Walking

[Farzi]

My husband was diagnosed with Alzhemiers early 2021. He had a fall that resulted in bleeding of brain and followed by diagnosis on Alzheimer.
His confusion is gone. His short term memory is bad.
we used to walks 5 miles on most week days and 10 to 12 miles at least once a week. Sometimes we will do longer walk twice a week.
He complains of back pain now and doesn’t want to walk. However I make sure we go for a short wake once a day if not twice a day.
Doctor told him to try paracetamol for one week.This hadn’t help. He does feel better after a physio. He has physio once a week or twice a week. It is expensive. At times I feel older people irrespective of whether they suffer from Alzheimers/Dementia are not a priority or even worthy of treatment.
I can’t help thinking perhaps he has injured his back on the day he fell backward. His visible wound on the back of his head was treated. He got a head scan due to his confusion. I get the impression not much attention is paid to Dementia’s patients physical health.
I do my long walks twice a week leaving him with carers.
what can I do to ensure my husband inability to walk is not the result of the fall in Oct 2020. How can I get the doctor to refer him for an MRI scan?

 

[canary]

Unfortunately, loss of mobility is part and parcel of dementia. Things like falls and fractures may progress this development more quickly, and physio (if they can engage with it) may delay it, but ultimately, the loss will happen whatever you do.

 

[DreamsAreReal]

Have you told your husbands GP the paracetamol hasn’t worked and your hubby is still in pain? Tell him your husband needs more help.

My mum kept getting back pain and sometimes I thought she was exaggerating but when we finally got an X-ray done the doctor phoned me and said, “your mum must be in agony”?. She had some fractured vertebrae. Also Osteoporosis which we didn’t know. He prescribed Co-codamol and later on a pain relieving patch (co-codamol too constipating).

I hope you both get what you need. Best wishes xx

 

[KatyKat]

My husband was diagnosed with Alzhemiers early 2021. He had a fall that resulted in bleeding of brain and followed by diagnosis on Alzheimer.
His confusion is gone. His short term memory is bad.
we used to walks 5 miles on most week days and 10 to 12 miles at least once a week. Sometimes we will do longer walk twice a week.
He complains of back pain now and doesn’t want to walk. However I make sure we go for a short wake once a day if not twice a day.
Doctor told him to try paracetamol for one week.This hadn’t help. He does feel better after a physio. He has physio once a week or twice a week. It is expensive. At times I feel older people irrespective of whether they suffer from Alzheimers/Dementia are not a priority or even worthy of treatment.
I can’t help thinking perhaps he has injured his back on the day he fell backward. His visible wound on the back of his head was treated. He got a head scan due to his confusion. I get the impression not much attention is paid to Dementia’s patients physical health.
I do my long walks twice a week leaving him with carers.
what can I do to ensure my husband inability to walk is not the result of the fall in Oct 2020. How can I get the doctor to refer him for an MRI scan?

Maybe see if you can get a general referral to a different doctor -- perhaps a back specialist. The specialist would be unlikely to ignore your partner's back pain.

I too have been getting the uneasy feeling that dementia patients (and their caregivers) are routinely ignored by GPs. I've put in 3 calls to my Mum's GP in the past 2 weeks and not one answer.

I do wish you luck.

 

[canary]

What does the physiotherapist say about the back pain? They are usually very good at knowing whether there is a problem with the spine.

 

[MartinWL]

My dad has had a few back strains and pains. My only comment is that these things take a fair old time to heal in elderly people, more than a week.

 

[Palerider]

My husband was diagnosed with Alzhemiers early 2021. He had a fall that resulted in bleeding of brain and followed by diagnosis on Alzheimer.
His confusion is gone. His short term memory is bad.
we used to walks 5 miles on most week days and 10 to 12 miles at least once a week. Sometimes we will do longer walk twice a week.
He complains of back pain now and doesn’t want to walk. However I make sure we go for a short wake once a day if not twice a day.
Doctor told him to try paracetamol for one week.This hadn’t help. He does feel better after a physio. He has physio once a week or twice a week. It is expensive. At times I feel older people irrespective of whether they suffer from Alzheimers/Dementia are not a priority or even worthy of treatment.
I can’t help thinking perhaps he has injured his back on the day he fell backward. His visible wound on the back of his head was treated. He got a head scan due to his confusion. I get the impression not much attention is paid to Dementia’s patients physical health.
I do my long walks twice a week leaving him with carers.
what can I do to ensure my husband inability to walk is not the result of the fall in Oct 2020. How can I get the doctor to refer him for an MRI scan?

I would insist there are problems ongoing and that this is not simple back pain. Ask your husband if he has any pain down the back or front of his legs and any pins n needles (parasthesia). Has he had any unexplained incontinence of urine or faeces? Can he lift his leg up parralell from the bed without pain? GP's are reluctant to undertake MRI's but back in 2006 I injured my back and my GP refused to request an MRI. I ended up presenting in A&E and by chance the neurosurgical registrar I work with was on-call and immediately requested an urgent MRI. They found two L spine discs bulging on the root nerves and a disc impinging on my spinal cord at T12.

People with dementia are not excluded from back injuries and I would argue it is far better to know and exclude it than to make an assumption it is not anything significant. I never had surgery but did have three years of slow recovery with many steroid epidurals into my spine until everything settled, so there are options if surgery is not a priority

 

[Farzi]

Have you told your husbands GP the paracetamol hasn’t worked and your hubby is still in pain? Tell him your husband needs more help.

My mum kept getting back pain and sometimes I thought she was exaggerating but when we finally got an X-ray done the doctor phoned me and said, “your mum must be in agony”?. She had some fractured vertebrae. Also Osteoporosis which we didn’t know. He prescribed Co-codamol and later on a pain relieving patch (co-codamol too constipating).

I hope you both get what you need. Best wishes xx

Unfortunately, loss of mobility is part and parcel of dementia. Things like falls and fractures may progress this development more quickly, and physio (if they can engage with it) may delay it, but ultimately, the loss will happen whatever you do.

I am very realistic and accept inevitable will happen. However, it is important to eliminate causes just in case there is an injury. He had a bad fall that could have damaged his back.

 

[Farzi]

I am very realistic and accept inevitable will happen. However, it is important to eliminate causes just in case there is an injury. He had a bad fall that could have damaged his back.

Have you told your husbands GP the paracetamol hasn’t worked and your hubby is still in pain? Tell him your husband needs more help.

My mum kept getting back pain and sometimes I thought she was exaggerating but when we finally got an X-ray done the doctor phoned me and said, “your mum must be in agony”?. She had some fractured vertebrae. Also Osteoporosis which we didn’t know. He prescribed Co-codamol and later on a pain relieving patch (co-codamol too constipating).

I hope you both get what you need. Best wishes xx

Trying to get hold of GP is quite a problem. I will drop in the surgery next week.

 

[Farzi]

I would insist there are problems ongoing and that this is not simple back pain. Ask your husband if he has any pain down the back or front of his legs and any pins n needles (parasthesia). Has he had any unexplained incontinence of urine or faeces? Can he lift his leg up parralell from the bed without pain? GP's are reluctant to undertake MRI's but back in 2006 I injured my back and my GP refused to request an MRI. I ended up presenting in A&E and by chance the neurosurgical registrar I work with was on-call and immediately requested an urgent MRI. They found two L spine discs bulging on the root nerves and a disc impinging on my spinal cord at T12.

People with dementia are not excluded from back injuries and I would argue it is far better to know and exclude it than to make an assumption it is not anything significant. I never had surgery but did have three years of slow recovery with many steroid epidurals into my spine until everything settled, so there are options if surgery is not a priority

Thank you.

 

[try again]

I suffered back pain for ages. Paid a fortune in physio.
Doctors did some blood tests and I was deficient in vitamin d and b.
Took supplements and pain went away.

Btw, I find the best way to get my mums doctors to respond is to email them.

 

[DreamsAreReal]

Best of luck with GP. I’m sorry they’re so hard to contact, it must be very stressful for you. I’m not an assertive person but I found I had to be, with mum’s GP. Tell them what you want them to do and keep telling them until you get it. I agree with you about their treatment of Dementia patients. God help the ones who don’t have anybody to speak up for them. xx

 

[MartinWL]

I suffered back pain for ages. Paid a fortune in physio.
Doctors did some blood tests and I was deficient in vitamin d and b.
Took supplements and pain went away.

Btw, I find the best way to get my mums doctors to respond is to email them.

Some GP practices make email difficult, refusing to publish addresses. They turn off online consultation and triage systems. The root cause is the GP contract which gives them little financial incentive to be responsive. I would be inclined to write letters, perhaps in red ink, to grab attention.

 

[try again]

Some GP practices make email difficult, refusing to publish addresses. They turn off online consultation and triage systems. The root cause is the GP contract which gives them little financial incentive to be responsive. I would be inclined to write letters, perhaps in red ink, to grab attention.

I found mums on the NHS website

 

[Bakerst]

Our GPs have something called Patch, my GPs is always full but OH's is easy to get onto and I find it is better and easier than phoning you always get a response you can register on it as a carer for the patient. Go on the surgery website, scroll down and you should see it ( big pink letters I think) good luck