I know from others in my support group as well as from occasional postings at this and other sites that losing one's balance and falling is one common symptom for some with AD. Here's my question: For those of you whose spouses do lose their balance and fall a lot, what were some of the early signs? Yeah, I know ... one of the first signs was when your spouse started falling. OK, a sense of humor is helpful for all of us at times. But I'm serious. Before those falling incidents, was the first sign general unsteadiness while walking? Shuffling of feet? Stumbling on flat ground? In other words, did anyone notice something before the actual falls started happening on either flat ground or staircases? My wife fell down the last few steps on our staircase this afternoon ... fortunately she 'only' ended up with a huge black and blue mark, a sore leg, and some soreness in her back as a result. But I'm just wondering if falling may become a new issue for us to deal with from now on ... or if what happened this evening was probably more due to clumsiness totally unrelated to her AD.
acvann--my DH has VaD and what I have noticed is more unsteadiness when he's tired (as in has been exerting himself more than usual). He'll seem to lean/list to the side a little(not always really noticeable unless you look). Less likely to really pick up his feet. Lately, there's a little hitch in his step. Because of my disability, we don't really have stairs any more (just to basement, and I try to eliminate any reason for him to go there). We do have 2 handicapper ramps--with rails. Even with them, I'm always reminding him to take/use his 4-footed cane. He's finally getting the idea to have it with him---just in case.
On your stairs--I presume you have a sturdy rail which extends past the top and bottom steps. Also consider marking the edges of the steps with a contrasting color so they're easier to see. This can help determine placement of feet as walking up or down.
Its always good to have the patient checked for a UTI ......... falling down, leg weakness, lethargy, leaning to one side or the other etc are usually a good sign of an infection. If you are unable to obtain a mid-stream urine sample you should have your physician check her and obtain a sample for testing. About a 10 day course of antibiotics will look after any infection.
Acvann - here is what I experienced with DW when she started falling. I believe it was a combination of A) her refusal to eat plus B) being in a period of steep decline plus: 1) a transition in flooring color, usually from light to dark where she was walking. She really struggled with where to put her foot when crossing over to dark flooring so would often time pause (then tip) before stepping. We don't really have much for dark flooring but if the sun goes down, the carpeting is lighter than kitchen tile so that she would have a hard time seeing the tile floor. 2) door thresholds that were black. Though the threshold might only be 6" wide, she would pause and look at it as if it was a crevice she might fall into. She would eventually lift a foot and carefully try to step over trying not to put her foot on the threshold and fall in. Again, she would pause and then tip due to poor balance. 3) transitioning from sitting to standing or vice versa. Being weak, she often didn't push hard enough to get upright and would just fall over. A few times I found her on the floor not even close to the couch- couldn't figure out what happened. I finally observed once when she was going into living room to sit down and would see the couch she would just sit down right then - not yet close to the couch.
It was impossible to watch her all the time and I would try to help as much as possible but, being the bad guy, she was always resisting help......even after she had fallen. Definitely not one of the cooperative type victims of this disease.
My suggestion would be to NOT wait too long (as I did) with her falling and hurting herself. Since my DW would only sleep for very brief periods, I was absolutely fried trying to take care of her when her fall happened. I had always told myself not to wait that long but as mentioned in B), it was a period of rapid decline. It was a terrible feeling.
My DH has some diabetic neuropathy issues so he has had some balance and walking for some time. I do notice that his walking is less steady and I can only assume that part of this is the AD. My mother, who had this disease, also became less well balanced and would have to have someone walk with her.
My husband was falling a lot for awhile there. There were two reasons. One was low blood pressure. That is now under control and the falling for now apparent reason has stopped. The second reason he falls is because his perception is no longer good. He bends over a lot to pick up things that aren't there. When he bends over, he will sometimes fall over.