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Also suffers from severe back pain. She needed support to walk even earlier; but the acute pain and inabilty to stand up or support herself is abrupt. She had a hip fracture 5 years ago; but recovered. Memory is avaerage, recognizes close relatives, but has occasional memory lapse. General health is reasonably satisfactory.

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Changes this severe and this rapidly should be diagnosed by a doctor, especially the acute pain and inability to stand. Better yet, take her to the ER, now. Acute pain and abrupt lack of ability to stand is a warning signal.
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Acute pain and sudden inability to stand up? I would take her to the ER.
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Thayllis, I'm soooo glad you got an answer to your question from a doctor. With compression fractures, no wonder the suffering woman was in so much pain.

It's a good reminder for me as well; it's easy to associate intense pain with a fracture from a fall, but your update reminded me that as we age compression fractures can occur, w/o any fall or accident.

It's also rewarding to know that the advice provided helped resolve the question about what was happening.

I hope your friend has a nice relaxing, restful summer and feels so much better. And thanks for providing an update.
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Thanks for all the responses. Feel really grateful for the support. We took her to the doctor who disgnized it as a result of compression fractures of L2 and L4. She has to rest for a few months apparently.
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Get professional help from the primary care physician.
Go to an urgent care facility. ER if indicated.
Outside intervention is required.
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If the onset of the pain is sudden you definitely have to take her to the ER or at least the doctor. It's totally possibly, maybe even likely, that she has another hip fracture (even without an obvious cause, like a recent fall).
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I'm experiencing something similar with my Mom. She had double hernia surgery in Dec, & I located my Dad to a nursing home. She assisted him 95%, he had about 4th stage alzheimers & lots of health problems. I don't know how she made it all these past yrs. I had hoped to get Mom well enough to bring him back home & hire an agency to help. It took along time for her to recover from surgery but now is experiencing lower back pain, hip pain, lower body trying to give way upon trying to get out of bed & stand. Sunday I waited her out to see if she would get up, come get coffee & fix her own breakfast. Later I felt bad because she was crying from pain but made it to her chair in the living room. My Dad pasted at the end of April this year, so she is depressed & guilty about that happening. She is taking meds to help but an MRI was done so there is problems, she got a back injection & now shes taking meds for UTI for 2nd time. Also complaining of jitters from inside out so now added another med to help with that. I took her to her reg DR & now she is going to ear/nose/throat DR. Has small polyp but not life threating. It has changed her voice which part is age & other is polop-starts speaking & ends almost whispering or escalating to be heard. It makes it hard to hear her at times. So all these changes are so confusing. My sister said she felt the same weird feeling after a back injection & she's not getting another, jittery from inside out so now I can't discount this. So the mixture of surgery, hip/back pain, lower body failing upon trying to stand to get from one place to another-I just don't know what to do. Going to the ER isn't a really good idea unless there is really something wrong. That is a nightmare, the DRs. are afraid to check you into the hospital unless there is a real problem. They can observe & observe & never check you into the hospital & the bill is alot. Then, send you home if they don't find anything wrong enough. Older people depend on whomever is available, a neighbor or relative to assist them. Sometimes I think she is trying to fool me into feeling guility if I leave her or is she? She would like to stay in her home but I don't see how but she thinks she can. Should I just go look at some Assisted Living facilities & chose one & see where that goes. My brother & his wife thinks so. Not sure my sister thinks that but at some point I have told my Mom I will go home & she will have to fend for herself with help or not, I don't think she will be able to do it by herself but in her mind she can. Driving, shopping is another whole subject. She hasn't done either in over 6 months. Nice helpful comments accepted. Mean comments, I won't post again.
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To thayyils: I am glad you got a diagnosis. We often see deconditioning set in very quickly for patients with compression fractures, specifically while someone is resting. Rest will be very important - but it will also very important to keep up some general mobility in order not to stiffen up. As the acute pain gets better, the client/patient should be able to move better.

Sometimes we also use the parallel bars (or something else you can find that is sturdy enough), where the client/patient can hold onto something to pull themselves up into standing position (if this is possible and doesn't hurt too much) We time this activity with the client's/patient's pain medications so they can manage the activity better. It is not recommended that they pull up from their walker however, as it can fall back on them, and are usually not a sturdy enough support.

I hope everything works out for you, keep us informed.
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Thank you very much for the helpful suggestions and advices. We found them extremely useful, especially the ones from medical professionals and experts. The lady concerned is feeling better, but under medical care. WE hope that she will recover with home care and family support in a few weeks' time. Once again, thankin for the empathetic and thoughtful responses, Thayyils
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could be herniated or bulging disc, anything really. a trip to either ER or good orthopedic doctor to find out what is happening. good luck
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