My MIL has Alzheimer’s and currently resides in an Assisted Living Memory Care facility. She is soon to move to a SNF since her overall function has declined and she is at the top level of care available in her current facility. In July and again 3 days ago staff were unable to wake her at approximately 7 AM. At 6 AM they were able to wake her to take some meds, but at 7 she would not rouse. They tried everything including deep pressure over her sternum but no response. Her vital signs were stable but due to her lack of response, they called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital. Tests such as EKG, blood work, cat-scan, urine analysis were all fine. And then after about 90 minutes, she wakes up and is back to her baseline (walking, talking, but pleasantly confused. The Doctors cannot figure this out! Ever hear of such a thing?
The medical term is "neurocardiogenic hypotension and syncope (fainting)".
It can take 5 to 30+ minutes for the person to regain consciousness and each episode might be different in length of and degree of unconsciousness. Sometimes people regain consciousness but have difficulty responding to stimuli such as deep pressure over the sternum. Also, sometimes the person is extremely tired after an episode and will sleep soundly for a few hours.
Another cause of unresponsiveness can be the irritation/stimulation of the Vagus nerve which results in low blood pressure and/or fainting. A person can simulate the Vagus nerve while straining to have a BM, resulting in them passing out/fainting while on the toilet.
A cardiologist who specializes in heart arrhythmias might be able to correlate your Mom's unresponsive episodes with episodes of short-lived irregular heart rate or low blood pressure.
also...possibly mini strokes. Once that started happening to Mom...she would go a couple days of non responsiveness. I could not convince the docs to do another cat scan, because there was no treatment option so it made no difference if they could confirm or not. So, we never knew for sure.
Can I ask,,, did your Mom have longer and longer periods of unresponsiveness? Did she pass away following these periods?
But I'm seconding KatieKate - the only thing I've ever seen myself that was comparable to this was in a younger man who was having a partial absence seizure - in his case his total (I do mean total) lack of response lasted about fifteen minutes, after which he got up and walked away oblivious of what had happened (which included that his dog had come to my house to get help; I am happy to report that dog and owner were later reunited by the police).
EEG's are not invasive or uncomfortable, so unless the doctors have already done one perhaps that might be worth asking about should this ever happen again?
Someone here who's a nurse perhaps can address this question: isn't deep pressure over the sternum performed on an unresponsive person when a cardiac episode is suspected? But if her vitals were stable, would a sternum rub be appropriate?