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Falling in Public
It’s always a little embarrassing to fall down in front of people, but when you have MG, it feels worse. One of my worst falls was when I was running to catch the elevator and my legs gave out. I skidded on my knees while others looked on.
Many tried to help me up but I brushed them off-I knew I had to wait a minute for my leg strength to build back up. I felt pretty embarrassed.
Have you fallen down in public due to MG? How did it make you feel? How did you deal with it?
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4 Replies
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I had two incidents of tripping and falling on stairways at work. Fortunately, I was going up the stairs in both cases and fell into the upward stairs rather than falling down the stairs. Hard on the shins and hands, but no serious injuries. Unfortunately, in both cases my laptop PC flew up onto the stairs.
I’ve had many instances of tripping over things and catching my feet on stair steps because a foot doesn’t come up as high as I expect it to. It’s always embarrassing, but explaining it to bystanders would be impossible, so I try to be more alert for trip hazards and always have a firm grip on stairway handrails.
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I had this falling happening too regularly. Climbing stairs was arduous and even burning leg muscle pain to the point I stopped still until it subsided. If someone was in the stairwell with me, embarrassed, I would push on to the top, let them pass and go on. Going down was different. Turning to the left on the landing often resulted in falling against the wall until I held on to the rail. I still have a slap-foot and catch my toe but old people just do not pick up their feet. Since my thymo I attribute this to neuropathy and senility. I do want to add how grateful I am to have found this forum with info. I really thought and have said I must be a hypo, now I realize I am slightly mental but the choking was for real. I would not eat with strangers because of the embarrassment from the funny noises I made trying to swallow.
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I knelt down to introduce a small child to my small dog and fell over when I tried to stand up – I hadn’t realized the muscles were working to hold that particular position and there was just nothing there when I tried to stand up after several minutes. It scared the child’s parents pretty badly, it went from “oops!” when I fell over to almost a panic when I couldn’t stand up at first. I felt pretty silly for falling over as a grown man, and awful for how worried they were.
I got to use that story when I saw a frail, elderly lady trip on the sidewalk and take a pretty nasty tumble – she was embarrassed and a little scraped up, telling her my story distracted her while her friend went to get their car to take her home to clean up. By the time she left we were joking about making plans to buy kneepads and helmets together, very much a “it happens, we felt ridiculous, let’s laugh about it and move on” moment
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I was undiagnosed for 8 months …. and kept getting weaker and weaker in my leg calfs … especially when out in my yard trying to trim roses or water. I had already “melted into the floor” inside my house …. then slid down the door sill to the floor, then laid down to rest on carpet till had strength to crawl to a chair or sofa arm to get sitted … then rest again for elbow/arm strength to stand.
So I tried not to go outside … or tried to walk quickly to my front door frame … before I slid down it to the sill and rested ….. if I was outside and noticed the slightest hint of my leg calves weakening.
Also I have learned to keep at least one ski pole in each of my cars for trips to doctors … or trip to the grocery store parking zone for a shopping cart. The ski pole has the advantage also of you can sit on a bench or chair on walk to doctor’s waiting room/office … then you can rest your chin/head on the top of the ski pole … when your neck muscle suddenly dies and can no longer hold up your head. Most ski poles have screw on bottoms …. so you can screw on a rubber, a icy sidewalk spike tip, or a round powder snow disk. Also you can adjust the height of your pole. They also come in many metallic colors …. and do not signal … oh there goes an old fart … as MG patients come in all age groups.
That is a problem …. because I have had countless clueless doctors . …. who didn’t LISTEN to my MG symptoms …. and ASSUMED I had an “old person’s disease” and never could diagnose my MG … I even had .. according to the hospital consult reports two NEUROLOGISTS and a NEURO SURGEON fail me … and send me to a second hospital. I guess they skipped class the day Neurology and MG were discussed in medical school
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