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Chief Complaint Case Study

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Chief Complaint TIA. History Patient is an 86-year-old right-handed white female who is a poor historian. She states she saw me several years ago, but cannot recall for what. She did see Geoffrey Starr, MD in 2011 for episodes of numbness and tingling in the right side of her cheek. He did a workup, which included the EEG, EMG, and carotid studies. She was complaining of some right upper extremity and left lower extremity numbness and tingling as well. These were all negative. Her PCP switched her from aspirin 81 mg to Plavix 75 mg. Dr. Starr added Trental to that. The patient states that over the years, she continued to have the numbness and tingling episodes of the right side of her face. The last several seconds at times, rarely …show more content…

Cerebellar Revealed good finger-to-nose, heel-to-shin, and rapid alternating motion. Gait Normal. Negative Romberg. DTRs 1+ throughout. Toes are downgoing. Impression Regarding this individual's right facial numbness and tingling, she seems to have had these on at least a weekly basis over the last four years. I therefore doubt that they are TIAs, as I would expected to have gone on to complete her stroke if it were. It is certainly possible that these may be simple sensory seizures. She did have a couple episodes of confusion and problems speaking or concentrating, which may represent seizure activity as well. She states that she does occasionally feel confused or foggy headed for several minutes at a time. Plan My plan right now is to do an EEG and also repeat the MRI with MRA. Specifically, I want to see if there is any increase in white matter disease on her MRI, currently compared to 2011. If these are all negative, I may try a therapeutic and diagnostic course of Keppra, as she is having these symptoms on a weekly basis. Certainly, when I see her after a month of being on the Keppra, if I go that route, we will know whether or not it is having an

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