Falling
Falling
I would like to bring up the subject (again) as it is now becoming
another situation I am having to deal with.
My wife 57/17 (how time flies when you're having fun)
fell again yesterday while smoozing around in a mall store.
Nothing serious thank g.d except for a shoulder bruise.
Of course it happened while her companion was walking
behind her in the aisle.
This is the third (tripping) fall in less than two months and certainly
the most often ever. Obviously this must be taken as a sign
of things to come and the beginning of another plateau. My wife
says that the falling is NOT due to dizzyness or loss of balance
She is taking this "sign" badly. "I am too young for this"
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME"?? "I WILL NOTuse a walker"
For me and her companion, it is another blow in the stomach
and heart to see this happening.
So, how do YOU handle this new stage
(emotionally) for yourself and for the PD'er??
Are there any prescribed specific excercises
to practice...
I cant think of any other questions but for those who
are having this problem, Im sure you can offer me some
suggestions and support for which we both thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The only suggestion I have for you
is to ask your Dr. for referrel to PT. They
use excercises and gait training. This helped my husband greatly.If you have
a large nursing home you might check out their PT facility. The
facilities connected to
nursing homes sometimes have out patient treatment. We found these PT
personel better equipped to deal with
Parkinson's than say a sports medicine
PT. Just our personal experience.
Hugs and prayers to both you and your wife.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is extremely basic information -- but it just came up last week when my mom saw her GP and we talked about recent falling episodes. The doctor ordered a bone density test and reminded us about calcium supplements -- especially important in the event of a nasty fall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Falling was the main, and worse, symptom that my dear husband has had. He has been taking physical therapy though and even though his falling is still happening, it seems to be better. I talked to his physical therapist about it yesterday because this last week has fallen more than the last two months. Something he pointed out was that even though he has falled he would probably be falling more if we werent strengthing him with the physical therapy. The way it was explained to us in the beginning is we need to have strong leg muscles to help us NOT fall. Granted the brain has a lot to do with falling but going to physical therapy sure can't hurt.
Also, have you sent to the Parkinson's Foundation for their booklets,etc that they have available. We got a huge packet from them and one of them was on exercise. I took it and showed it to Cam's physical therapist and he wrote down the number and ordered some for the clinic.
Hope this helped a bit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Has your wife tried walking with a stick? Sometimes it gives just the right
amount of stability. PT may help too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is probable that my wife should be in a wheel chair full time, but
she insists on walking and using a walker. That's because she never
could learn to use a manual chair and all she accomplished with a
powered chair was to demolish the house, its contents, and the chair.
As for falling, that happens daily, sometimes 3-4 times. I cannot
think of a time when it was caused by tripping or dizziness. She
simply loses her balance and, lacking normal mobility, falls.
Monday evening she fell in the bathroom and cut her scalp enough to
require stitches. She has required stitches, always her scalp, about
5 times in the last 15 months. Tonight, her first fall was when she
was trying to take a dirty dish from the table to the serving bar,
about 5 feet away. No physical damage this time. About an hour
later, she fell again near the same place, this time hitting her head
on a window pane and broke the pane. Fortunately, we have the panes
covered with a heavy film which prevented shattering and the drape was
also drawn which had some cushioning effect.
Most of her falls are because she is not paying attention to what she
is doing. Most occur when she try to walk with something in her hand
(like the dish above, but it can be something as flexible as a
newspaper which she could but doesn't wrap around the walker
handgrip).
I have tried reasoning with her, begging and pleading with her, and
becoming angry with her - nothing will stop her from trying to do
these things. I guess she will continue to fall until she breaks
something that sends her to a hospital. The only other solution I can
think of is to hog-tie her, but I don't think she or the authorities
would approve of that. :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just an idea.........before mom progressed to a walker she went through a period of falling frequently. In my 'wisdom' I had encouraged her to wear tennis shoes because she has always had sore feet. It turned out that they were causing her falls. As soon as we got her into shoes with a smooth bottom, not a gripping-type material, she improved 90%. The PD was making it more difficult for her to lift her foot when walking and the 'gripping' stuff would grab the floor or carpet and forward she would go. The slippery bottoms were much better (and really difficult to find in a comfortable shoe!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My husband loves to wear his cowboy boots which have a heel therefore
propelling him forward which, as you all know, is the way a PWP is headed
anyway!!! I don't say anything because I feel like such a nag half the time!
"Have you taken your vitamins? have you eaten? Why don't you take a nap? I
can't understand what you're saying, have you done your exercises?" AND I'm
working with him on his posture because he is so slouched over. He goes to
the office very early so he's on his own for breakfast (which he's never
cared for) and lunch (which he never really cares for either) so dinner is
BIG in my perspective but not his! I should be grateful that his meds
don't make him nauseous but I do think they contribute to his lack of
interest in food. The most important thing for me to do is to love him and
not get frustrated yet there are times I am bewildered by the entire
situation!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't remember exactly where we heard/found out about this....whether it
was at one of the two support groups we tried way back when or when we went
to the State of Michigan PD convention a few years back-but someone was
trying to patent and perfect a device of sorts that was like a straw with a
needle on it, and could also be "lighted" on the end. This could be placed
on the right or left shoe, interior/arch side of the shoe, and the PWP kept
their balance and walked much better by "stepping over the straw", which
stuck out approximately 8 inches or so, but was flexible so as to not be an
additional hindrance in getting around. We also learned about the non-skid
soles of shoes (rubber, foam, walking-shoe, tennis shoe type soles) being a
real problem. Has anyone else ever heard of the device I described? Has it
been patented, mass produced or been a help to any of you?
Return to Index
Return to Alphabetical Contents
