Why do I feel confused and disorientated?

Symptoms:

From time to time you feel disorientated. You don’t know where you are, and you don’t recognise things around your home. Your memory is increasingly bad.

You have a sudden attack of dizziness, you don’t know where you are, have difficulty speaking, you have numbness and tingling down one side of your face and on the arm on the same side.

For the last three weeks you’ve been feeling dizzy, unsteady on your feet and not knowing where you are, the sensation of spinning is worse when you move your head suddenly.

It could be:

Alzheimer’s, a disease of the brain where brain connections start to break down and you can become dangerously forgetful and do things like switching the gas on and not lighting it.

A TIA, a transient

ischemic attack, where the blood supply to a part of the brain is temporarily interrupted. It could be a warning of a stroke.

BPV, benign positional

vertigo, a condition of the balancing organ of the inner ear that gets more common as you get older and may take a few weeks to settle down.

Stop it:

Speak to one of your relatives immediately and get them to go along with you to the doctor for a full assessment and discussion of treatment options.

See your doctor as soon as possible for investigation and treatment of high blood pressure or a heart condition. Possibly see a neurologist for full assessment.

When symptoms are bad keep very still and don’t move your head. See your doctor who may give you anti-vertigo medication. A specially trained physiotherapist can perform the Epley manoeuvre which usually helps.