my mum who is 61 has finally been diagnosed with ad . Our local GP said that she is fairly advanced . she is at home with my dad who is her main carer, on my last two visits she has fallen once in the garden and once trying to get out of the car .is this the start of loss of mobility? up until now she has been quite mobile .
mobility
- Thread starter jackie w
- Start date
Hi Jackie
I feel for you - 61 is an awfully young age to be advanced with dementia.
One of the things that goes is spatial awareness, and it may be that this is what causes your Mum's falls [rather than a loss of use of limbs, which may come later].
This does lead to a loss of mobility, possibly injury.
I found that for my Jan, who was around the same age, her 'radius of safety' became smaller and smaller as her illness developed. Her lack of confidence gradually meant that she was only happy being in our lounge.
Generally I have found that dementia patients are amazingly mobile, even at quite an advanced stage. Some ricochet around Jan's care home, push furniture around, lead each other around, etc. They are okay to do that since the floors are level and furniture is safely placed. At home they might not be so safe.
There may be things your Dad can do to make things safer in the short term for your Mum. Perhaps move some furniture, or get rid of it. Also always to be on hand to help your Mum out of the car, though I know that can be difficult to manage safely, alone.
I feel for you - 61 is an awfully young age to be advanced with dementia.
One of the things that goes is spatial awareness, and it may be that this is what causes your Mum's falls [rather than a loss of use of limbs, which may come later].
This does lead to a loss of mobility, possibly injury.
I found that for my Jan, who was around the same age, her 'radius of safety' became smaller and smaller as her illness developed. Her lack of confidence gradually meant that she was only happy being in our lounge.
Generally I have found that dementia patients are amazingly mobile, even at quite an advanced stage. Some ricochet around Jan's care home, push furniture around, lead each other around, etc. They are okay to do that since the floors are level and furniture is safely placed. At home they might not be so safe.
There may be things your Dad can do to make things safer in the short term for your Mum. Perhaps move some furniture, or get rid of it. Also always to be on hand to help your Mum out of the car, though I know that can be difficult to manage safely, alone.
Hi Jackie,
As Brucie says, spatial awareness is one of the things that does go. My mum is young too and was very fit and active right up until a few years ago. Now she is still pretty healthy, but she just doesn't get the opportunity to exercise in the way she always has done in the past and therefore her joints are getting stiffer and so on.
I just had a thought though - is your mum on any medication? My mum was on Respiridone (which is no longer prescribed to Alzheimers patients, as far as I know) for a while and it made her mobility quite a lot worse - she became very stiff and shaky and got better when she was taken off it.
So, although what you're seeing may just be a natural progression of the illness, it might be worth checking with your GP to see if it might be a side effect of any medication she's on.
All the best.
karen
As Brucie says, spatial awareness is one of the things that does go. My mum is young too and was very fit and active right up until a few years ago. Now she is still pretty healthy, but she just doesn't get the opportunity to exercise in the way she always has done in the past and therefore her joints are getting stiffer and so on.
I just had a thought though - is your mum on any medication? My mum was on Respiridone (which is no longer prescribed to Alzheimers patients, as far as I know) for a while and it made her mobility quite a lot worse - she became very stiff and shaky and got better when she was taken off it.
So, although what you're seeing may just be a natural progression of the illness, it might be worth checking with your GP to see if it might be a side effect of any medication she's on.
All the best.
karen
Hi Jackie,
My Dad has vascular dementia and just recently he has lost the ability to walk any distance at all. Although he also has angina and asthma, my stepmum says that he is not getting out of breath , it's just that his legs won't go any further! I was going to put a post on about this myself, so you have helped to answer my question. This loss of mobility has followed him going onto an anti depressant, and this inturn seems to have made him more confused and very subdued. I wonder if the drug could have contributed to it. It is very difficult for my stepmum, as she is partially sighted and would find it very difficult to use a wheelchair. Before he took the anti depressant (Zispin), he was
very down and this seems to have helped quite a bit with that.
Has anyone else had similar side-effects from this drug?
Best wishes
Fozz
My Dad has vascular dementia and just recently he has lost the ability to walk any distance at all. Although he also has angina and asthma, my stepmum says that he is not getting out of breath , it's just that his legs won't go any further! I was going to put a post on about this myself, so you have helped to answer my question. This loss of mobility has followed him going onto an anti depressant, and this inturn seems to have made him more confused and very subdued. I wonder if the drug could have contributed to it. It is very difficult for my stepmum, as she is partially sighted and would find it very difficult to use a wheelchair. Before he took the anti depressant (Zispin), he was
very down and this seems to have helped quite a bit with that.
Has anyone else had similar side-effects from this drug?
Best wishes
Fozz
thank you for your replies.I was interested in what you said Karen as my mum was also on respiridone.she has now stop taking it so i will be watching to see if there is any improvement in her mobility,but im beginning to thinkwe're going through a bad patch as she has lost all interest in eating as well at the moment.
