Falling down!Hi everyone I was doing so well. I was walking confidently outside , doing more chores more easily, bursting into tears less, thinking of going to a local exercise class to improve my balance when I managed to have a really heavy fall in my til d kitchen tearing muscles in my bad arm ,hip and leg. I havnt broken anything but took ages to gat back in lounge to get help on my phone. I don’t know how I managed to fall but it was agonising and now I have probably weeks to get back to where I was! It’s just so frustrating. Has anyone else had a fall and not known how it happened? The one thing it has taught me is to take my phone everywhere with me because had I broken something I would have been without help for a couple of hours! Not worth thinking about!!! Hope all of my friends out there are as well as they can be. Regards to you all suzywong
Hi Loraine yes it is rubbish and it knocks the confidence I have been trying so hard to build up! I won’t let it get to me too much but thanks for the kind words.
I will try that thanks x
Oh I’m so sorry to here about your fall, that must hurt a lot, so glad you haven’t broken anything though. That must have been quite scary for you and will shake your confidence for a time but don’t let it knock it out of you altogether 
This can happen to the best of us:
I get knocked, but I get up again,
You're never gonna keep me down!
It’ll take 6wks before you get over this, but you will get over it and move onwards
A tiled kitchen floor, you could have slip on a drop of water or a tiny oil spatter and you wouldn’t have noticed because the evidence could been either wiped away in the fall or absorbed into your clothing where you landed.
Thanks for your kind words.I’ll keep on but at a slower pace.you just have to accept these knockbacks but as you say it could have been much worse so onwards and upwards love and many thanks sue x
Hi Suzy, sorry to hear that you have had a fall. A fall definitely knocks your confidence.
I had a fall in our kitchen a while back whilst emptying the dishwasher and I have no idea how it happened. One minute I was standing with some plates in my hand, the next I was on the floor surrounded by broken plates. Luckily the only thing damaged was my pride.
I now wear a Lifeline Alarm pendant when I’m home alone especially for such occasions and I wouldn’t be without it.
I’m sure you will soon be fighting fit and back on your feet.
Wishing you well and stay safe.
Regards Sue
Alarm pendant when I’m home alone
especially for such occasions and wouldn’t be without it.
Hi Suzywong, that is a very good plan to keep your phone with you. I live alone and my phone is always very close by at all times.
That is also a good plan. My phone has an ICE (In Case of Emergency) button on it. A long press on the button will send an alert to up to 3 people.
Hi Suzy. I had a fall six weeks ago. Nothing broken but damaged the ligaments in my foot. It has been six weeks now but I am able now to walk again with my rollator. Good luck and keep on fighting. Love Lilian xx
@Suzywong sorry to hear you’ve had such a bad fall. It’ll take time ti heal but you’ll get stronger each day. I had a fall a couple months back after many months. It does knock your confidence but I’ve tried not to let it stop me. Thankfully i was only bruised. I do always have my phone with me though just in case. Hope you heal quickly xx
Sorry to hear that you had a fall and it sounds a painful one too. Hot and cold is supposed to help, arnica too.
I’m going to suggest a different response though. Celebrate the fact that you’re mobility is increasing (notwithstanding the need to recover from this fall) and that that is a sign that things are generally moving in a positive direction. 
So if you can, rather than it knocking your confidence say to yourself “as i get more adventurous because I’m getting more able I might have the old fall but that’s all part of the recovery journey”. (If you think it useful there are fall classes offered in some health authorities to teach you how to fall without hurting yourself and how to get back up afterwards- possibly a bit " shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted " this time but useful for the future perhaps?
Dear Susan jane thanks for your concern. Think I’ll look into one of those alarms love sue
Hi Simon yes that is a good way to look at it . I will deffo look into those classes. They sound amazing. It’s good to hear that others have mysteriously fallen. Makes me feel it’s part of the whole journey though I hope it doesn’t happen again x
Thanks Mrs 5k. I’m pleased to hear you have recovered from your fall . Just goes to show that thee wobbles I feel sometimes are real and not a part of my imagination. Love sue x
Thanks Lilian pleased to hear you are on the mend zxx
I am so sorry you fell and were hurt physically and mentally. I’m not sure which is worse, but I think it is the second. I fell just about the time I was able to walk a mile per day by myself with the rollator. It hurt physically and took therapy for the arm and shoulder to be able to use it again at all. The hip hurt but didn’t need therapy. The mental part still hangs on and I don’t walk alone much and never in unfamiliar places or through my yard. Of course, I mean to keep my phone with me at all times, but every time I have fallen (quite a bit) the phone has been nowhere near me. I even have a couple phone sized, cross-body soft purses to keep it in, but I just forget. I have very slowly started to get a bit more bold since that fall, and have fallen since but not been hurt. I do know how I fall each time. Mostly it is because I lean to the left (affected side) but don’t realize I am not standing vertically. That’s why a walker, or sometimes my cane, are necessary, but I rarely use them in the house.
I hit enter before I finished…I hope you will be braver than me by not letting a fall scare you too much, but remembering the pain will definitely make one a bit more cautious. I hope your physical pain goes away very quickly. I am certain you already know the drill for strengthening. Best wishes.
Hi Deann thanks for sending me your best wishes. I think the bruises are starting to come out now. My lower back is the most painful and my bad right arm which has always been rough since my stroke. Yesterday I walked more slowly around the place and made my turning wx care. I think as Simon said to me I’ve gotten used to doing things better and faster as I’ve felt better and that’s probably where I made my mistake. When I do feel well enough to go out I’ll go back to using my rollator for a while till I feel confident enough to try it alone again or go wx a friend so I have an arm to hold. Will keep up all my balance exercises till then. As an always it’s one step forward 3 back for a while. Hey ho at least I’m still alive and I’ve got 2 beautiful grandchildren to motivate me. Take care love sue x
I read some stuff that says the brain has a mechanism for dealing with trauma that makes us more anxious and cautious and leads us to imagine fearful scenario and that it’s all part of the protection mechanisms that lead to avoiding the scenario that caused the initial trauma. It’s possibly more commonly labelled PTSD these days
Unfortunately in the context of stroke recovery the need to be pushing boundaries and therefore exposing yourself to risk is a contra mechanism
I could also speculate that this same mechanism is the basis of Tversky and Kahneman’s Prospect Theory that explains marketplace reactions to risk and individual’s risk aversion - that’s quite a way off the mainstream stroke warriors interests but probably informative for those of us who are interested 
Hi Simon that’s so interesting . Thanks for sharing. I’ll look more closely into it. Love sue x