Sit to stand crisis

[Catherine C]

for some time my Mum has had issues about standing up...I’m sure this is not a physical issue but somehow simply forgetting how to do it...either forgetting the meaning of the words ‘stand up’ and somehow the reflex... usually worse in the morning, somehow it would improve during the day. Last weekend this got to crisis as on the Friday we couldn’t get her out of a wheelchair ( she was generally mobile but seemed a bit tired so used the chair) managed with my Dad to some how get her into riser recliner where she slept.
on Sat couldnt get her to stand and eventually starting phoning help numbers and in the afternoon 2 physios arrived, after 2 hours of gentle persuasion, they couldnt get her standing. They told us that we as family could have a go, but if we didn’t succeed we’d have to call 999 as being stuck in the chair would be an emergency. But if she was in bed they would consider her safe. We managed to slide her legs from the riser recliner onto the bed and edge her into bed. The next day this same emergencbc mum W of y team had set up a nurse visit who put mum on antibiotics for possible chest infection plus interim carers to do toilet ting for the time being. Whilst grateful for all of this I’m concerned that that she could be loosing mobility too quickly ,.
my question is does anyone have experience of this ?
I did ask the physios about joists and she said she thought that mum woul feel too agitating .
has anyone come across Any sit to stand aids?

 

[Louise7]

@Catherine C An infection of any sort can cause all sorts of problems in someone with dementia, including sudden loss of mobility, so the symptoms might improve when the antibiotics start to work or it could be a progression of your mum's existing mobility problems. In terms of sit to stand aids, it's safest for your mum to be assessed by an occupational therapist who will be able to identify the right type of aids based on her particular mobility issues - the GP will be able to request an urgent referral. In the meantime it's good that emergency carers have been put in place so quickly to deal with your mum's toileting needs, and hopefully the antibiotics will clear the infection soon.

 

[fromnz123]

Hi @Catherine C , I had this exact situation with my mother who lived with me for 6 years before she passed away.
Infections certainly had an impact on her ability to get from sitting to standing. There were times she would struggle to get up , so I would help her, then within a few minutes she would sit down and get up again without any problem.

We were given risers for her chair but this did not help as the problem was definitely not physical.

One time she went to bed without any problem at all on her own, but the next morning not only could she not get herself out of bed, I was unable to move her. Called the ambulance and she ended up in hospital, she had a urine infection.

As her condition deteriorated, these episodes became more frequent, one morning whilst she was being showered by the carer her legs gave way from under her.

This led to her being bedbound, it was impossible to use the hoist on mum , she would just go ballistic.

 

[Catherine C]

Thanks for your responses....reading through what I wrote last night I was obviously falling asleep!
I suppose we just have to wait and see... shes coming to the end of the antibiotics, I just feel it’s too sudden to be bed bound but we’ll have to adjust if this is the reality

 

[TNJJ]

for some time my Mum has had issues about standing up...I’m sure this is not a physical issue but somehow simply forgetting how to do it...either forgetting the meaning of the words ‘stand up’ and somehow the reflex... usually worse in the morning, somehow it would improve during the day. Last weekend this got to crisis as on the Friday we couldn’t get her out of a wheelchair ( she was generally mobile but seemed a bit tired so used the chair) managed with my Dad to some how get her into riser recliner where she slept.
on Sat couldnt get her to stand and eventually starting phoning help numbers and in the afternoon 2 physios arrived, after 2 hours of gentle persuasion, they couldnt get her standing. They told us that we as family could have a go, but if we didn’t succeed we’d have to call 999 as being stuck in the chair would be an emergency. But if she was in bed they would consider her safe. We managed to slide her legs from the riser recliner onto the bed and edge her into bed. The next day this same emergencbc mum W of y team had set up a nurse visit who put mum on antibiotics for possible chest infection plus interim carers to do toilet ting for the time being. Whilst grateful for all of this I’m concerned that that she could be loosing mobility too quickly ,.
my question is does anyone have experience of this ?
I did ask the physios about joists and she said she thought that mum woul feel too agitating .
has anyone come across Any sit to stand aids?

Hi. I’m fast approaching this with dad. We have a Sara Stedy to use for him. I rise his recliner and he grabs hold of the bar to pull himself up. But this relys on arm strength and the ability to understand instructions.
If your mum is unable to understand and is too weak to to use a Sara Stedy then a Stand Aid would be the next thing. This has a belt attached and you attach it to hooks and pull her up from the chair to wherever. Both are on wheels.

 

[Catherine C]

I was looking at the Sara steady.... I think my mum is quite strong but it’s the understanding issue... I think it might be difficult for her to understand instructions but I keep asking for some input from the physio....so have to wait....

 

[TNJJ]

I was looking at the Sara steady.... I think my mum is quite strong but it’s the understanding issue... I think it might be difficult for her to understand instructions but I keep asking for some input from the physio....so have to wait....

That can take a while..

 

[Catherine C]

As a continuation of this story, my mum is still in bed and seems likely to remain there,.... I feel very sad about it but trying to adjust. The physios tried very gently to coax her out of bed but she didn’t understand any instructions . When I asked about the possibility of a hoist they said that Mum would not tolerate it, that it would be too scary for her and she might hurt herself. It seems that bed is the safest place.
it feels like rather an abrupt change when actually she was/ is still quite strong. At the same I do see their point if I had managed to get her up we could easily be back to square one with her stuck in a chair......