How often do you fall over?

[GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat]

I fall over quite a lot and wondering how common this is? When I say a lot, it's certainly enough that people comment in it. Maybe 2/3 times a year. I'm 40. Usually graze my knee and hands, occasionally sprain an ankle or hurt my wrist. Nothing awful but I'm pretty heavy so it hurts and I often need a minute to catch my breath before I get up.

I am the same age as you. A few slips in the past 10 years (worn out shoes/wearing socks on a hard floor/ice) but no trips enough to hit the deck; I always manage to catch it.

I used to fall, or at least stumble, quite often because I would roll my ankles. The trouble was that once the tendons were stretched, the likelihood of rolling my ankles was ever-increasing.

I ended up getting custom-made orthotics for my shoes. For a while, I only wore boots, to help while my ankles got stronger. Now I mostly wear trainers. I no longer stumble or fall on uneven ground.

God all the time - every couple of months, probably? And a near miss probably every week or two?

I don’t even drink, I’m just really bloody clumsy. In my defence though, I have an autistic DS and a permanently underfoot small dog, and am hard of hearing which does impact my balance a bit!

On my iPhone I noticed that there is something in the health section where it will check your balance when you're walking. I haven't tried it yet but if you have an iPhone, it might be worth looking at?

@LetitiaLeghorn

My cousin does this a lot. She is average weight. She has awful balance and now can't even shower anymore because she can't stay upright if she closes her eyes. She had private health care and they ran the full gamut of all sorts of tests, full body scan, spinal tap everything. They were convinced she had MS. But no, she's really healthy and has absolutely nothing wrong. They've put it down to anxiety.

Don't want to worry you but I had exactly these symptoms. Had to lean against side of shower cubicle when showering or I would fall over when I closed my eyes. I also had terrible nausea though. Turned out to be a benign brain tumour, cerebellar haemangioblastoma to be exact. It was at the base of the brain close to the brain stem and was affecting my balance centres. Needed an urgent operation as, though it wasn't cancerous, it was close to impinging on my brain stem which would have stopped my breathing or my heart without warning!

Has your cousin had an MRI brain scan? If she has they would have spotted it very easily so no need to worry, but worth checking they have done this.

So awkward seeing the GP right anything now about anything non urgent. Just ring up and say 'frequent falls' and hope they will see you. Also nhs page on frequent falls

In answer to you question I had one a few weeks ago in the middle of town on the road -was fine and found it bizarrely funny and sprang back up ( I was flat out) and the reason was that it had twisted my ankle a few month prior and it's weak. That is the first time I fell as an adult.

Mum who is in mid 60s has 4 falls over a few weeks abs is very worrying. Have an eye test too. Good luck