Favorite Helps

[Heiferly]

Now that I've been approved for a Medicaid Home Health waiver, my case manager said there is a budget for things like walkers, grabbers, home modifications (like widening doorways if you use a wheelchair) and asked me to keep an eye out for ways that my life could be made safer/easier in my home.

I'm wondering what types of things others have found most helpful or have tried and found to be duds. Right now I am getting a shower chair. I am also trying to get a rollator walker. I have some problems with getting dizzy/near-syncope when I bend over and then stand back up again, but I'm not sure a grabber is really going to be functional for me. Does anyone else use one? Do you keep it just in one place in your house? Do you end up having to walk all over the place to go get it before you have to get something off the floor, and isn't that inconvenient? Or do you keep the grabber with you wherever you go, and isn't that inconvenient? I guess I just can't see it being very practical for me in a 3000+ square foot house, unless I somehow had a separate one in each of the rooms I use most often.

I guess I should say that the problem in general I'm trying to solve is anything that will reduce situations that prompts syncope, or will provide opportunities for me to catch myself prior to completely going out and get seated (which is my hope with the rollator--having a seat right along with me as I go). My triggers for syncope are all the usual POTSy suspects.

[EarthMother]

Congratulations on the Medicaid home health waiver. I hope this opens up some new possibilities for you.

After being home bound for the better part of a year and a half, I decided to rent my first wheelchair this week to see what possibilities a chair could do for me. In my mind I said to myself "I'm just going to use this for when I want to try and get out of the house. And I'll NEVER use it in the house. Because I don't want to "loose" my ability to walk."

Silly me. I can walk up and down the stairs in my house and from room to room without too much difficulty. But I have to squat down on the floor every few steps to rest. I'm great at deep knee bends! Then yesterday morning, I wanted to clean some counters in my kitchen, and I simply didn't have the stamina to stand up and do it. But I so wanted them cleaned. So I said --- forget it! (ok, I used profanity but it wasn't outloud) get the wheelchair out of the car. One of my kids fetched the chair for me and I could do SO MUCH around the kitchen I was amazed. It was SO EASY to get from the counter, to the table, to the fridge, to the sink. Something I just couldn't do at all without the chair.

With the POTS, I sit cross legged in the chair, or with my knees up against my chest -- which seems to help with compression and doesn't cause any pooling in my legs. Then I can use my arms to wheel the chair anywhere I wanted in the room. It felt wonderful not to have to ask everyone to get me things from across the room.

My house isn't designed for a chair (there is a step up and down to almost every room on the first floor. But even having the wheelchair in the kitchen that one day was worth it for me.

I still have the "idea" in my head that I am primarily going to only use the chair for going out, and I have been keeping it in the trunk of the car. But who knows, I'll just have to see how things progress and what makes my life easier ... for now.

Good luck finding things that help you live an easier life.

[ajw4790]

Hi,

I will think more about it later, but wanted to add that you can get a basket/bag with pockets for the walker to put the reacher/grabber into.

I know others like shower chairs etc.

I will think about it....

[carinara]

My favorite helper is my office chair with rolls on. I use it almost all the time when iam at home. With this chair i can get almost all the houshold chores done like, cooking, hoovering, hanging the washing up and taking it down, cleaning the kitchen, sink, bathroom, toilett and so on. As long as i sit and take my time, it seems i can function.

I find it very good that i can change the height of the chair with one hand grib, because for some chores lts much better do sit higher and for other ones its more convinient to sit lower.

Before i started to use this chair i couldnt do half the things i can now.

At first i thought, that i should use the chair only every once in a while so i dont get used to it toooo much! But going to work and having to walk around sometimes in order to get my work done ( iam a secretary) + walking from the car to my office and back. I feel that i am on my feet enough, Why make it harder at home if i have a solution that makes me feel much better? At work i dont have the opportunatey to roll around with my office chair and almost every time i have to get up for a few minutes i feel the symptoms hidding me. So at home, i do my best to prepare things in order fo me to feel better and a simple office chair has brought me so much relief. I can sit so low on it, that it is no problem to use my legs to push myself through the house. Thank god i have tiles in almost every room. But its not really a problem on carpets either. I once rented a wheelchair. But i found it too heavy and too wide. I didnt fit through the doors as easily as i do now with this slim office chair. And everytime i use it, its also a little training for my legs.

All the best

carinara

[Heiferly]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. It really helps to hear from other people's experiences. Feel free to add if you think of anything else. :-)

[smiles]

I have an electric w/c and love it. I have succumb to using a potty chair in my bedroom as needed. It really does help me. I also use a rolling walker with seat and basket. I keep a bag always hanging on my w/c too.

[flop]

Grab rails in the shower are a big help.