What should you do if an aging or ailing loved one is falling frequently? This issue arises often in hospice care, particularly for home-bound patients.
We always investigate the cause of falling:
- Low blood pressure can make people light-headed. It can result from dehydration (not eating enough, or vomitting/diarrhea), taking too much blood pressure medicine, a new heart problem (irregular rhythm, or a small silent heart attack), infection (usually lung or kidney/bladder), or it can occur when a person loses weight from not eating enough.
- Medication side-effect, such as sleep aid induced dysequilibrium.
- Progression of a disease state such as dementia, or cancer, especially cancer that has spread to the brain.
- Electrolyte imbalance, most often sugar elevations or depressions in diabetes.
- A new disease such as a small, silent stroke.
Once we have eliminated and/or treated any underlying causes, we institute safety measures that prevent falls:
- Get rid of all throw rugs.
- Install bathroom/tub/toilet railings.
- Mark stairs with yellow tape.
- Physical therapy.
- Four-pronged walkers.
- Administer meds that protect bones from breaking during a fall.
Doctor home visits are important for preventing falls. That is one of the reasons why, at Texas Hospice, we have two near-full-time physicians working for us. Since our beginning three years ago, almost all of our patients have received a visit from one of our physicians.
Falls are one of the most common causes of hospitalization and loss of function in the elderly population. We recommend that anyone caring for a loved-one at home call us for an evaluation.
