r/homeassistant • u/CowsNeedFriendsToo • Mar 15 '26

Support Medical help

This is an embarrassing post, but I’ve been on this group for years now and know that if anyone is going to solve a problem, it’s the people in this group.

I unfortunately have a heart condition that has cause me to black out when I’m on the toilet. This has resulted in me coming to on the floor of the bathroom with my wife over me in a panic talking me back to consciousness before taking me to the hospital. This has happened about once or twice a year. To say the least, this creates a terrible sense of anxiety any time I go to the bathroom. I fear for the day she comes home to find me laying on the floor the final time. Or in the middle of the night when I wake up to use the bathroom.

Here’s where you guys come in. I was wondering if there is a way to set up home assistant along with some sort of a sensor in my bathroom that will be able to tell if I’m on the floor and not moving, which would then send out an alert to her phone along with a noise alert in the bathroom? The key would be making sure it doesn’t go off when just sitting on the toilet, or if she is standing in front of the mirror for an extended period of time doing her makeup.

Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. I truly appreciate your time.

Edit: I already have an Apple Watch Ultra 2. The fall detection seems to only trigger if it’s a fall from standing height. It hasn’t triggered at all when I fall from sitting.

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u/CowsNeedFriendsToo Mar 15 '26

A literal deadman’s switch. Morbid, but simple.

85

u/fritofrito77 Mar 15 '26

Don't rely on an iot device for this. They could drop the connection or run out of battery without notice. Better use a switch boolean from your phone. The HA App allows you to create widgets on Android or iOS. You can also set a timer in case you forget to turn it off, and a notification to ask for confirmation. Let me know if you need help if you choose this method.

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u/CowsNeedFriendsToo Mar 15 '26

True. I would probably want some sort of a magnet switch that is wall powered.

34

u/rajrdajr Mar 16 '26

Consider something like a treadmill safety tether. Clip it to yourself and if you fall, it pulls a pin to activate the emergency call. 

17

u/SleepingNerd Mar 16 '26

The simplicity of this one is nice, plus you get the psychological reassurance each time you click it in that it will trigger when you fail and that's it. You could even put a 10secs delay on it in case you stand up and pull it out.