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My mom is more confused then ever and now she is falling cant seem to get her balance. Is this part of dementia? She has fallen 4 times in 1 week. She is more shakey, something she hasnt had in the past but suddenly she is shakey and falling.. Any insight would be appreciated. She is on the excelon patch for her dementia but doesnt seem to help much. Thank You in advance.

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Does she have a diagnosis for a particular type of dementia? Being shakey and falling a lot often goes with Lewy Body Dementia (which has symptoms of Parkinson's). Certainly that is not the only kind of dementia that includes falling down, but with new symptoms appearing I think it is time to see the dementia specialist again. There may be additional treatments to try.
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dear MMendez, my mother moved in a few months ago. she apparently had a series of mini strokes that made it impossible for her to live alone anymore. She had an MRI of her brain and her neurologist diagnosed her with Alzheimer's. Some of the symptoms i noticed once she moved in is she is very shaky. When she gets more upset her hands are even shakier. her doctor said it could just be from "old age" but, she was never like this before the strokes. Also, she fell down some stairs her first week at my home. After that, we keep the lights on in the hallways at night. She got confused when she needed to go to the bathroom and went down the stairs instead of into the bathroom. She seems to be off balance a lot. It gets worst at night. Whenever we go anywhere, I make sure to hold her arm. She refuses to use a cane or walker for support. My mother is also taking various medications but, i think the mini strokes really contributed to her being off balance and lacking energy. I hope that this helps you. Take-care of yourself.
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My father had mixed dementia and had terrible balance problems. He took some medicine -- meclizine if I remember right -- for his balance problems. In his last few years on earth, he avoided walking and didn't go outside. He also avoided turning around. His weakness and balance problems made him afraid to do many things. He frequently told us that he was dizzy.
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MMendez I think you should look at a few things.
My Mom was on Abilify for a short period of time, at first diagnosis. She was dizzy, lethargic, "LaLa Land", right away... I was like, something is wrong. I had talked to her Dr. he adjusted her meds eliminating the abilify,
this was the problem, in her case.
My Mom never had the excelon patch so I don't know the affects of that. I would research this or any medications.
The other thing is it may be depth perception. Vision is altered sometimes with Dementia, I noticed my Mom colored pictures but nothing in the back ground, then I asked her how she saw what was in the picture and if saw a tree was behind a bunny rabbit she only saw the bunny, so she only colored the bunny, not the tree. But she did comment on someone else's snowman, "Who ever saw a pink snowman?" Thought I'd throw that in for a chuckle!!! I said but "some snowman have yellow snow on there feet" she said ..."snowman don't have feet and that's disgusting!" but she laughed!!!
So side walks and streets look flat to them. Stairs are viewed as 2 denominational. This is why it is hard for them to see things of same color being separate. As in a window covered by curtains of the same color of walls. To them it looks all one thing.
Another thing maybe used as ruling out.
This may sound odd but I learned this from my Dog going to the Vet. I think my dog had a stroke..... her legs were like dead weight and I wanted to make sure she was not in pain. Of course I took her to the Vet... her front limbs were fine strong, no weakness. the back ones were the issue one side was worse at this time. The vet held her in a standing position, on all fours, he picked up one leg and then let it go. Her leg fell in an awkward position not correctly (like hanging limp) my poor pup did not correct the position of the leg. No reaction simple let her leg remain in that position. The vet said she has no feeling in that leg she's not in pain. She either had a stroke or nerve damage.
I know I have said this before ... we have to really look at things we notice and translate to the Dr's because we see things that they don't in a quick exam and little details may give a Dr a better insight on what's ailing our loved ones.
So write your concerns down and relay them to the DR's .... look at drug side affects, and remember that psych medication should be for stabilization, not so to create a person who has a completely different personality or becomes more ill. Somethings are due to dementia but the basic personality of your loved one should be recognizable to some extent.
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Mom had a neurologist who told me that the Excelon patch was good, but when taken with the Namenda it would work much better. He said the Namenda was the "lobster" and the patch was the "melted butter"..... Those patches are super expensive tho and she always tore them off, so.... but he did say that they should be used together.
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