For once, I discovered an interesting article in the ghastly New York Times — motto: “Other Than That, The Story Was Quite True” — because it has nothing to do with politics, for once:
Public health experts have warned of the perils of falls for older people for decades. In 2023, the most recent year of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 41,000 Americans over 65 died from falls, an opinion article in JAMA Health Forum pointed out last month.
More startling than that figure, though, was another statistic: Fall-related mortality among older adults has been climbing sharply.
I don’t know quite when I started to lose my balance. I think it was in my early sixties, when for no reason at all, I would stagger a bit when turning a corner (walking, not driving, of course). I wouldn’t fall over, but it nevertheless alarmed me.
And when getting dressed, specifically putting on pants or briefs, I suddenly found myself unable to balance on one leg without toppling over; which means that now I pretty much have to either brace myself against a wall with one hand, or else make sure that if I do fall over, there’s a bed close at hand to catch me. It’s irritating.
Going down stairs has a similar effect. Where once I could bound down a staircase with no effort at all, I find myself having to grip the banister like my life depends on it, which it does, now.
Of course, I’m very familiar with the fact that we Olde Pharttes tend to have brittle bones, hence the distressing number of said group suffering things like broken hips, skulls or limbs after toppling over. (see: novelist Jilly Cooper, dead following fall)
The famous expression “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” is not so funny anymore.
The NYT article suggests this:
The author, Dr. Thomas Farley, an epidemiologist, reported that death rates from fall injuries among Americans over 65 had more than tripled over the past 30 years. Among those over 85, the cohort at highest risk, death rates from falls jumped to 339 per 100,000 in 2023, from 92 per 100,000 in 1990.
The culprit, in his view, is Americans’ reliance on prescription drugs.
“Older adults are heavily medicated, increasingly so, and with drugs that are inappropriate for older people,” Dr. Farley said in an interview. “This didn’t occur in Japan or in Europe.”
Some other guy opines:
The difference, he believes, is Americans’ increasing use of medications — like benzodiazepines, opioids, antidepressants and gabapentin — that act on the central nervous system.
“The drugs that increase falls’ mortality are those that make you drowsy or dizzy,” he said.
Problematic drugs are numerous enough to have acquired an acronym: FRIDs, or “fall risk increasing drugs,” a category that also includes various cardiac medications and early antihistamines like Benadryl.
Which might be plausible, except that in my case it’s not a reason because I don’t take any of the above drugs, or even drugs that are similar.
Of course, we all know that some meds like Benadryl can cause dizziness — FFS, it says so right on the pack — which is why if I do ever take one of those, I take it right before going to bed.
No, I have no idea why I’m suddenly so tottery on my feet, when in the past I always had excellent balance.
It’s also a well-known fact that Olde Pharttes are more likely to experience vertigo when faced with extreme heights or drops. Just a photo of some idiot hanging from a sheer cliff face by only their fingertips will actually cause my stomach to heave; I have no idea how I’d feel if facing a sheer drop in person, but I’m perfectly prepared to believe stories about elderly people inexplicably toppling over a cliff as through drawn to it.
I’ve said it before and I repeat it now: this getting old business is not for the young.
