Clumsy or Something More Serious?

Slow down and wear more appropriate shoes for the surfaces you are traveling on. Everything you described had a reason for happening that had nothing to do with your brain.

I move too fast and sometimes don't have the right shoes on. I fall a lot. I have things wrong with my mind but they aren't causing my falling. :)

I just want to add after reading the other answers that nothing you listed indicates a neuro disorder not even the steps. When I put laminate in my house I think it was three weeks before we all grew bored of sliding down the hallway in our socks! It is a slick surface.

Several years ago I fell off a ladder and tore my ACL except I didn't know I did because it didn't really hurt. What gave it away was every time I was hauling landscape bricks around back I would get to a point where I turned and just fall over on my left side. Nothing on the surface, not any larger a load than I usually take, just would fall down like one of those string toys. That is an example of when something is wrong. It would be something that should not have made you fall. Everything you listed would make anyone fall, you are fine!

First off, I'd stop wearing flip flops.
They are the worst thing you can wear.
Get some sneakers.
Slipping on stairs and bruising/breaking your tail bone is more common than you think - especially when people wear socks when going down stairs.
Get some stair treads that will help with better traction.
Everyone slips on ice.
Over use of your iphone - what do you mean by that?
Are you using it while walking around?
(I've got to ask - people do this and end up walking into all sorts of trouble.)
Only use it while you are not on the move.
Have your vision issues checked out - it can affect your balance - and our eye sight changes as we age.
Also have your ears checked - an undetected middle ear infection can affect your balance.

It could be the way you are walking and your choice of footwear.You have to walk totally different when wearing flip flops versus a pair of sneakers. If you wear flip flops a lot you could be walking like that in sneakers too. My son was always missing things when he walked, falling, tripping. He now wears glasses and has since he was 6. We thought he was just a little clumsy. Turned out his eye sight wasn't quite right.
See what the doctor says and go from there.

You have a valid reason for each of these. Ms is more unexplainable situations. Go through with the testing, but it doesn't sound like it's you - carpet the stairs, stop wearing flip flops, learn to walk on ice by shifting your balance.

You could mention your falls to your doctor, but honestly, who doesn't slip on black ice or trip on uneven sidewalks. If it were me I would probably think I just wan't paying attention. My first though was you should make a conscious effort to look before you step. And stair, well, stairs scare me. I've twisted both my ankles on stairs many times, so I always hold the rail and take my time. I just really don't take chances on stairs.

"I've also had some vison issues that I've attributed to overuse of my iphone."

I'm not really sure what you mean by this. Is there a theory that iPhones can cause vision problems? I've heard some people say that cell phones cause brain cancer, but I though that theory was debunked.

If you've has vision problems, definitely get you eyes checked.

Talk to your doctor about your fears. Maybe you have more examples that can better illustrate your fears. But just from what you've said here, I would try to go a little slower, may e try to focus more on where your feet are, even if it means less conversation (which would be hard for me).

I would exclude slipping on black ice in my list of "examples" when you are making a list of your falls. And quite probably the more recent uneven sidewalk. I've bumped into a couple of those things before, and been very lucky to have managed to regain my balance before doing what you did. On each of those occasions, I'd say that had I been carrying something, or in the wrong footwear, I'd have ended up on the ground, not just doing the cartoon arm pinwheels...

So.. that mostly leaves your stairs. Perhaps you should check them out more closely. It might be that there isn't just a slick spot (or several?) but perhaps even a slightly sagged or slanted step... My husband's aunt has a split level home. For years, every time we'd visit, I was careful on the steps. But several times, I slipped (but managed to catch myself). Once, I didn't... and slid down on my rear. Fortunately, I didn't damage anything but my pride (and no one else saw it). Since then, they tore them out, and had new ones installed (hard wood, instead of carpet covered), and I noticed that they even FEEL more secure when using them.

So... the most common factor sounds like your stairs, so I'd take a look at them and make sure that each riser is level (in both/all directions--they could be slanted towards the front of the step, or the left/right, or even slightly twisted).

I hope everything comes back clean/clear on the tests you are having done.

I can't say for sure of course but my friend's mom has been prone to falling for years before she got to an age you would attribute it to aging... And it's just bad luck or something. No deeper problem at all or it would have surfaced by now. My dad always attributes his good balance to big feet for his size. Maybe yours are a bit small?... I wouldn't worry yet. Sounds like legit reasons for falling vs totally uncalled for. And sorry that lady laughed. Somehow adults falling just makes some of us laugh uncontrollably. We know it's not really funny. :). Good you're being checked but don't worry if you can help it.

I have a daughter (25) that is doing the same things. We didnt think much of it until her foot started twitching, then spasm. she had an MRI and a spot on her brain showed up. It is under investigation but it could me MS, a tumor, or a cyst. The episodes are seizures. We took the off balance and clumsiness way to lightly. She was also exhausted all the time. She still is and getting worse but we have to wait until june for another MRI to see how the brain scan has changed. I would not take this laying down. I would fight for results. I wish we would have a long time ago.

You could be dragging your feet and not know it. When I was in high school, a woman that volunteered was told by a doctor that she did not walk right. She was always tripping. She went to physical therapy and had some help making sure she was walking properly.

I would pursue testing for various things, falling that often is likely a sign of something wrong. I had a failed back surgery 15 years ago and within a year developed spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease and started having issues walking due to pain in my feet and legs. 3 years later sciatic nerve problems and numbness. Going down steps, my knees just buckled and sometimes I could walk along and same thing and because I wasn't picking up my foot properly, I tripped easily. Went through tons of therapies, years of many specialists trying to get help, who all told me surgery would make me worse instead of better.

Another friend had similar issues when diagnosed with MS

A nurse friend started having clumsy episodes several years ago, falling, dropping things and after months of testing, found that she has ALS. Still alive after 7 years, due to taking scientifically, clinically researched nutrition, based on cellular biology and epigenetics.
Same type of nutrition solved my issues and I got off years of disability, now I walk fine and take no meds as well as my friend with MS.

Neurological tests should include MRI, EMG of your legs, especially if you are having any numbness or tingling. Scar tissue can develop in your back with injuries which cause compression on the nerves. This can be slowly causing you problems without having pain, but will weaken your muscles and nerves. Herniated discs is often where it starts.

Oh, Mom of 1, I'm so sorry this is happening to you! It hurts just to read about!

I cracked my tailbone, years ago, doing a sudden dramatic move on our stairs. Later, but still years ago, I lost my balance on the same stairs and ended up with a wonderfully broken ankle that had to be put back together surgically.

I've tripped on the sidewalk, too, although I place that in a bit of a different category. None of us really expects a little step in a sidewalk, even when our brains are aware that it's there.

And black ice is just sneaky and nasty and hates everybody.

What I did, besides recuperate, was to change what was on my feet. I had been wearing rope sandals in one case, and smooth-bottomed slippers in the other. Flip-flops are also in the smooth-soled shoe category. I was actually reluctant to switch to other footwear, though, out of pride - imagining that only OLD people do about such things. 'Tisn't so, I can assure you!

Certainly, talk to your doctor(s) about it. That's the easiest way to get your fears relieved - or yourself checked out. Ask about the telephone matter, too. Say you're feeling like the World's Worst Klutz and you'd like to abandon the title to someone else.

If the lady for whom you performed is a neighbor, introduce yourself as the "hapless acrobat." She probably wasn't intending to be mean (I hope; if it had been me I would have gotten up and taken a bow), and if you can make a friendship - or at least an acquaintance - out of this, it will have been good for something.

I think you're leaping to worst-case assumptions when the simplest answers are the ones to start with in most cases. Hold off on that CT and MRI worry until you talk to a doctor, but also do some real thinking about your choices for your home and your wardrobe.

You've known since last Thanksgiving that your stairs are a problem but you hadn't carpeted them, or put down stick-on textured treads (available at any Home Depot type of store)? And you fell on them again? It's long past time to do something to the stair surface to make it safe -- if not for you, for the rest of your family. Get those stairs fixed, first and foremost, today, and train your whole family to use the banister or rail every single time they're on the stairs. (I'm glad you were using it when you fell this second time; it probably prevented worse injury!)

I'm glad you're getting a neuro appointment; do absolutely ask about the falls; but first: Can you remember what you had on your feet other times?. I assume you were wearing some kind of enclosed, winter shoe on the black ice -- and anyone can fall in those conditions so as another person posted earlier, I'd take that one out of the list of falls you're worried about -- but can you recall what shoes you were wearing the other times? If you tend to favor any of the following, all are shoes that can trip you up: Flip-flops, Crocs, sandals of almost any kind (the flat sole can catch easily on things in front of you), "slides" that have a covered toe but no covering for the heel, etc. The issue may be your shoes and the way you have to walk in them to hold them on your foot -- you may not even realize that you are walking in an awkward way that is compensating for the fact you have to hold the shoe on your foot by the way you use your toes and foot muscles. Try to sit down and think hard about what you were wearing those times, and what you generally prefer in footwear and whether that is part of the issue. Even if you were wearing sneakers, do they fit well or do they possibly have one of those huge, wide rubbery soles that sticks out beyond the sides of the shoe? I find that those can drag and catch on concrete and some floorings as well.

As for the vision issues -- Please get to an optometrist ASAP. If smartphones were hurting people's vision we'd be seeing news stories about it everywhere by now. There can be many reasons for vision issues but a neurologist or general practice doctor is not the place to ask; get to an optometrist for a full check-up. Do you get regular vision check-ups? Many adults don't, and they should, to track their vision changes as they get older -- the optometrist needs a baseline of your vision so he or she can detect changes the next time. Vision change may just be a function of getting older -- and even if you're in your 20s or 30s your vision can change due to age. Most insurance considers an optometrist a primary care doctor, too, so it should be easy to see one.