How do you Know when someone is going to stop walking?

Marp

One question I forgot to ask - my sister falls more and seems to lean to the right when she walks.

How do we know when she's about ready to stop walking? I called the 24/7 help line and didn't get an answer to that question; I just got some tips on what questions to ask of facilities we are considering.

SDianeL

Since the disease progresses differently in each person so there really is no answer.

Marp

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/243564#Comment_243564

I was just wondering what symptoms might indicate an Alzheimer's patient may be getting close to not walking.

My sister falls a lot and some days she is too weak to get out of a chair by herself. I'm wondering if that's because she may be approaching the stage where she might not walk. Hospice has evaluated her between 6D and 7 (depending on which nurse you talk to).

harshedbuzz

It's really hard to say. The disease progresses so differently in some people. My dad wasn't one who was seemingly compelled to walk, but he was able to walk and speak conversationally until he died. His body could no longer swallow reliably so he would be considered stage 7.

GothicGremlin

I also think it's hard to know.

My sister, who had early onset Alzheimer's/FTD also leaned to the side. When she'd stand, she'd lean backwards, so we had to kind of hold her back straight otherwise she'd fall backwards. My sister's doctor called the leaning "Pisa Syndrome." It was a pretty apt description. In my sister's case it was probably caused by the anti-psychotic drugs she was taking.

When I talked to her doctors and her memory care staff, the two competing issues were keeping her safe v. trying to preserve her ability to walk for as long it was safe. What they told me was that once a person with Alzheimer's gets used to a wheelchair, they can quickly lose their ability to walk.

When we got to that point with my sister, I'd say she was probably at later stage 6. It took about three months from when she first started leaning backwards to when we finally used the wheelchair full time. During that time we always had someone with her otherwise she was likely to fall.

Marp

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/243778#Comment_243778

That's kind of my conundrum - I want her safe. I don't want her to fall and suffer a horrendously painful injury and live her last few weeks in wretched pain.

At the same time, I want her to have her independence for as long as I can. I don't want her to get too used to the wheelchair until she really needs it.

GothicGremlin

That was my conundrum as well. It was not an easy decision - then again, nothing about this disease is easy.

I wish I had a hard and fast solution to share, but I think what you'll end up finding is that there will come a day when you'll just know that that's the day to begin with the wheelchair. Trust yourself.