Why Elderly Person Can’t Keep Eyes Open During the Day
The reason your elderly loved-one eats with their eyes closed and otherwise can’t keep their eyes open during the day may have nothing to do with lack of sleep.
Take a look at the following checklist to see if it applies to you (if you yourself have the problem) or if an elderly family member suffers from it.
• Inability to keep the eyes fully open much during the day even though drowsiness is not the issue.
• Napping does not correct the problem.
• The elderly individual even eats with their eyes closed.
• Their eyes may be closed during conversation.
• They complain of sensitivity to light, though a dim room does not solve the problem.
• Watching TV or viewing a computer screen for longer than a short while is uncomfortable.
• An accompanying complaint is a feeling of fogginess, heaviness or a dull ache behind the eyes.
• When describing the problem, the person uses a hand to motion around their eyes.
• Despite these complaints, their eyes and lids actually appear normal. They are not bloodshot, and the pupils are not dilated. There is no swelling.
• There are no other symptoms such as discharge from the eye, vision problems, headache, dizziness or nasal congestion.
Elderly Has Hard Time Keeping Eyes Open During the Day Despite Not Being Sleepy
The situation affects quality of life. Though the elderly person’s eyes may not be completely closed at times, they are half closed.
The problem is also new; it’s something that he or she has only been recently complaining about.
When this occurred to my elderly father, I suggested he put lubricating eye drops or “artificial tears” in his eyes. I suspected dry eye.
The situation persisted even though he was using the artificial tears.
BUT WAIT. There is a key point here.
The mistake I made was that of believing my father when he kept saying “Yes” to my question of, “Are you using the eye drops? Are you using them every four hours?”
I believed him and then began thinking that the problem was a chronic sinus infection. To get an appointment with an ear/nose/throat doctor, he had to first see his primary care physician.
I also still suspected dry eye, and by then, began wondering if he truly had been using the artificial tears literally every four hours.
After my father described the symptoms to his doctor, right away the doctor said it was dry eye and urged him to use artificial tears.
I said, “That’s what I’ve been telling him to do, and he’s been telling me he’s been doing it.”
The expression on my father’s face then seemed to be one of “I confess; I have not been doing it.”
As the doctor explained the importance of using the tears multiple times throughut the day, my father slowly nodded his head. He was busted; he had NOT been using the tears!
The doctor explained that for some patients with dry eye, wearing a special contact lens (which does not alter vision) provides comfort because it yields a gentle contact to the cornea.
This is why, continued the doctor, closing the eyes provides comfort to those with untreated dry eye.
My father has since been using the artificial tears and reports that he can now keep his eyes open during the day – even while eating.
For other elderly people with these symptoms, dry eye may not be the cause. This is why a doctor visit is important rather than putting up with the suffering.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/Africa Studio
Is There a Way to Tell if Fatigue Is Caused by MS?
Multiple sclerosis definitely causes fatigue. But so do many other conditions including cancer and heart disease.
“Fatigue is a very well-described symptom in the MS literature,” says Mitzi J. Williams, MD, clinical neurologist with Morehouse School of Medicine, an MS specialist and clinical advisor for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
Dr. Williams explains, “It can occur very early on in the course of the disease. MS fatigue generally worsens as the day progresses.”
People with severely blocked arteries or chronic heart failure will often feel fatigue the moment they get out of bed in the morning.
Hence, there is no worsening of it as the day goes on; it’s a baseline level of energy depletion right from the start.
It may actually improve as the day goes on due to stimulating activities such as taking a walk or doing yoga.
Or, it may feel worse if one engages in heavier physical exertion. This can also apply to someone with multiple sclerosis.
Thus, levels of energy can swing in both directions depending on the individual, the activity and the environment.
Fatigue related to cancer, anemia or thyroid problems may worsen as the day goes on too, but it’ll probably be evident soon after getting out of bed in the morning.
As for the fatigue of MS, Dr. Williams continues, “People often describe it as having a finite amount of energy and once that energy has been expended (at work or doing daily activities), they hit a brick wall and they can’t do anything else.
“Depending on the person, that energy can be used up by noon or by 5 pm. Sometimes if they take a quick power nap or rest, they can ‘reset’ and get more energy for the rest of the day.”
That tactic can also work with those who have heart disease and other conditions including that of simply being out of shape.
“It is also important to remember that other factors can affect MS fatigue such as insomnia, depression, and some symptomatic medications can also cause fatigue.
“It’s important to discuss with your doctor about other factors than can worsen fatigue related to MS.”
Telling the Difference Between Fatigue from Multiple Sclerosis vs. Other Medical Conditions
Though the fatigue that comes with MS may have some tell-tale signs in some patients some of the time, the net result is that there really is no way to definitively point to the fatigue in every MS patient and declare whether it’s from this autoimmune disease and/or some other condition.
A combination of an aging body that has gotten little exercise, plus MS, can result in a lot of fatigue.
Add heart disease to that duo and you’ll get even more depletion of energy.
A newly-developing level of fatigue that seemingly cannot be explained by multiple sclerosis needs medical attention.
Don’t just brush off worsening exhaustion on MS just because you have MS.
Dr. Williams is author of “MS Made Simple: The Essential Guide to Understanding Your Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis.” She is a member of the American Academy of Neurology.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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Top image: Freepik.com Racool_studio
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How Often Does Non-Inflammatory Breast Cancer Cause Pain?
Brief sharp pains or ongoing duller pain in a breast will put the fear of cancer in many women.
Inflammatory breast cancer is much more associated with pain than is the “regular kind” of breast cancer (non-inflammatory).
How often does the more typical kind of breast cancer cause pain?
“Quite rarely; most are picked up by screening imaging, as lesions would need to be quite large or located near the chest wall or armpit to cause discomfort,” says Mark Levandovsky, MD, Founder and Medical Director of Preventive Medicine and Cancer Care. Dr. Levandovsky is a board certified internist and oncologist/hematologist in practice for 20 years.
So if regular breast cancer “rarely” causes pain in a breast, this means that there are cases in which the patient experiences pain.
There are certainly women who, prior to their BC diagnosis, were having unexplained pain in the breast where the tumor was eventually found.
In inflammatory BC, the skin of the breast appears inflamed, reddish and may resemble the skin of an orange.
Pain from Non-Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Location Matters, What It Feels Like
“Pain would be a function of location,” says Dr. Levandovsky. “If closer to the armpit, it can be referred to the shoulder or arm/neck.”
If you’ve been having unexplained shoulder pain lately that is not triggered by exercise, other movement or position, and you’re due for your annual mammogram, you should schedule the mammogram.
If you’re a younger woman for whom screening mammograms are not recommended, at least have your gynecologist give you a clinical breast exam.
Various things can cause pain in the breast.
• A tight bra is one cause.
• A strained chest muscle is another.
• Sleeping on one’s side can also cause discomfort in that area.
• A pulled muscle in the back can refer pain to where it seems as though it’s originating in the breast.
These kinds of pain, with their benign causes, can range from very brief sharp sensations to a more medium level persistent pain to a dull ache.
But when breast cancer causes pain, what does this feel like?
Dr. Levandovsky says that it’s “throbbing or electricity-like (neuropathic, if [the tumor is] pushing on nerve endings). Similarly if close to the chest wall, although in that case it’d be more likely dull and deep.”
Now if the tumor is pressing on the nerve endings in the rib cage, Dr. Levandovsky says that the sensation could be that of “neuropathic (tingling) characteristics almost like shingles.
“Lesions [tumors] deep in the breast rarely cause pain, unless there’s some accidental trauma to the breast, such that bruising, dull or even sharp pain can persist longer than normally expected after an everyday bump”
“It has to do with architectural distortion of the breast (usually lesions >5cm), compromised lymphatic drainage and blood pooling.”
Speaking of getting bumped in the breast, even slugged there during a karate class, this will NOT increase the risk of cancer development.
A malignancy originates from a mutation in the DNA. Getting hit in the breast does not cause DNA to mutate.
The takeaway is that if your breasts appear normal and you do not feel any lumps, but you’ve been having pain in one lately, chances are that the cause is not related to cancer.
However, to play safe, you should have a doctor perform a clinical exam.
Dr. Levandovsky provides personalized care to health conscious individuals as well as cancer patients and survivors, focusing on an integration of genetic/molecular risk assessments, prevention, education, nutrition and psycho-oncology.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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