Broken bone

BPS

I have known two people with stage late 6 early 7 dementia that have died about a week after breaking a hip. I don't why, if it is the shock, or the mind just can't handle that much, or if it was just a coincidence, also is it just the hip or all fracturs. My wife broke her upper arm yesterday so I am just wanting to hear others experiences. Thank you.

Carl46

Hip fractures are often fatal in elderly people without dementia, as well as in people with dementia. I don't know why; maybe because hip fractures immobilize.

cdgbdr

My mom had dementia, fell. Fractured her humerus and never walked again.

jfkoc

I do not know why but the stats on death after broken bones in the elderly is frightening.

Quilting brings calm

Broken bones ( particularly hips) place a lot of stress on the bodies of elderly people. Their immune and other systems just can’t handle it, and things start shutting down. Immobilization increases the risk of blood clots. Infections develop easier in elderly people. People with dementia already have a brain that is broken and isn’t properly communicating with the nervous system and body. Illness just taxes them even more.

BPS

Thank you for the comments

I will follow up in a later and say how she is doing.

BPS

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/242634#Comment_242634

About what stage was she? Tomorrow it will be 1 week. She has been up but with two person assist. She is not eating much unless I am there to feed her. She was stage 6 but this has moved her to early stage 7 I don't know if she will come back to her previous base line or not.

cdgbdr

I don't know what stage but probably 4. She was still alone at night at that time. She had the alert and didn't push the button.

BPS

Update, it has been a little over 3 weeks since the broken arm. My wife's humerus bone has been reex-rayed and it is not perfectly in line but it was decided to let it heal that way without any surgery (it is her left arm, the same one effected by the stroke). With help she is able to get out of bed and into a wheelchair. She can't walk without a walker and she can't use a walker, but cognitively she has mostly returned to her previous base line of stage 6 getting close to 7.

elainechem

My hubby had been on hospice for about six months when he had a seizure. He managed to break both shoulders in the fall. He died 8 days later. I'm pretty sure that the fractures were not the cause of his death. The seizure was his brain's signal that he was very close to the end of his life. The cause of death listed on his death certificate was Alzheimer's disease.