Condition:
- Borderline personality disorder
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- Anxiety
- Eczema
- Asthma
Challenges:
- Fear of falling out of bed
- Poor coordination and fine-motor skills
Functional benefits:
- Wider bed frame
- Hi-lo function
Description of case:
31-year-old Angie has a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, dyslexia, and dyspraxia. She also suffers from severe anxiety, eczema and asthma. Angie has poor co-ordination and fine-motor skills which impacts on many daily physical tasks, including mobility and transfers. Angie’s weight of approximately 31 stone also contributes to these physical challenges.
Angie experiences frequent nightmares which has led to a significant fear of falling out of bed. Angie has established that these occur when she is sleeping in a standard height bed and has therefore placed a mattress to sleep on the floor which reduced these nightmares and associated anxiety of bed falls.
Main issues:
Although sleeping on a mattress reduced Angie’s anxiety about falling out of bed, it created other challenges. Angie struggled to transfer on and off the mattress, relying on support of the window sill and radiator which places her at risk of falls when trying to stand. Due to the nature of the task and Angie’s weight, it is not safe or feasible for her support worker to assist with this transfer. Due to the risk and difficulty, Angie limits the amount of bed transfers she performs and this has led to urinary incontinence at night.
Intervention:
Angie required a bed that accommodated her weight and provided additional space for turning. With a mattress platform of just 71 mm, the ultra-low height of the FloorBed 1 Plus was similar to that of the mattress on the floor, however the height-adjustable function (maximum height of 640 mm) allows the bed to be raised to an appropriate height.
In addition, the bed width of 1050 mm, provided Angie with additional space when lying and turning on the bed. The combination of the ultra-low height, extra width and additional weight capacity of 35 stone, contributed greatly to reducing Angie’s anxieties and increasing her levels of independence.
Outcomes:
Angie was able to raise the bed to an appropriate height, sit on the edge and then lower the bed to the floor. Angie was then able to slide her legs into bed. Once in the bed, Angie reported feeling safe and secure and was able to raise the bed to enable her to carry out safe and independent transfers, facilitating quick access to the toilet at night.
