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Mom is with us for a while as she recovers from a bad fall out of bed requiring over 100 stitches to her forehead. Since having her with me, I’ve noticed her waking up, grabbing her walker but banging into everything in sight ‘to get to bathroom’ but she’s going in wrong direction. When I went to help it was clear that she was not quite awake. Later in the day she even mentioned that she woke up in the doorway. I know for a fact her fall earlier this week was just that and not a sleepwalking incident, nor was there a concussion or skull fracture. I have a camera at her senior living facility and I played it back several times. She was asleep when she rolled out of bed. Mom is 94, lives independently at senior facility (with services), and has very mild cognitive decline and sleeps about 12 hours at night. Other than this sleep issue I would feel ok about her going home. Any thoughts?

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There are grab bars that you can place at the bed that she can use to steady herself before she gets up. This might be beneficial in a few ways.
Place the grab bars so that she has to adjust herself before she can fully sit up. This would give her a moment more to wake up.
Place her walker just a little further away, not so much that she has to stand and walk to get it that will give her a bit more time to reach for it and awaken more.
If this happens at the same time each morning there are lights that you can get that will gradually come on waking a person more gently. Setting it to come on 20 or 30 minutes before she typically gets up might allow her to wake more fully by the time she is ready to get up.

I have to ask...is she wearing an incontinence brief at night? Is it possible that she is rushing to the bathroom because she has an urge to go? If she is not wearing a brief you might want to try that so she does not feel that she has to rush.
If she goes to bed much earlier than you do could you wake her before you go to be and get her to the bathroom? Again she may not have to rush to get to the bathroom in the morning. If she would not easily fall back to sleep this would not work!

Another option might be to get a bedside commode that she can use so she does not feel the need to rush to the bathroom.

does she do the same thing in her AL home?
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Often the elderly get postural hypotension, meaning when the stand up from bed or chair the blood pressure bottoms, or plummets low, causing dizziness and possible loss of consciousness. Is your elder on medications that lower blood pressure? How often is blood pressure checked? Often in doctor office blood pressure is high, medication prescribed, and then it is fine or even low at home (this is the case for me). The medications then cause this labile blood pressure problem. There should be now some "Postural Hypotension" blood pressure readings. Morning, noon and night the blood pressure is taken laying flat, sitting, and standing. Any blood pressure device you have at home should be checked with an office blood pressure machine to make certain it is working well. This can be done by you or by your Mom or by a younger person in your family. Call to arrange with MD office.
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Get a bedside commode for nights. Placed against the lower portion of the bed facing the head of the bed. Enough room to get her legs on the floor without hitting them but, close enough to reach the arm rests of the chair without overreaching. My mother who's 91 now, fell about three years ago and dislocated her shoulder so the introduction of a potty at bedside was easy for her to accept. Also, some sleep aides can cause more trouble than they're worth. I personally experienced waking up on the toilet (actually woke up when falling off), taking my dog outside (thought I dreamed it but, found potato chips in a pocket of a white bathing suit cover up that I left in the garage) and walking into furniture (went right instead of left) while trying a sleeping aide which I stopped immediately after scary episodes of walking in my sleep. The potty chair is moved across the room out of the way and covered with a blanket during the day to disguise it.
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I just read that when you wake up you should sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes before getting up.

Not sure about Senior living but Mom was not allowed her rail in the AL. My daughter, RN, thought I could have fought it. Mom used the rail to pull herself up because she had fractured an L1 vertebrae. I told the RN this she said maybe they could use a halo. Problem there was Mom had broke her shoulder and could get her arm up over her head. The bar fit under the mattress and was about 18 in wide. It served to help her in standing up and kept her from rolling out of bed.

Mom is sleep walking. Is she on any new meds? Ask doctor if there is something that can help with this.
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