Bit of a specific one, perhaps. For a good couple of years now, my DM (78) has been suffering increasingly debilitating health problems, alongside worsening cognition. I'm pretty certain that she has dementia (undiagnosed), as her memory and cognition problems are now very pronounced. Over nearly five years she's had problems with digestion (a combination of constipation, bloating and diarrhoea) which has never been explained. Then, for the last one to two years she's had dizziness when she stands up - she describes it as everything 'going up and down'. This seems to be getting worse and worse.
Numerous tests over the years have found nothing to explain any of this. Very recently, though, the GP asked her to keep a record of her BP regularly for a week, and it showed a very pronounced drop in BP when she's standing - normally at least 20-30 systolic change, and on one occasion a drop of 50. She's on BP medication because she's generally hypertensive, and her BP rocketed when she didn't take her tablets.
I've done a lot of Dr Google, and it seems very likely that she has orthostatic hypotension, which could well explain the dizziness when she stands up (variable BP also seems linked to all sorts of other risks of stroke, heart attack and dementia, which is not good). But I've also read that it can be one symptom of more general problems with the autonomic system, which can cause digestive problems among other things.
As this all seems much more common among the elderly, I wonder if anyone else on here has experience of any of this - symptoms, management, outcomes? Poor DM is in such a general state of ill health now, I'm looking for anything that could be helpful.