honey drink, milk and fruits. He also advised us to monitor the blood sugar by going for test at pharmacy or buy the machine. If result shows low blood sugar, then eat/drink the aforementioned.
The pharmacist advised us to take first reading before breakfast. If the result is low, then eat/drink the necessary and retest a few hours later. If result is ok, then just repeat it the next day.
As for her appointment with physiotherapist, the planned exercises were canceled because of mum's bad dizziness. The doctor advised us to call on appointment day if this occurs again so that they can reschedule the appointment, since they will never get her to exercise in such condition. Also, she requested to be informed once ENT officially ruled out vertigo.
At the 16th blood test appointment, the psychiatric doctor said that although blood sugar of 4+ is technically ok, it may not be sufficient for elderly because they can experience a drastic drop. Hence, she preferred to aim for a level around 5 instead. Mum's reading had been 4.4 - 4.9. After some discussion, the course of action was for her to up the glucose drink intake from once to twice daily and to drink a glass of goat's milk / Milo or eat some oat about half an hour to an hour before sleep. Incidentally, it was postulated that mum's reading of 2 at Penaga was due to the 15-hour fasting period.
Later that afternoon, we got a call from psychiatric clinic saying that the blood test was not good. They asked my mum to skip that night's clozapine and to repeat the blood test at the clinic the next day (Thursday). However, on Friday morning, they called and asked my mum not to take any clozapine until the next appointment on Wednesay :(
Comments
Not sure but previous week, doctor indicated that her white blood cell count is a little low. So highly likely it went lower.