FALLING

Big Frank toppled recently. He woke early in the morning and went to take a leak. The next thing he remembers is he is on the floor. This is the first time in his life that he fainted and he is lucky that his injuries were minor: some scrapes and a soar neck. However, the task now is to discover what took him down and he is on that like stink on a monkey and will see his doc tomorrow for his opinion as well, of course.

Today's posting is to inform the rest of you just how prevalent and dangerous such falls are in the U.S. According to the CDC: "in 2014, 28.7% of older adults reported falling at least once in the preceding 12 months, resulting in an estimated 29.0 million falls. Of those who fell, 37.5% reported at least one fall that required medical treatment or restricted their activity for at least 1 day, resulting in an estimated 7.0 million fall injuries." Furthermore: "Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among adults aged ≥65 years (older adults). During 2014, approximately 27,000 older adults died because of falls; 2.8 million were treated in emergency departments for fall-related injuries, and approximately 800,000 of these patients were subsequently hospitalized." In fact "Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among persons aged ≥65 years (older adults)." All of this information and quotes is taken from the CDC.

It turns out that there is a particular kind of fainting that appears to cover Big Frank's fall. It is called micturition (or post-micturition) syncope. This is fainting while urinating or immediately after urinating. It is thought to be due to a severe drop in blood pressure. Micturition syncope is common in older men like Big Frank and usually happens when getting up at night from a deep sleep, which is exactly what happened.