Sudden Dead Weight on Transfers?

Cobalt

Just wondering if others have experienced caring for a person who has always been able to use upper body strength to assist transfers and suddenly doesn't brace, pull or push with their arms.  We are also seeing "jelly legs" where he can't bear weight in transfer sitting to standing.  We have always used a gait belt to help and help him.  But now he's dead weight.  Started happening more and more a week ago.  Now for 48 hours he's not helping at all.

I'll call his doctor Monday, but want to hear your experience.  Is this something that suddenly goes away, the ability to bear weight?  Is this something that may disappear in a few days?  If we know that the ability to use muscles declines and ends up going away in late stage Alzheimer's, does this usually come on suddenly and then woosh, he is now unable to move?

RobOT

Honestly Cobalt, I don't know.  However, I've done a lot of transfers over the years, and the first things I would think about are infections that might make him weak--UTI especially--and injury that you don't suspect.  If I recall correctly, your son does a lot of hitting walls and such. Might he hurt himself kicking things?  An injured knee or a hip that was twisted during a previous transfer might cause him to refuse to bear weight to avoid pain.  It seems like a relatively sudden type of decline for dementia-related mobility problems, but then again, I wouldn't rule that out either.  I'd ask the doctor for a PT evaluation on this.

TessC

This happened to my mother and it was also an abrupt decline. She had a very long decline into ALZ but for many years was able to help with transfers. I don't know if she just got too weak or if there was pain. She used to complain about back pain when she could still talk and always gave her meds to help, but she couldn't tell me if she didn't want to assist due to pain by the time she quit helping or supporting herself. In my mother's case, after she became dead weight she died a 2-3 weeks later.

 Make sure your LO does not have a UTI and if not, then it might be a permanent decline. Good luck!

dayn2nite2

My experience was that it happened within a period of days, so yes the change can be sudden.  If it does turn out to be permanent, you will need a Hoyer lift for transfers.  My LO lived for about a year after the loss of the ability to walk, so it's hard to tell what time you have left.  Also, the loss of walking was also the thing that tipped her into qualifying for hospice.

star26

The only times I’ve experienced a sudden change like this was when my LO was sick or had an infection, including a raging infection no one was yet aware of.

zauberflote

Cobalt, Tess's story is exactly what happened recently to the 96-yr-old mother of a friend. 

Silent infection of some kind is certainly worth exploring. And the Hoyer lift. My heart hurts every time I think of you. I want to be you when I grow up. 

Cobalt

So grateful for these comments!  A few ideas came after reading all of these.  Many years ago my son had frequent UTI's until he was on a prophylactic antibiotic for about 5 years.  Perhaps it's time to go back on it.  I will ask the family doctor about this.

Right now it's hard to imagine transporting him to a clinic or lab for UTI testing.  I'm sure many people have to get this done, but the thought of in and out of bed, to the car, out of the car, in the car, back to home is rather exhausting.  It's definitely going to be a 2 person assist if we do this.

Maybe 2-3 weeks left or up to a year, from these comments, so that is about what I figured.  But am sure it is so variable from one to another!

The caregivers that come here are all able to do transfers by themselves, but I am doubting I can do all of the transfers.  Yesterday with a sling I got from Amazon, I was able to get him sitting in bed and then put the sling under his bottom and pull him to almost standing and then to the wheelchair.  Unfortunately I couldn't get him scooted back sitting into his wheelchair and he was slantwise stuck.  We had to wait that way for 40 minutes until the next caregiver came. I know I'm getting a bit too old to handle a lot of the transfers.  Oh yes, we DO have a Hoyer lift.  But I don't really know how to use it yet other than watching YouTube videos.  Still seems like I need 2 person assist, not just me alone.

Quilting brings calm

Cobalt 

If you do not already have a visiting nurse that comes to the house, call your doctor and ask for one.   Explain why you don’t feel you can transport your son and ask that urine be collected at the house and sent off.   It may also be possible for you to collect the urine  and deliver it to the doctors office or directly to a lab. 

Cobalt

Update on my son's come-and-go dead weight on transfers:

So far we find that this happens most often when he wakes up in the morning or just before bed.  So seems to be when his brain is groggy.  And we had a whole week of it but during that time, I saw that he could use his arms and hands if we had him to the table.

But a really interesting thing that happened was while he has been having recurrent constipation, after a really good "cleaning out" by suppository, he was suddenly able to use the walker with assistance again. His mood immediately was good and he cracked jokes.  He was able to help in transfers most of the time.  When he goes 3 days without a BM, we are now giving him an enema or suppository, and sometimes add a dose of Milk of Magnesia after we move him from bed to toilet.  So definitely being tired and being in pain has a great deal to do with his ability to bear weight.

We will see his Dementia specialist/Neurologist for in-person visit in 2 weeks.  He will be assessed for strength, stamina and tone.  Don't know anything can be "done" but at least we are getting an office visit.

aod326

Hi Cobalt. How interesting, we have just experienced exactly the same thing. DH came home from MC 10 days ago, at which point he was able to stand for transfer from bed to chair and lift his bum a bit when we changed him. He was fine until Monday (3 days in), then his limbs were extremely stiff and he was a dead weight. Changing him, washing him, transferring him - really anything - was really difficult. 

At the same time, he stopped having BMs. In spite of increased Senna and colace (he had already been on them morning and night for some time), he went 5 days without a BM. Finally he had several yesterday (sorry if that's TMI) and today the stiffness problem has disappeared, he was much easier to transfer and, a couple of hours ago, it was clear he wanted to stand up from his chair. He couldn't manage it himself, but two of us helped him up and took a step.

I had no idea that constipation could have such an effect!

Live and learn!