Was over 300. She was out recently on farziga on top of her regular metformin which hasn’t been controlling it. Some cognitive decline but CT scan doesn’t show anything but some age appropriate TIAs that could be old. Has anyone ever dealt with extreme muscle weakness in legs in elderly? The doctors still don’t know why her legs kept buckling, trying to figure it out…
Has she been checked for vertigo? Dehydration? A UTI? Or other infection? There are many issues that can cause the elderly to have balance or dizziness problems. These should all be checked as well, but mostly whether she is actually taking her meds as prescribed.
My MIL was not taking her thyroid medicine as prescribed even though I was talking her through the steps over the phone. She'd confirm she took them. Then when i went to her house I saw the pills scattered on her table with the glass of water sitting right there. I counted the pills. Nope, she hadn't taken them and swore to me that she did. She wasn't even eating, but swore she had. She became faint while on an outing with us. She hadn't eaten. That's when we knew she had to have more daily hands-on help.
My mom fell plenty of times but her issues stemmed from her Parkinson’s disease.
My mom did benefit from home health physical and occupational therapy.
She went into the hospital after a bad fall. Her doctor felt that she would benefit from a stay at a rehabilitation facility. It is covered by insurance and it did help her.
Have you spoken with her doctor about your mom doing physical and occupational therapy? This will help her with improving her strength and balance.
Falls are scary for the elderly and their families. As I am sure that you you know, they can be very dangerous too.
Best wishes to you and your mother.
It's not much you can do for mom at this point. She is in the hospital. They will get the medication issue straightened out. Hopefully, she will follow up on her regular physician.
You mention buckling of the legs. That would happen just with the fall no matter the cause of the fall.
I think that a PT consult may give a lot of clues as well, and some rehab work may be needed as well as getting that sugar under control.
One last thing to consider. This old retired RN used to see a huge number of falls due to blood pressure medications. Problem seemed to be that the patient had high BP in the office, was given medications, and then went home where the BP was normal without the white coat phobia. I suffer from this myself. Taking the medication without blood pressure measurements can result in sudden weakness and falls, esp. when getting up out of bed from prone to standing position at night. Worth checking with home blood pressure machines, easy, cheap, automatic, and I trust Omron more than others. Should take to next MD appointment to measure its reading against the office machine; this ensures accuracy.
Sure wish you luck.
One Saturday morning, my mother called me into her room and told me that she wasn’t feeling well. She said that she didn’t feel like her usual self.
So, I asked her if she felt like she needed to see a doctor. She said, “Yes, take me to see a doctor.”
I brought her to the ER and the first thing that the hospitalist said to me was that my mother’s blood pressure was very low and that this isn’t unusual for Parkinson’s disease patients.
Mom had high blood pressure earlier in her life and was placed on meds. The doctor removed her blood pressure medication and her situation improved.
The same thing happened with her brother who also had Parkinson’s disease. His BP dropped extremely low and his doctor took him off of his BP medication.
My nephew was told to test his B/P at rest. As soon as he gets up in the morning. This is the most accurate reading.