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drop attack

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
attack /at·tack/ (ah-tak´) an episode or onset of illness.
Adams-Stokes attack  an episode of syncope in Adams-Stokes syndrome.
drop attack  sudden loss of balance without loss of consciousness, usually seen in elderly women.
panic attack  an episode of acute intense anxiety, the essential feature of panic disorder.
transient ischemic attack  (TIA) a brief attack (an hour or less) of cerebral dysfunction of vascular origin, without lasting neurological effect.
vagal attack , vasovagal attack a transient vascular and neurogenic reaction marked by pallor, nausea, sweating, bradycardia, and rapid fall in arterial blood pressure, which may result in syncope.

drop attack,
a form of transient ischemic attack in which a brief interruption of cerebral blood flow causes a person to fall to the floor without losing consciousness. The fall may be caused by a disrupted sense of balance or decreased leg muscle tone. Weakness of the leg muscles or a hip or knee joint dysfunction may be a contributing factor.

drop attack
Neurology An episodic and precipitous loss of motor function, where the victim is either standing or walking, and abruptly plummets, fully conscious to the floor, as the legs give way; idiopathic DAs are most common in older ♀, and attributed to age-related defects in reflexes; DAs may also occur in vertibrobasilar ischemia, acute labyrinthine vertigo, cataplexy, 'plateau waves'; DAs with loss of consciousness occur in syncope and seizures


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Drop attacks occur with no warning, and vertigo is seldom present, although slower sensations involving apparent tilts of the patient's surroundings may occur.
Numbness or weakness on one side of the body * Transient loss of vision in one eye * Difficulty swallowing * Slurred speech * Loss of left or right visual field * Drop attacks * Difficulty understanding or speaking * Incoordination * Headache * Dizziness * Double vision * Nausea or vomiting
 
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