Sudden loss of mobility and bladder control

[CardiffGirlInEssex]

My Mum was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s plus some vascular dementia one year ago. She has a number of other quite serious health problems including artificial heart valves, heart failure, balance problems and extreme deafness. But until last weekend she was getting around the house Ok with support rails and “furniture walking” and was not incontinent.

On Sunday night she suddenly was unable to stand up, said she felt her left leg couldn’t support her. Long story short she has ended up in hospital and after the usual A&E slow conveyor is now on a suitable ward where she is well cared for. But she has no bladder control and is finding this distressing. She has had a brain scan and there is no sign of stroke (no surprise as she has no other weakness, her hands are fine she is knitting away in her bed, speech fine etc), no UTI or any other kind of infection. All tests on reflexes and sensation are normal. She is being kept in hospital and will have physio attention from tomorrow but the doctor thinks the most likely explanation for this sudden change is the Alzheimer’s. Has anyone had similar experience with their PWD? It seems so sudden, yet I wouldn’t say her cognitive function shows any corresponding sudden decline. She is no more muddled or forgetful than she was a few weeks ago when I saw her last, but says she has no sensation of needing to wee and is not even aware that it is happening.

 

[Cazzita]

How awful and dramatic. My mum suddenly lost all control of the bladder and bowels - it really did seem to happen overnight. She hasn't lost her mobility as such but does shuffle around in small steps. All sad and predictable most likely. Sorry to hear

 

[Pete1]

Hi @CardiffGirlInEssex, sorry to hear about your Mum. This may sound a bit odd, but could she have had a fall at some juncture that you are unaware of and potentially caused an injury to her leg or back? The reason I say that is that my Mum had a fall that we were aware of I had to get an ambulance to take her to hospital - on investigation they also found a fracture in her spine that was virtually healed i.e. occurred some time ago - Mum obviously had no recollection and we were unaware of how it could have occurred - but I'm guessing in your Mum's situation the Hospital would have done the scans (this didn't show up on the x ray on admission). Just a thought! It took a while but mobility improved after physio.

As for the continence issues, that is really difficult for all concerned - I remember Mum being mortified about the situation. You should be able to access some support to manage that going forward.

 

[Louise7]

This may sound a bit odd, but could she have had a fall at some juncture that you are unaware off and potentially caused an injury to her leg or back?

I thought the same thing, particularly as the OP's Mum has balance problems. Mum was suddenly unable to stand up following a fall and we were told that this was due to dementia and no x-rays/scans were taken. Physio & OT also put this down to dementia but to cut a very long story short after 7 weeks of not being able to mobilise Mum's mobility returned immediately after she received adequate pain relief. This miraculous recovery was said by the doctor to be due to 'fluctuating dementia'. We subsequently discovered that Mum had a fractured spine. Spinal injuries can result in incontinence due to spinal cord damage, and spinal compression fractures can happen quite easily in the elderly, even without a fall, so it's worth flagging up with the doctor that there may have been a fall so that they can check for any injuries.

 

[CardiffGirlInEssex]

Thanks for suggestions about falls. Mum says she hasn't had any falls, dad confirms that. I will raise the possibility again that there could be a lower back problem anyway. She is being given pain killers and says that nothing hurts.