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My mom doesn’t fall often, but she does not let me help her up. She doesn’t want me to hurt myself but she also doesn’t trust that I’m strong enough. She won’t follow directions and wastes a lot of energy squirming around to get herself up.
We always end up having to wait for assistance once I’ve determined she’s not hurt.


I’ve heard others here talk about a helpful device?

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I think most of the devices are about alerting caregivers to a fall.

If you Google "getting up after a fall elderly" you will see links to a number of YouTube videos describing the right techniques. The RoSPA one suggests practising the routine so that it's more familiar and easier to manage even after the nasty shock of having fallen.

Also, you need to get an Occupational Therapist to come to your mother's home and do a falls prevention plan for her. An experienced OT will spot trip hazards and suggest improvements. This may include things like grab rails and extra lighting, but it will also be about looking at how your mother moves around the home and what might be done with furniture layout and so on to make it safer.
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Does she use a cane or walker? You say she doesn't fall often. Does that mean she's fallen in the past? How often does she fall? What do you mean wait for assistance? Do you mean she falls and then you have to wait for people to help you get her back up?

There are many devices that can help people get around. One we like to use here at the hospital is a sara stedy. We also use bed and chair alarms on many of our patients so we know if they try to get up on their own. Non skid socks are also a big help.

Falling is a big deal and can affect someone greatly. I'm glad you are concerned enough to ask for advice on this matter.
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Hi and thanks for your responses,
My mom has had bit OT and PT here at the house following a short stay in the hospital for constipatiion.
We are pretty much housebound since she’s been gone but I was emptying the trash outside gathering recyclables and garden debri when she got up to use the bathroom. She says she made it to the toilet using her rolling walker and lost her balance as she was turning around to reach the grab bar and slid to the ground gently.
Her problem is she sits too long watching tv and her legs get weak.
She’s been given exercises to do every day but she comes up with excuses to get out of it. Lessee...today it was because her foot hurt when I was pushing her in her wheelchair yesterday to the store and today it moved up her leg.
The whole of last month she had a bad cold that I got too so she didn’t want anybody to come exercise with her because we were contagious.
Oh, excuse me, I forgot about the UTI she was taking antibiotics for that made her dingy and the list goes on and on.
The reality is that she’s depressed because her heroin addicted grandson got out of jail and has nowhere to live and the family won’t come here if he is here. He has stolen from her bank account two different time that this family has paid her back for and feel they may as well be giving him cash for his habit.
I got rid of him because I say we can’t afford him and because I have to hide anything valuable if he’s around. But that makes her sad also.
So, yes, she won’t let me help her up because she says she’ll hurt me (I’m having hernia surgery as soon as I get the insurance approval) so we wait til someone drives over if I’ve determined that she isn’t hurt.
It would not have mattered if I’d been in the kitchen because I try to encourage her to move around more and would have that night too.
When she becomes weak like that it comes suddenly after having a normal day’s activity.
She doesn’t do anything to relieve her assorted aches and pains and doesn’t tell me until I’ve asked her to do something like get ready to come to table for dinner.
So...I’m just wondering if there’s a device I can use to help us get her up. She’s not heavy, not obese at all, but she’s very stiff. She weighs about 120 lbs. She does her exercises easily and it only takes about 20 minutes twice a day. She doesn’t like to do them with me. She says she’s doing them by herself. When I question her she becomes very defensive.
Like I said, I am always here but not in the same room with her all the time. She can’t hear well so she has tv up very loud and I don’t watch tv so if I’m not doing kitchen chores I’m in my room down the hall with the door open reading a book or on the computer, or other chores like laundry in the garage. I have a baby monitor for night time and I can hear her thru it from the living room as well, that I take outside with me.
That’s more info I’m sure, than you asked for but I’m trying to cover the bases. We have gotten expert advice here but my failing to keep track of her minute by minute or is it I expect too much from her?
I just don’t know when to give up I think. I’m waiting for it to be her decision or at least a medical decision.
She does not have any life threatening conditions. She has type II diabetes she tests daily and is within range and she is mostly alert but beginning to be vague. She’s been to the doctor recently and she was smart as a whip that day. We have her constipation in control as well. What am I missing? I think it’s the will to live well. Do they make a pill for that?
Charlotte
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Cwillie,
Now I have looked up your suggestion. Sorry. I woke up in the night still holding my phone and because I went to sleep with it on my mind I went into a full rant. My apologies. How boring of me.
That is an excellent article! And amazingly, I just bought myself a more secure step stool that may do the trick!
It’s here! Already on hand!
I am a “faller.” I learned a long time ago how to get up by myself by rolling on to my stomach, but when I tell my mom it just does not translate and she wastes a lot of energy squirming around on the floor. If I were to video us, it would be enormously entertaining!
So...I will try to address the situation to her in a more lucid, less stressful time. Wish me luck for her sakes plz.
Charlotte
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Char, both posts offer good advice, but the question I still have is whether you're looking for a fall alert device that automatically contacts a monitoring service after a fall, or if you're looking for devices that might help prevent falls, or help someone get up after a fall.

Could you clarify this for us please?
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There are devices to help get someone up after a fall but... the prices are crazy high.
I'll include a link to a site that describes a few -
homeability.com/get-up-after-fall-part-two/
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Did you look at the site I mentioned? Do you know how to past the address into the address bar?

What I did was to bring mom up gradually from floor, to a low stool, to a low chair and then her wheelchair. She could not help AT ALL and was dead weight.
I also concentrated on my own physical fitness and worked out regularly with weights, specifically rows and dead lifts.
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