Are falls typical in dementia patients? My 80 yr. old husband has had several falls. ER doc blamed dementia, although he takes Sertraline.

Falls: can be caused by one factor or a combination of many factors

Top fall reasons in elderly from the web:

Weak muscles, especially in the legs.
Poor balance, causing unsteadiness on feet.
Dizziness or lightheadedness.
black outs, fainting or loss of consciousness.
Foot problems – including pain, numbness.
Memory loss, confusion or difficulties with thinking or problem solving.

In my experience, Dementia brings it's own enormous falls risk.

It brings brain changes: Eventually brings damage to parts of the brain needed for balance.
Memory issues: forgetting to use walking stick/frame.
Judgement: not realising own limits, or judge distances well.

It is not possible to eliminate ALL falls. There will be many factors you cannot change.

However, you can aim to avoid what dangers you can, reduce the number of falls & reduce severity of harm.

Things to consider;
- medication review (especially timing of meds that increase dizzy or sleepy)
- appropriate walking aid
- PT assessment + exercises to maintain balance
- OT home assessment for grab bars & rails
- good lighting in bathroom
- no rugs to trip on
- good footwear

Also think about a fall response plan. Could include;
- Who to call if he cannot get himself up
- When would you call EMS
- Having a bag packed & meds easy to grab if he needs to be transported for emergency treatment.

Atfer a fall, reflect & see if any factors can be highlighted, eliminated or reduced.
Eg if falls are common from the toilet, a grab bar could help. If falls at night in bathroom, ensure lighting is adequate or install a sensor light. Falls in worn out old slippers - thrown them out.

Best of luck. I am sure you are doing a tremendous job. Remember to care for yourself too!

Gravity happens, no matter where a person is living.
The tricky bit is that at some point he is likely to have a serious fall - a fracture or bleeding in his brain. Then he may be too frail to go to assisted living, and will need to go to a nursing home. Your savings will get used up a lot faster with a nursing home than an assisted living.
If you both move to assisted living, you can share an apartment OR he can be in memory care, and you can spend parts of every day together, share meals, go for walks, etc.
It will be much easier for both of you to be in the same location. And getting organized to move is a job, so think about hiring someone to help you organize what goes and what stays, etc. Move coordinators is the job title.
Visit a couple of ALFs with an open mind. You will be able to check on him often if you are both in same building, and his objections will be much less if you see him off and on all day. The staff can help answer a lot of the questions that you have.
Hard to move, hard to have to be the one who makes the decision for both of you, I know. Take care.

He will fall in an Assisted Living too. They can't watch him 24/7 no facility can. My daughter said she turned for just a second and a resident stood up from a wheelchair and fell, it happens.

You've already posted about DH not eating much, losing lots of weight with moderate dementia/ALZ, and now he's falling and going to the ER, yet still 'not ready' for Assisted Living. When exactly do you feel he will be ready for AL or Memory Care AL? Some people have preconceived notions about an elder needing to be drooling and incoherent to be 'ready' to enter AL. But in reality, by that time, no AL or Memory Care would take such a patient who'd only qualify for Skilled Nursing! The 'little prompts' DH is needing now will only get worse as time goes on, to the point where you'll need to manage his entire life FOR him; that's how dementia goes, unfortunately.

My mother fell a total of 95x once her dementia got underway. She lived in Assisted Living for 4 years and then segued into their Memory Care building for the final almost 3 years of her life. She fell 50x in AL and 45x in Memory Care. So yes, it's very common for dementia patients to fall, and then you have to figure out how to get DH up off the floor once he does fall, vs. AL or Memory Care, the staff gets him back up again. I honestly do not know WHAT I'd have done had she been living with me & had all those falls. You'd have to call 911 which may or may not require a trip to the ER to make sure he's okay, etc. In AL or MC, if the resident did not hit his head in the fall, or if his vital signs are good and he's exhibiting no pain or obvious signs of broken bones, they are not transported to the ER. There are many pros to AL/MC for an elder with dementia.

I highly doubt there is an elder alive who isn't 'resistant' to moving into managed care, although it's never the house of horrors they THINK it's going to be. Quite the contrary, in reality. I think the biggest obstacles for you is that DH will be getting worse & worse with his dementia, preventing him from qualifying for regular Assisted Living, forcing him into Memory Care at some point.........meaning YOU can't move WITH him. Also the not eating much food matter will be easier to deal with in managed care. The medications he's on need to be reviewed by his Neurologist or his doctor, once you let him or her know about the falls. The meds may or may not be contributing to the falls. My mother was taking nothing but Wellbutrin for depression when she took ALL those falls, by the way. She did have neuropathy in her legs and feet which kept her off balance all the time.


I suggest you read this 33 page booklet (a free download) which has THE best information ever about managing dementia and what to expect with an elder who's been diagnosed with it. It may help you make plans for the future, too. I always suggest this booklet, so if I've given you the link before, my apologies:

Understanding the Dementia Experience, by Jennifer Ghent-Fuller 
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/210580

Jennifer is a nurse who worked for many years as an educator and counsellor for people with dementia and their families, as well as others in caring roles. She addresses the emotional and grief issues in the contexts in which they arise for families living with dementia. The reviews for her books are phenomenal b/c they are written in plain English & very easy to read/understand. Her writings have been VERY helpful for me.

The full copy of her book is available here:
https://www.amazon.com/Thoughtful-Dementia-Care-Understanding-Experience/dp/B09WN439CC/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2E7WWE9X5UFXR&keywords=jennifer+ghent+fuller+books&qid=1657468364&sprefix=jennifer+ghent%2Caps%2C631&sr=8-2


Wishing you the best of luck with a difficult situation.

indubuque, both my parents were prone to falls as they got older. It was just normal age decline.

I got my Dad a rolling walker which helped him limit some of the falls. He just loved that walker. The other falls were him reaching down from his recliner to re-tie his shoe and he would tumble over. Same when he was out in the yard doing weeding.

Sometimes falls will happen if one stands up too quickly and they get light headed, or they turn their head too quickly [that happens to me, it's an inner ear thing].

Make sure hubby is wearing really solid shoes. Going barefoot, wearing fuzzy socks, or worn-out sneakers, can make someone prone to falling, and stubbing one's toes.

My parents wore bi-focals, and I believed they couldn't see clearly when walking down the stairs or if there was something on the floor in front of them.

I agree, it doesn't sound like hubby needs senior living at this point in time.

Falls are very common with vascular dementia and Lewy Body dementia as well, as the persons gait gets affected, and they become very unsteady on their feet.
My late husband who had vascular dementia was falling a lot before he became completely bedridden. I got to know the EMT's very well as they were coming to my house to pick him up on a regular basis.
And in case you didn't know, most cities have it where you can call 911 if your loved one falls and they will get them up for free if they don't have to transport them to the hospital that is, so please don't hesitate to call them.