Will you fall after age 65? Yes! #2 of a series

Years ago I had a limited understanding of why people fall and how horrible the results could be until my wife Jean began to have balance problems and fell often. I wanted to understand why this was happening in layman’s terms. One time Jean was hospitalized for almost six months. Over the years, I learned a lot about the medical reasons for Jean’s [ and other people’s falling ] that gave me a better understanding of the causes and outcomes for our loved ones after they have a fall.  What Jean and I went through, and my responses to try to help her and others eventually led to the inventions of the upright walker and men’s bedside urinal. I’ll explain why. [ X-Ray photo above is of Jean's spine and shoulder ]

Jean was falling a lot. The results of her falls were terrible: concussions, broken  bones, bleeding, bruising and ultimately I am convinced, brain injury. After many surgeries, when visiting a neurologist, he said the principal problem was her spine.  Her orthopedic doctor said it was not and had done many spine surgeries on Jean. He said that it was neurological. It was frustrating for everyone, so her ortho doc referred Jean to Mayo Clinic where we went for thorough tests. Mayo Clinic is extraordinary, they practice a different kind of medicine there, rapid testing, appointments lined up for every hour, everything comprehensive and well planned ahead of a visit. It was an amazing experience. We stayed at a hotel attached by tunnels to different buildings in the complex and were constantly on the move between tests and doctors.

Jean was found to have Cerebellar Ataxia, a progressive loss of brain mass at the control center in the back of the brain.  There were more tests such as Vestibular Function. I had no idea what that was until she underwent those tests and I learned with her what was happening that was adding to her fall risk.

Technicians put a waist harness on Jean to test her balance and put attached straps to walls all around her.  The lights were turned off and Jean immediately began to fall.  The doctors told us her feet were not talking to her brain, and vice versa. In addition to progressively worsening Ataxia, she had Vestibular Dysfunction. Below is the definition.

Vestibular Dysfunction:  a disturbance in the body's balance system due to an insult to the vestibular system of the inner ear, the central nervous system processing centers, or both.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK558926/

How problematic is Vestibular Dysfunction when we age?  Well, I am 84 and have become unstable especially at night. I have not been diagnosed but probably have similar problems to those that Jean had. Her neurologist told us that most elderly folks lose brain mass as they age. The back of the brain is also connected to our vision further complicating things. This particular dysfunction begins in our ear. If you have had vertigo [dizziness] you understand a little of the complicated things that arise in the Vestibular System of your inner ear where it connects to the brain.

I don’t see well at night [ Vision loss as we age is also common ] and have some hearing problems. I have to get up at night to go to the bathroom and am unstable.  Statistics of folks my age indicate most of us have some of these problems. It is part of aging. Accepting it is hard. Ignoring it can be fatal.

A large study of Vestibular Dysfunction found that as many as 69 Million Americans have experienced some form of this problem. That’s a lot of our population. 

You may find symptoms of this and related balance problems at this website:  

https://vestibular.org/article/what-is-vestibular/about-vestibular-disorders/.

It pained me terribly to see my wife suffer the results of her falls and I was determined to invent something to help reduce her risk of falling. That is why I began to create the LifeWalker™/UpWalker™, [see:tryupwalker.com/.] and eventually the Urigent™ men’s bedside portable urinal [ see: urigent.com/.] for my own use.  Now they are available for sale to everyone.

UriGent™ is a Trademark of URIGENT, LLC and patents for it’s products are pending.  Dave Purcell 12/06/22