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I have a 72 year old father who's had 10+ surgeries in the past 7 seven years. He's on Cymbalta, high blood pressure, heart medicine and other toxic pharmaceutical drugs deemed legal by the FDA. While I think this is part of his problem, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as to why he's gotten clumsier through the years. He keeps falling down, tripping over a 1" rug, and seriously hurting himself. This breaks my heart. Is this just part of old age or could it be something else?
His doctor is aware of his extreme dizziness and has reduced and eliminated some of the prescriptions; he's had a CAT Scan, MRI, inner ears examined to no avail.
Most people will get clumsier through the years if they don't work on their balance, muscle strength, and flexibility. Yoga is excellent for this, as are weighted workouts. The older we are, the more we need it. I am 69 and my balance and strength are much better than they were ten years ago.
Since your father has had many surgeries, it is obvious he has many medical problems, so he may well be doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. I don't think your emotional (as opposed to rational) approach to things (..."toxic pharmaceutical drugs deemed legal...") is helping you here.
What about eliminating the rug? and other things that he might trip over?
When my grandmother started falling, the parts of her house that she was still using had to be made safer for her. They took out the throw rugs, put a night light in her bedroom, and added some bars to the bathroom walls. She also had a walker which helped when she was walking far.
What about eliminating the rug? and other things that he might trip over?
Yes, we've already done this. It can be as simple as a curb too. Even escorted.
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Most people will get clumsier through the years if they don't work on their balance, muscle strength, and flexibility. Yoga is excellent for this, as are weighted workouts. The older we are, the more we need it. I am 69 and my balance and strength are much better than they were ten years ago.
Good advice, but he absolutely refuses. One of his surgeries was a hip replacement and he never did the physical therapy.
Most people will get clumsier through the years if they don't work on their balance, muscle strength, and flexibility. Yoga is excellent for this, as are weighted workouts. The older we are, the more we need it. I am 69 and my balance and strength are much better than they were ten years ago.
Since your father has had many surgeries, it is obvious he has many medical problems, so he may well be doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. I don't think your emotional (as opposed to rational) approach to things (..."toxic pharmaceutical drugs deemed legal...") is helping you here.
good for you and your strength, but you are wrong to think just keeping in shape will keep one from getting clusier as they age: everyone does lose strength as they age. It is called the aging process. There are deseases that cause weakness, radiation and chemo can cause weakness, so can Parkinsons' desease and Arthoritis. Some of this can be postponed with the right exercise, but nothing will totally stop the aging process.
Does he live alone, has he been accessed for dementia, Alzheimer's, etc... Especially with the dementia's, patients will start falling because of various reasons; not being able to access spatial ability, memory lapses, etc... He's on many meds and without a workup and seeing all the meds and taking a real history all we can do is guess.
Is there a family history of Alzheimer's, is there vascular dementia, etc... He needs a full work up by a neuropsychologist if he hasn't seen one already IMO. The testing takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours.
Dizziness is different than "clumsiness" or 'ordinary' loss of good balance due to lack of excercise.
Check first to see which of his meds has "may cause dizziness" as a prime side affect to see if it can be changed or reduced (or eliminated)
Its very important to have some sort of reminder system for taking medications,small containers with the days of the week is one example. At least have him write down the day and time he takes any pill.I some times write it down but then forget to take the pill and I am 74, perhaps some one will chime in with a better way.
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