My 95 year old MIL was falling a lot, unable to get up and her ability to care for herself was greatly diminishing. She lived alone with us monitoring cameras and providing food. She was very resistant to help aids such as a bath chair. REFUSED so much including fall alert. She was admitted to hospital after 3rd fall in a month to see what was happening. Nothing showed up on tests. They looked at her carotid arteries, did head scans, orthostatic BP checks....She was discharged to rehab to help her get more stable, and we planned to put her in assisted living for better quality of life and monitoring, but now she won't stand or walk. Tells staff she can't stand and needs to sit down. She is also more confused. Today she kept asking about three houses for sale. It made no sense to us. It appears that she shot through stage 5 dementia in a month and is now in stage 6.
What happened? Was it because of the change coming out of her home? Was it the more time in bed because of the hospital stay? Is this how dementia works, suddenly falling downhill at times?
The good news is that she is eating up the attention and human interaction and is not demanding to go home as we expected.
One day she just stopped walking. The nurse said that she had the ability to walk but due to the final stages of dementia that she couldn’t walk.
She remained in her wheelchair for awhile and then eventually was bedridden.
I hope that your MIL will receive the care that she needs. I’m glad that she is arguing to go home. I would push for placement in a facility.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Do a careful review of her meds. Make sure that the meds and the dosages are exactly what she is supposed to be on.
Do you know what kind of dementia she has? With vascular dementia, there are often sudden drops in functioning and then a long plateau, instead of a gradual decline.
Once a therapist asked her to walk from point A to point B. She could not do it. I walked over near Pt B and said “Aunt, what is this on your floor?” Up she got and walked straight to where I stood.
Another time she couldn’t move her legs in bed. We were having a zoom meeting with her doctor who asked her to move her legs. She could not do it. I left that day very sad that aunt was unable to move her legs. I called her long time CNA and told her what had happened. She said, well I don’t know what happened yesterday but today she got up for me and had her shower.
It was as if the connection between the brain and the legs was gone. Yet the muscle memory remained and as long as she wasn’t thinking about moving her legs, they moved just fine. Also I think she likes her CNA better than me….which is great.
Oddly, aunt seldom fell and has never broken a bone. Has twisted her ankles but no breaks.
Hospital delirium and UTIs can also explain a lot. But now is the time (after rehab) to move her to facility care. Each move seems to cause more confusion. Don’t be surprised if she is discharged very soon due to not being compliant.
Seemingly small things like having her be dressed and sitting up can help her recover. A little lipstick will get her more positive attention. Being in bed all day leads to more being in bed all day. Tell her to sit up will protect her from pneumonia and bed sores.
Also, she may make a recovery greater than it now appears she will. I have often been amazed at how the smallest amount of exercise can improve the energy level and function.
I only read the mental decline. But if she’s also not walking, then she needs to go to ER. Broken bone?
I believe it's just part of the horrible disease of dementia.
And her confusion is probably from what is called hospital delirium. That too is quite common.
And depending on what type of dementia she has will depend on how quickly she goes downhill. Vascular and Lewy Body dementias are the 2 most aggressive and a persons decline will be much quicker than lets say Alzheimer's which can go on for 20+ years.