Tag: Seniors and Health Issues

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month and it can be a surprise to many people to realize that plenty of older adults deal with dyslexia. This is a condition that makes reading and some other activities a lot more difficult and in some cases impossible. So, what can you do to help your aging family member live her best life even with dyslexia? Here are a few tips and how companion care at home can help.

Understand How Dyslexia Affects Her Daily Life

Dyslexia is something that has impacted your senior’s entire life, even if she was only recently diagnosed. She may have difficulty reading, memorizing, and even managing time. Dyslexia can also contribute to mental health problems, like depression or your senior being too hard on herself all the time. It’s important to understand as much as you can how dyslexia impacts your senior so that you can put solutions in place that truly work well for her.

Break Down Tasks as Much as Possible

If your elderly family member is trying to do too much on her own, she can easily get overwhelmed. That’s especially true if dyslexia affects her ability to manage her time and interpret written instructions and information. Helping her to break down what she needs to know can reduce a lot of frustration for her.

Use Pictures or Icons Around the House

Instead of using written signs or labels, change things up and reduce the chance of frustration and misinterpretation for your elderly family member by using icons or pictures. This makes labeling containers, shelves, and anything else much more helpful for her. She won’t have to struggle nearly as much to find what she needs.

Record Audio or Video Reminders

When you need to leave reminders for your senior or communicate important information with her for later, consider recording it. Leaving her a video or audio message can ensure that she gets the information you’re trying to communicate to her without frustrating her. It’s also something that she can replay as often as she needs to.

Make Life Less Stressful in General

Life with dyslexia is already stressful enough. The more that you can do to reduce your elderly family member’s stress levels in general, the easier life is going to be for her. One way to do this is to bring in companion care at home to help with anything that is becoming a challenge for her. They’re able to tackle tasks like light housekeeping and meal preparation that might be getting more complicated for your senior.

Bring in Companion Care at Home

Something else to consider is companionship for your elderly family member. If dyslexia is complicating her life in a big way, she may find that she is more withdrawn than usual and that can lead to loneliness and isolation. Companion care at home can offer someone who is there to offer friendship, conversation, and a low-stress encounter.

Dyslexia can make everything feel more complicated for your elderly family member, but that doesn’t mean she can’t experience solutions that help her to love her life.

If you or an aging loved one is considering companion care at home in Brooklyn Park, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

All it takes is one wrong step and the next thing that happens is an ankle bends or twists the wrong way. If you have an elderly parent that you’re providing care for and she recently sprained or strained her ankle, here are some ways to help her recover at home.

Once you are sure it’s only a slight sprain or strain, you’ll want to enlist as much help for your parent as you can while she recovers. It may only be a few days but recovery time could last longer. This is a great time to do some research into getting some companion care at home for your parent. Companion care at home is hiring a professional who is trained in helping your parent with her needs from rewrapping her ankle to doing chores around the home that your parent should take a break from. You can hire someone to provide companion care at home for whatever period you’d like.

Here are the best ways to take care of that injured ankle. For ease in remembering the four courses of action, think of

RICE – Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

  • Rest. For some people who like to go, go, go, this can be the hardest task – the task of doing nothing. Finding your parent a good place to rest, surrounded by activities he enjoys will be the easiest way to help her stay motivated to stay off her ankle. She doesn’t need to stay in bed, but a good chair or couch, with either her favorite book or even the remote within reach, will encourage her to stay put.
  • Ice. To reduce swelling, apply ice packs throughout the day. This can be a great task that your companion care at home provider or another family member can do. The hope is that your parent doesn’t have to get up to get her own ice packs refreshed, eliminating her from succeeding at the first course of action, Rest.
  • Compression. Compressing the ankle with an ACE bandage or compression socks can also help reduce swelling and pain. Make sure the wrap is tight enough to compress but isn’t cutting off any circulation.
  • Elevation. When creating the location or locations that your parent will rest during the next few days as the ankle heels, make sure the area is set up so her ankle can be elevated as it heals. It’s important that it’s elevated as high as possible while still being comfortable. If it can be level with the hip, that is best. A long couch makes a great place to keep the leg elevated or even a comfortable ottoman that is level with the chair. Even better is one of those reclining chairs where the feet can be slightly higher than the hips.

Remember as your parent recovers to avoid any activities that will increase swelling such as hot showers or heat compresses. Follow the RICE plan and your parent’s ankle should feel better shortly. If it doesn’t, take a trip to the doctor to see if any more treatments need to take place.

Source
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sprained-ankle/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353231

If you or an aging loved one is considering companion care at home in Maple Grove, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Around 93 million adults in the U.S. have a higher risk for eye diseases like cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and macular degeneration. Of those people with a higher risk, only half regularly go for eye exams.

Your dad has macular degeneration. Caught early, many of these conditions can be treated to prevent vision loss. Macular degeneration’s vision loss takes years, but if caught early, there are nutritional supplements that can keep it from reaching the late stage of the disease. The recommended supplements contain:

  • Beta-carotene
  • Copper
  • Lutein
  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin E
  • Zeaxanthin
  • Zinc

As you age, your body changes, and with macular degeneration, the aging process damages the portion of the retina known as the macula by causing it to become thinner. The macula controls sharp details of the central vision. As the condition worsens, the central vision fades away, making it impossible to drive a car and see objects or people in front of you.

Your dad failed to see his eye doctor, and he has macular degeneration. Because it wasn’t caught early, your dad never took the supplements that can keep it from becoming late AMD. His vision is deteriorating, and that’s impacting his ability to care for himself.

This is one reason to sit down as a family and discuss personal care at home. Talk to your family about the benefits of having caregivers and what they can do to help your dad.

Help With Brushing and Flossing

Your dad can’t see well enough to effectively brush and floss his teeth. Because he can’t see his teeth as he flosses, he needs help. Caregivers can help him brush and floss his teeth after each meal.

Assistance While Showering

Your dad needs someone to help him as he gets in and out of the shower. He has to have someone set the water control to get the temperature of the water correct. He also needs help reading the labels on bottles to ensure he has the right item. Personal care at home can help him with that.

After his shower, his caregiver can also help him with his skin lotion, shave his face, and hand him eye drops if he needs them. If he needs someone to find specific items of clothing, his personal care attendant can help with that, too.

Book Home Care Services for Your Dad’s Personal Care Needs

August is National Eye Exam Month. Take time to book your dad’s eye exam if he doesn’t currently have one. He has macular degeneration, so don’t let him miss appointments anymore. You also want to arrange the personal care at home services he needs as his eyesight diminishes.

Hire personal care at home aides to help him shave, get showered, and put on appropriate clothing. Call a personal care specialist to learn more.

Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/resources/features/keep-eye-on-vision-health.html

 

If you or an aging loved one is considering personal care at home in Coon Rapids, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Strokes are scary for the person they are inflicting and for the bystanders like you who witness them. It can be hard to understand how to care for your senior after they’ve experienced a stroke, and it can be scary to allow them to age in place after such an event occurs. Survivors of a stroke suffer damage to regions of the brain that are responsible for cognitive processes. Strokes produce a variety of problems concerning attention, language, memory, and vision. Nevertheless, cognitive activities may also improve performance by activating neurons. If you think your senior needs more help than you can give after having a stroke, it may be time to consider hiring home care assistance to help them out.

There are some things that a senior may not be comfortable asking their adult child to do. Home care assistance can help a senior bathe, change, and eat after a stroke; this may not be something your parents wish you to do or witness. It can be more comforting to have home care assistance help them and encourage them to do the following activities.

Try Playing Board Games With Them

Scrabble, chess, and checkers are examples of games that exercise the analytical and visual brain areas. Players are required to evaluate the board and devise ways to outsmart their opponents. The games also need memory to remember how to move game pieces or properly spell words. Moving little game pieces during a game helps to improve fine motor abilities. Card games are further beneficial for memory, strategy, and visual stimulation.

Art Projects or Crafting

Crafting is an additional means of stimulating numerous brain regions. Playing with modeling clay improves fine motor skills and stimulates the visual and problem-solving centers of the brain. Seniors may also choose to explore painting or drawing. Using a pencil to draw shapes on paper improves visual/spatial acuity. Adult coloring has been an on-going trend in recent years. Consequently, coloring books and pages are widely accessible and may be finished using crayons or colored markers. Home care assistance can offer transportation to craft stores or art studios that provide classes for seniors.

After Having a Stroke, Seniors Should Listen to Music

When a person plays a musical instrument, cerebral activity increases. The activity in both hemispheres is extremely pronounced when a musician plays an instrument requiring both hands. Consider playing the elderly individual’s preferred music. Perhaps promote the learning of something as fundamental as the keyboard.

They Can Try Doing Puzzles

Crossword puzzles are a great way to improve memory and other cognitive skills. Sudoku is another form of puzzle that stimulates memory and strategy. It demands completing each grid’s squares with the numbers one through nine without repeating any rows. Daily newspapers, the Internet, and published books all have puzzles.

Seniors Should Always Opt for Reading

Reading involves visual stimulation and the ability to remember the pronunciation and meaning of each word. It also promotes brain plasticity, prompting neurons to become more active and establish more communication pathways. This is something that can be budget-friendly and a fun outing for a senior. They can go to their local bookstore or a library to find a book they want to read.

Source
https://www.cdc.gov/stroke/treatments.htm

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care assistance in St. Paul, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

What is an “invisible disease?” If you have no idea, you’re not alone. That’s the goal of International Red Shoe Day. It’s an awareness day designed to educate people about the invisible diseases that often have no noticeable symptoms at first, which makes them easy to overlook.

So, what is an invisible disease? It’s a disease like chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, and Lyme disease that are easily overlooked but can cause severe illness in people. Put on a pair of red shoes on July 25th and better understand these invisible diseases.

Understanding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS for short, is a health condition with no known cause. Symptoms include extreme fatigue that has no known cause and lasts for over six months. A person with CFS may not have the energy to do anything. Insomnia and chronic pain are other symptoms. It makes it impossible to complete routine chores like housework, daily exercise, or engage in social activities.

If your mom has CFS, you’ll find that in-home care services offer a lot of the support she needs. She has someone to do the housework, complete laundry, cook meals, and run errands for her. She’ll have someone available to take her to doctor’s appointments.

Understanding Fibromyalgia

Around four million Americans have fibromyalgia. It’s more common in middle-aged or older adults and affects more women than men. Unexplained pain throughout the body, headaches, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, insomnia, and depression are all signs.

As the pain can make it difficult to function, in-home care is essential. Your mom has someone to help her cook meals, keep the home clean, and move around the home when the pain is extreme.

Understanding Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is caused by the bite of an infected deer tick. You can pick up a tick walking through a field, the woods, or even while gardening in your yard. You may not realize you’ve been bitten, especially if the tick bites a hard-to-reach area like the small of the back or buttocks. If the tick feeds for over 24 hours, Lyme may spread.

If you have Lyme disease, the main symptoms are fever and aches, which are very similar to the flu, so you may not even realize you have something more than the flu. If it goes untreated, it can cause severe joint pain and affect the heart.

Showering after working in a garden or walking in the woods is important. You want to remove the tick before it has a chance to bite. Bug repellant helps keep them away.

Your mom has Lyme disease. Make sure she takes all doses of medications prescribed by her doctor. Medication reminders from an in-home care aide may be necessary to ensure she takes every dose.

In-home care aides provide the help your mom needs to manage her invisible disease. Talk to a home care specialist to learn more about hiring caregivers.

Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/fibromyalgia.htm

 

If you or an aging loved one is considering in-home care in Plymouth, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Does your senior have trouble seeing well? Many seniors start to develop vision issues and there are quite a few eye diseases that your senior may be more susceptible to because of her overall health concerns. Knowing that there are ways that home care assistance can help your elderly family member when she’s dealing with vision problems can help you to rest easier.

Ensuring Your Senior Is Safe

Safety is always important when your senior is involved, and home care providers can be incredibly helpful in terms of safety. If your elderly family member is having trouble seeing properly, caregivers can pay attention to possible safety hazards, like tripping risks, and reduce those potential problems. They can also be alert to other aspects of safety, like making sure that appliances are turned off when not in use.

Reminding Her to Visit Her Eye Doctor

Depending on the vision issues your senior is having, she may have more frequent visits to her eye doctor. Making sure that she’s able to keep those appointments is really important. Caregivers can offer your elderly family member the reminders that she needs, along with help getting to those appointments.

Making Daily Tasks Easier

Daily life is a lot harder for your senior when she has trouble seeing well. Home care assistance can take over some of the tasks that are more challenging for your elderly family member. For the daily tasks that she’s still able to handle on her own, caregivers are there just in case she needs that extra little bit of help. Just a little bit of help can even help your elderly family member to age in place for as long as she wants to do so.

Helping with Vision Aids

Vision aids can be tremendously helpful, but there’s a learning curve in using some of them. Some of the simplest vision aids, like glasses, can be all too easy to misplace, too. Having another pair of eyes and hands right there with her is something that your senior can find to be a huge relief, because not being able to see well is very stressful.

Helping with Transportation

Transportation is another big issue that home care assistance can step up and handle for your senior. Being unable to drive can cause your elderly family member to withdraw a bit and possibly avoid situations and events that she used to love. Knowing that she’s got someone to help her to get safely where she wants to be is a huge help.

Offering Support and Companionship

It can be lonely to have vision issues, too. If your elderly family member has chosen to withdraw a bit, she might not even realize how much she misses talking with other people on a regular basis. Elder care providers can offer her the help and companionship that she might have been missing.

Dealing with vision problems is not always the easiest challenge. When your elderly family member has the help that she needs, however, her daily life can feel a lot more manageable than it was before.

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care assistance in Plymouth, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

World Kidney Day falls on March 10th. How much do you know about kidney health? It’s not something families think about until the doctor mentions a parent has kidney damage or chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here are the facts you need to know and how 24-hour home care can help.

Certain Factors Increase the Risk of Kidney Disease

High blood pressure and diabetes are the leading causes of kidney disease. High blood pressure accounts for around 25% of cases, while diabetes is estimated to cause about 33%. Infections, excessive, long-term use of certain over-the-counter pain relievers, and kidney stones can also damage the kidneys.

There Are Five Stages of CKD

There are five stages of CKD, with stage five known as end-stage renal disease. Healthy kidneys can filter over 90mL of blood each minute. This is known as a glomerular filtration rate (GFR). It’s measured by checking the level of creatinine in the blood.

  • Stage one kidney disease occurs when the GRF is 90 mL.
  • Stage two is down to 60 to 89 mL per minute.
  • Stage three has a GFR level of 30 to 59 mL.
  • Stage four’s GFR is 15 to 29 mL.
  • Stage five is when kidney failure is established, and dialysis may be required. The levels at this point are under 15 mL.

You May Not Notice Any Symptoms

Most people do not notice any symptoms until their kidneys are advanced. Signs include fatigue, lack of appetite, swelling in the ankles, and urine that’s foamy or bloody.

Diet and Medications Are Primary Treatments

Once your mom or dad is diagnosed with CKD, diet and medications are the first treatments. The diet may require your parent to monitor protein and carb intake carefully. Sticking to a low-salt diet is also advised. Fluid intake may need to be moderated in the later stages.

If the damage is severe, dialysis may be needed to help filter the blood. Dialysis treatments can be done at home with proper training. Otherwise, your mom or dad will need someone to drive them to medical offices for these essential treatments.

Depending on the type of dialysis, it can take hours to complete a dialysis session. Hemodialysis done in your parent’s home dialysis is often done three or more times per week and takes up to ten hours to complete. Most people complete the sessions while they sleep. Your parent may need to go in three times a week for up to five hours each time in a center.

The other option is peritoneal dialysis. The blood is cleaned while it’s still in the body. It’s often done at home during everyday activities.

Support a parent after a CKD diagnosis. Arrange to have caregivers available throughout the day and night to help with medication reminders, diet, exercise, and appointment scheduling. Call a specialist in 24-hour home care to learn more.

Sources:

Chronic Kidney Disease

If you or an aging loved one is considering 24-hour home care in Minneapolis, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Does your elderly loved one have a family history of arthritis? If so, they have probably seen at least one family member struggle with this condition. It can be painful for the person who has it. Arthritis can lead to difficulty moving around, completing tasks, and even socializing. If your elderly loved one is trying to prevent arthritis, there are some tips that you should share with them to help.

Weight Management is Crucial

One way that your elderly loved one can lower their risk of arthritis is through weight management. Research shows that when someone is overweight or obese, the extra weight puts strain on the joints and bones. When this becomes a chronic problem, the strain can lead to arthritis.

If your elderly loved one is overweight or obese, you and elder care providers should help them to make a weight management plan. The first step is to find out how much your elderly loved one should weigh. Then, you can assist them in making small goals from there to achieve their goal weight. Even losing 5 pounds to start can make a huge difference on releasing some stress from the joints.

Staying Safe from Injuries

Is your elderly loved one usually active? Maybe they like to walk outdoors. If this is the case, that is great. However, elderly people are much more likely to fall than younger adults. For this reason, you or an elder care provider may want to be with your elderly loved one when they are being quite active such as during their walks or when they are exercising. This way, you can help to lower their risk of falling and getting injured. If your elderly loved one can stay safe from injuries, they can keep their bones and joints stronger. The stronger these are, the less likely they will be to get arthritis.

Limit Repetitive Activities

Research also shows that repetitive activities can lead to arthritis. For example, does your elderly loved one play computer games that involve them having to tap keys over and over again. If this is the case and your elderly loved one plays them often, it could lead to arthritis in their hands. This is not to say that they shouldn’t or can’t play these games at all. However, they should be done in short time frames and not every day.

Conclusion

Is your elderly loved one trying to prevent arthritis? If so, the tips here today can be a great start to help lower their risk of getting arthritis. Keep in mind that with many of these tips, you or elder care providers may need to be around to help your elderly loved one.

Sources
https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/index.htm

If you or an aging loved one is considering elder care in Edina, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Gout is a type of arthritis that occurs more in men than women. It occurs when uric acid crystals build up in and around the joints causing tremendous pain. Typically, the joint in the big toe is the one most affected by a gout flare-up.

When he’s dealing with a flare-up, your dad can’t walk around much. Doing things like carrying the laundry downstairs, taking a walk, or putting on shoes seems impossible. You want to help him avoid these flare-ups. Have you considered looking at his diet?

He Needs to Avoid Foods High in Purine

Uric acid crystals form as your dad’s body breaks down the purine found in foods. If he lowers his intake of these foods, it can help lessen the flare-ups.

  • Fruits – Fruits are essential to the diet, but some are linked to increasing the risk of a gout attack. It’s often the fruits with higher fructose levels, such as apples, grapes, and dates. Cherries have been found to help with gout flare-ups, so it’s often recommended to keep fresh cherries on hand for snacks.
  • Processed Foods – Processed foods that are high in sugar can lead to too much purine. If your dad likes to eat packaged granola bars, cookies, doughnuts, cakes, brownies, high-sugar fruit juices, or breakfast cereals, he needs to stop.
  • Proteins – Your dad should avoid specific proteins that have higher levels of purine. This includes shellfish like mussels and lobster, organ meats like chicken livers, and red meat. Processed meats like bacon, deli meat, ham, and smoked sausages are also good ones to avoid.

In addition to those foods, your dad needs to limit his intake of alcoholic beverages. If he can’t live without a drink sometimes, wine is often a better choice than beer for people with gout.

Ideally, your dad wants a diet that balances his intake of whole grains, fresh vegetables, and lean proteins. If he finds fish doesn’t lead to flare-ups, fish is one of the best options. It can be a trial and error situation as some foods increase flare-ups in some people and not others.

Have Elder Care Helping When Gout Attacks Hit

When gout pain flares up, your dad could use a helping hand with housework and meal preparation. Your dad may not need caregivers every week, but elder care is beneficial when he struggles with mobility due to the pain in his big toes. Call an elder care agency and ask about respite care services.

If you or an aging loved one is considering elder care in Minneapolis, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Obesity is one of the most challenging things a senior can face. Obesity is not only a health problem, but it also makes it very difficult for seniors to do their daily activities. More seniors are becoming obese each year as the result of poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and a sedentary lifestyle. It’s easy to blame seniors when you don’t realize how hard it is for them to lose weight, and being overweight is often hereditary. So if your parent or grandparent struggles with obesity, consider hiring home care assistance services to look after their needs.

Obesity Is a Matter of Concern

Obesity in the elderly has increased at an alarming rate over the past few decades. The rapid rise in the number of obese older people is one of the main reasons for increased medical costs, reduced productivity, and increased healthcare expenses. Obesity can significantly impact the quality of life, and many seniors are at high risk for serious medical complications.

Helping a Senior With Obesity

The first step in addressing obesity in the elderly involves understanding what you can and cannot do to help your loved one. Your doctor will conduct a physical examination to determine the overall health and overall weight of the patient. This exam is usually performed at their office or during a visit to the senior’s home. In addition to the exam, the physician will take measurements of the patient’s height and weight and track their vital signs.

Once the doctor determines obesity is present, the next step is to develop an individualized intervention plan. In developing this plan, you should include the number of calories the patient requires each day, the amount of exercise they engage in, their lifestyle, eating habits, and any medications they are on. These specifics are very important to developing an effective strategy for intervention. You must also keep in mind that the most successful approach to intervention is to be proactive and involve your elderly’s family in the process. Of course, to make sure your senior gets daily assistance in following the program, you may want to hire home care assistance aids to look after your senior.

Support from Home Care Assistance

Set up a meeting between your senior and their home care assistance provider to talk about the plan for tackling their obesity. If possible, you should have the entire family involved in this discussion. You will find that the more participation there is, the more likely the senior will follow through with the support programs provided by home care services.

Conclusion

Obesity in elderly patients can often lead to other serious medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In addition, many elderly patients can no longer perform the basic tasks of life, and their condition is often worsened by not moving around. Because of this, you should consider all of the options available to provide them with the level of care and attention they need.

Want to learn more about home care assistance services? Call us today and get started!

Sources:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obesity/symptoms-causes/syc-20375742#:~:text=Obesity%20is%20a%20complex%20disease,blood%20pressure%20and%20certain%20cancers.

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care assistance in Edina, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.