This is not a request for medical help; I am curious to know if anyone else has experienced what is happening to me and if so, why?
For the last six weeks or so, I have fallen several times for no reason I can define. I get up, take a coupe of steps and go down as if I had been shot. I don’t think that I pass out or if I do, its only for a very brief period. I always seem to fall face first and I am able to break the fall by getting my hands in front of me. The falls do not hurt me and I haven’t experienced any pain either before or after. But—once I hit the floor, I am unable to get back on my feet, mostly because I broke my right femur a couple of years ago and I simply can’t get my right leg under me, if that makes sense. Because I live alone, I have to call someone to come to my condo and help me get up. As soon as I am on my feet, its as if the fall never happened. I fell twice in one day and that scared me enough to call 911 after the second fall. The ER doctor couldn’t find a specific reason for my falling and finally said that “situational vertigo” seemed likely.
My doctor points out that in the year I have been her patient I have gained fifty four pounds. It is her opinion that I have become physically weak and that coupled with the weight gain is enough to cause me to lose my balance. She blames my inability to get up on my diminished strength. I am now in physical therapy twice a week and will be put on an exercise program as soon as the therapy is complete.
I am seventy three years old and old age sucks.
I agree that age sucks large duck eggs. It sounds like you’re doing all the right things.
Doing physical therapy and especially walking will help a lot. Use a cane to help with balance. Losing the weight will make a HUGE difference. If I put on 15 lbs, I can feel the difference in my mobility, and the extra weight you’re carrying is messing you up big time. Next time you’re in the grocery store, go over to the dog food and pick up a 40-lb sack of dog food (if you can) and really GET IT that you’re carrying more than that EXTRA on your frame.
Situational vertigo? Does that even make sense if you weren’t dizzy beforehand? My guess (not a doctor!) would be your hip or knee is randomly giving out. I’m only 28 and I’ve had that happen a couple times for no discernible reason. Being younger, I’m able to recover prior to actually falling, but I’m sure that won’t last forever.
Old people fall. It sucks My mom was an ortho nurse and falls are really risky. Especially if you have any form of osteoporosis, you might break an arm one of these days. Have you considered getting a cane or walker to help you ambulate?
I have two walkers and four canes scattered around; I use them almost every time I walk from one spot to another. If I go out like to the grocery store, I use a cane.
It might be worth seeing a neurologist for a second opinion.
Also, gaining 54 pounds in one year strikes me as unusual in itself; possibly it’s another symptom rather than a cause. Perhaps you’re on some medication that’s contributing both to the weight gain and the falls.
I began seeing this doctor while I was still licking my wounds resulting from my very stressful divorce. I think that as my stress lessened my ability to relax improved and so did my appetite. I’ve always been on the skinny side and my weight never came close to 200 pounds and on my last visit to my doctor I weighed in at 198-----I want to enjoy being a big dude* for a while but I’m sure I’ll have to take some of that weight off. Neither my doctor or my pharmacist can find any bad effects from my medications that would cause a weight gain----but anything is possible.
I like having the weight but a side view of my body looks like a snake that has swallowed a bowling ball.
I’d also ask about getting a blood panel done. Are you anemic? Missing out on some necessary vitamins or minerals? It could be a very simple nutritional deficiency with a quick fix, or it might be something more complicated that requires a follow-up, but there’s just no knowing without a baseline.
Another vote for “get a second opinion” IANAD, but I’ve gone from out of shape to in shape to out of shape several times and never have I just “fallen … as if I had been shot”. Heck I had myasthenia gravis* and never got that weak.
Just to add something helpful, I would suggest that you note the following before going to a doctor:
How often has it happened?
Did you feel dizzy/weak/hungry/sick/shaky/anything else before you fell? How about after?
What were you doing right before you fell? Just got up from a chair? The bed? Had you done anything strenous earlier, or spent a long time in a particular position?
*It’s myasthenia gravis awareness month. Do you know where your thymus is?
Yeah, I’m carrying around about 100 extra pounds, which means I’m almost twice as heavy as I would be at an ideal weight, but that gives me sore knees, finicky ankles, and makes me emit funny noises as I lever myself off the floor when I get down to play with my kids. It emphatically does NOT make me just fall down as though I suddenly lost consciousness.
It also makes me very suspicious (and not a little annoyed) at medical professionals who assume that fat people can never have a health problem that is caused by anything other than extra weight. Unfortunately there seem to be quite a few of that ilk. Another vote for a second opinion.
Also, an aside: this doesn’t seem to be your problem now, but it could certainly develop - I have seen the hypothesis that elderly people can develop more and more trouble with falling because they worry about falling and start watching their feet when they walk. This actually contributes to poor balance (we’re wired to look ahead while walking), and leads to even more falls. Just something to keep in mind as you fix this and rehab!
Actually balance could be your problem – I was surprised to learn that balance is a use it or lose it ability. As your PT progresses hopefully they can do some balance testing/exercising that will help even if it isn’t your primary problem.
Part of the PT I am in does include balance exercises and I believe they have helped. I haven’t mentioned that I have a loss of hearing in my left ear as well as a constant ringing----part of me believes that the ear problem can be the root cause of the falling down thing. I have been told by several doctors that my loss of hearing can be treated by surgery----those doctors also say that the surgery might improve my hearing or it might make my hearing worse or there might not be any change at all. Out of three chances, two are bad and I need better odds than that before taking on a surgical procedure.
I had blood testing done about a week before the first falling episode. My doctor told me everything looked good although she did tell me to start taking vitamin D3, which I have done. Per my doctors advice a few months back I have also been taking prenatal vitamins because of a low folic acid reading. Per the latest blood work, the folic acid problem is corrected but she recommended that I continue the prenatal vitamins just to keep the folic acid reading under control.
I know that my diet needs a lot of work; like a lot of elderly men who live alone, I tend to take the easy path re diet: Thank God for frozen meals and microwave ovens. I should have listened to my mother re nutrition but I didn’t. There are so many recommendations about nutrition that I get confused and just ignore the problem. I don’t know enough about the subject to recognize quack opinions and there are a lot of those.
My mom was an ortho nurse and falls are really risky. Especially if you have any form of osteoporosis, you might break an arm one of these days. Have you considered getting a cane or walker to help you ambulate?
Be well.