How to recover after a fall?

[Beezle47]

My husband and I care for one another. He had a fall recently, had stitches in lip and around eye and that has healed. He was having dizzy spells and had lots of checks and a scan at hospital. All fine. However, the fall has knocked the stuffing out of him. We are 16 days in and he looks as if he was hit by a truck each day - not bruises, but his demeanour and ability to cope with even simple tasks. He is tired all the time and has lost his motivation. I wondered if I should give him a tonic, get him a massage, healing, chuck him in the river! I just don't know how to help him through and to help him feel 'normal' again. The doctor says he is fine but hubby describes himself as having "passed his MOT but the car still isn't working". Thanks. Bee

[MEW53]

Hi Beezle47,

I can sympathise with your situation, I have serious health problems and nearly a month ago I tripped over and fell sideways onto grass, it was quite a tumble. I have fractured my left should at the top of the humerus and I am wearing a sling and the whole arm was badly bruised. I have been in a lot of pain and sleeping has been an issue, this fall has knocked the stuffing out of me and I’ve lost my confidence a bit. I’m doing lots of exercises to get my shoulder moving and trying to do very short walks making sure I look at my feet so I don’t trip over. However, on a positive note I fell over in a car park 18 months ago, I didn’t break anything but the bruising was horrendous. Don’t chuck him in the river yet, it takes a while to get over such a bad experience, maybe both of you can take some short walks together. If he has health issues you should really check about massage with your doctor. It’s early days and hopefully time will help.

Good luck.

[Beezle47 in reply to MEW53]

Thank you for your reassurance. The time passing with no real improvement in his general wellbeing has surprised us both but perhaps we are being unrealistic. We will be more patient

[sassy59]

Hello Beezle47, I do sympathise and would suggest encouraging your husband to speak about how he’s feeling. It is very early days so hopefully your husbands confidence will grow. I wish you both well. Xxxx

[Beezle47 in reply to sassy59]

Thank you. It is more a physical issue than confidence. It will pass I'm sure.

[Hidden]

Hi Beezle47, So sorry to hear about your husband's unfortunate fall. It's a fact that when something like that happens, despite getting over most of it physically, it knocks your confidence permanently unless you take steps to build it back up again. (Sorry to put it that way; it's not intended as a pun). I see that you don't think it is confidence, but sometimes it manifests in physical weakness.

I think perhaps nurses understand better than doctors how confidence sapping it is to have a bad fall, and if you have some nursing care provided at home, they are often trained to spot hazards and also to suggest aids to preventing further falls. So do ask them, or at your GP surgery for any help you can access at home to assess what might help.

And, although you didn't say how he fell, you might look around at home for loose mats, make sure there are hand rails wherever you need them and so on. And, if you need more, social services can certainly come and do an assessment for you and provide what they think may help you.

But you should also think about this the other way on. Is something going on that caused him to fall, and there's an underlying problem which the doctor has not discovered? The doctor may only have looked for things that injured him in the fall. Perhaps some additional tests might help to discover that. If you aren't sure, do consult his doctor again and say that he's still feeling groggy and not himself.

Meantime, I'd let him get some extra rest but don't chuck him in the river... LOL!

[Beezle47 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you CG. I've sent a reply below to say how he fell. I was hoping someone could suggest a suitable pick-me-up. Not literally! Bee

[FredaE]

Those of us on here who have had dealings with neurological diseases of one sort or another know that tests and scans do not find everything which is wrong. If he is prone to falls it would be a good idea to get an appointment with your local falls clinic....They may be able to help him to walk without having to look at his feet and improve his balance. This plus all the ideas Callendars gal has suggested may be enough to solve the problem and if you have tried everything on offer you can go back and say --The obvious reasons are not coming up with a solution .......Now start thinking outside the box and find out what is the matter.And urgently

FredaE

[Beezle47 in reply to FredaE]

I am sorry that I didn't say why he fell because there is no cause for alarm on that score. We were on holiday; call of nature in the night; tiny bedroom; collision with wardrobe in the dark; wardrobe hit back and he fell into the bedside cabinet! Just a disorientation-in-the-dark. He really hasn't lost confidence and I think we just didn't expect the repercussions to go on so long.

It has caused his acute and chronic pain to be even worse than usual but it's incurable and won't respond to any meds. This condition had already left him with chronic fatigue so I suppose a body-blow of that magnitude was just the last straw as far as his limited physical abilities went.

Thank you so much for responding. Bee