Seniors Site

Diabetes is as common as the sun these days – even kids can develop them! While diabetes may be controlled, the ugly truth is once you get it, it’s yours for life – no way curing it or getting it out of your system yet. However, if you are prone to diabetes, it is good to know that you can prevent diabetes or manage your sugar levels when still in prediabetes stage – you can even make your blood glucose levels return to its normal range if you are just careful about it and adjust your lifestyle accordingly.
If you are trying to prevent diabetes, you should be able to assess your risks. Below are some of the most common risk factors for diabetes:
· Obesity or if you are overweight.
· Genes. If your family has a long history of diabetes or if it runs in the family.
· Heritage. A study showed that African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, Pacific Highlanders and Hispanic Americans are more prone to diabetes.
· History of having gestational diabetes.
· High blood pressure.
· Abnormal cholesterol levels.
· Lack of everyday physical activity.
If you take a look at the risk factors for diabetes, you’d see that most of it can actually be prevented if the person has taken steps to healthy living, i.e healthy diet and exercise. Notice too how important it is to stay within your ideal weight to prevent diabetes from happening.
This is also why it is important to be conscious of your eating habits. ADA or American Diabetes Association is currently running a campaign which they termed as “create your plate” campaign. This campaign is supposed to help prediabetes sufferers to adapt healthy eating habits thus preventing diabetes onset. This campaign is made famous by it use of a 9-inch plate to determine adequate eating portions. Below is a quick rundown of the campaign:
· Make it a point to always fill half of your plate of non-starchy foods such as greens, fruits etc.
· Only one-fourth of your plate is allowed to have starchy foods such as rice and noodles as well as potatoes and corn.
· Another one-fourth is for meat and meat substitute such as poultry and tofu.
· One serving of fruit or half cup fresh or canned fruit medley.
· A glass of milk or 6-ounce worth low-fat yogurt.
While this food guide is generally applicable to those with pre-diabetes, it can also be done for those who already have diabetes, although with slight adjustments to the portions. Depending on the type of diabetes you have and your risk of having one, one can adjust the food portioning accordingly just as long as the nutrient-dense choices are always there and take up the majority of your plate.

As a caregiver, there will come a time when you and the rest of your senior’s family will have to decide what’s the best thing to do now that your senior will require a different kind of care especially medical and assistive that cannot be fulfilled by someone who doesn’t have enough medical experience such as yourself.
Your senior’s doctor is most likely to be the one to advise you when it’s time to move your senior to a residential home however, no matter how prepared you are for this, finding the perfect residential home for your senior can still get quite tricky. Below are some of the useful tips to help you find a suitable home for your senior:
* Educate yourself. It helps to know that you have many options to choose from depending on your senior’s needs. Even the cost can be a factor in choosing the right residential home for your senior. Best to start your hunt by talking to the senior’s doctor and ask what specifically are required in caring for your senior. Ask them for referrals too. If you have funding problems, it is best to tell the doctor too.
* Assess your senior’s capabilities. Can they still move around on their own? Would they need assistance when bathing or dressing up? Or perhaps when preparing their food as well as eating? These are the things that every residential home needs to know.
* Take into consideration your needs too. Of course, location is important to ensure your comfort when visiting the senior and staying in touch. Also, you might want to move your senior to home nearer to your place just in case you need to go to the residential home in short notice.
* Look up services. There are private services offered to families who are clueless as to what to do and where to start. Private placement services will take care of everything for you and your senior.
* Don’t expect it to be easy. Except maybe if your senior is already incapacitated. Expect a lot of resistance from your senior as well as other family members so make it a point to always include them in planning.
* Visit prospective sites. This is the only way you can get the feel of the place which will determine if your senior will like it there or not. While you’re there, take some time to observe how the staff interact with their residents and if the residents are happy and calm.
* Check the facility’s license. Just because a residential home looks good doesn’t mean your senior will like it there. Of course, appearance isn’t always everything.

Caring for an incapacitated senior can be overwhelming. Aside from their medical needs, you also need to consider the legalities of what’s happening and what would happen in the future. These things, if they are not addressed soon enough can certainly cause problems in the future. At this point, you will need a lawyer who specializes in elderly law. To find a lawyer, you could ask for referrals from friends and associations near you.
Legally, your senior needs to address these things: who will manage the senior’s financial affairs as well as medical decisions and personal care. Also, their assets should be assessed so that there will be a clear arrangement of where the money would come from for housing and caring payments. Do take note too that drafting and finalizing of last will should be done at this point and distribution of assets must be placed.
As much as possible, the act of choosing an attorney to handle your legal planning should take place while your senior can still make his or her own decision or still has the ability to do so. This must be determined on a case-by-case basis and ideally with the help of your senior’s doctors and healthcare providers.
Your senior has many options to choose from to manage their assets. This should be discussed with an attorney since each has their own pros and cons thus should have a suitable assigned person to handle the job.
Along with planning and assigning the right people, a financial plan should also be put together since it is one of the most important things needed when acquiring long term care for your senior. It would be best if you could sit down with your senior while he or she still can and assess their financial standing. Examine their insurances, the programs they are currently enrolled and other local support they are entitled to. If in doubt, you can always seek help from a lawyer, a doctor and/or non-government organizations.
If you’re the senior in question, take into consideration some assets you need to protect, like that of your spouse, surely you wouldn’t want to leave your spouse penniless when this most unfortunate time comes. Have a talk with your lawyer what applies to your case and what best to do to be able to protect your spouse in case you get incapacitated and would require longterm care.
Remember that the best way to go forward about this is to find a lawyer. Ask for recommendations from family and friends since a lawyer whose expertise lies on elderly law is quite hard to find.

This must be the scariest part of caregiving – when you need to make end-of-life decisions. While it may be the last decision you’ll ever make for your senior which basically means you will also be free to go back living a normal life, it also means that it will only be a matter of time before you and your beloved senior part ways which is quite saddening especially if you have already forged a bond with your senior.
It helps if your senior has already made plans or was able to cover some points clearly before he or she reaches this point however, most seniors don’t plan things like this even if they feel it coming. It must be the feeling of accepting death, that when you actually plan for it, it becomes more real and soon. If you are the primary caregiver and the one to make end-of-life decisions, you might want to encourage your senior to plan ahead – just don’t push it if they are not ready.
The decision should from your senior as it is the only way they will be able to come up with their real wishes. Try to understand that they might have fears and doubts not to mention the fact that they are planning their own end-of-life situations which, if you come to think of it, is quite freaky. Try to understand their fears and if you can, allay it. If it helps, ask their doctors and perhaps someone whom they trust and respect, to talk to them and assure them thus helping them arrive to an acceptable decision. If there are people your senior should be talking to, they would be: family members, doctors, religious and financial advisers and their lawyer.
At this point, your senior should be able to assign a person who will make end-of-life decisions for them when time comes, if that person is not you. This person should be able to efficiently deal with all aspects of the senior’s end-of-life wishes such as the financial aspect and most especially health care. In terms of health care, it will help if your senior will be able to specify what type of medical treatments they prefer to be done if a certain situation calls for it, and if there are treatments they would rather skip. Aside from medical treatments, your senior should also mention if they wish to be still given life support even if their breathing or heart stops or if they are already brain dead. Ask them if they wish to stay at the hospital or would rather be cared for at home if they are terminally ill. Lastly, if they die, would they rather have the family decide what to do with them or if they have their own wishes.

Traveling is fun especially if you do it with people you love the most. Travels and holidays are always a welcome break no matter what age we are in; kids love them for the adventure traveling represents; moms and dads for non-working days and of course, for seniors who badly need a change of scenery. Furthermore, travels are a good way to bond with your loved-ones and make some more memories for the whole family to cherish.
Special trips with your mom or dad are indeed fun and will be remembered for the rest of your life. Do this while they can still enjoy the trip and none the later. It will be more fulfilling if you prevent minor, as well as major, inconveniences from happening during your trip. Here are some tips on how to plan a trip with your senior.
· Ask your senior where they would want to go. If you must know, a lot of enthusiasm always beats whatever chronic condition your senior might be experiencing today! On the other hand, if you “drag” them to nowhere land where they don’t even want to be in, there will surely be 101 aches and pains your senior’s body will come up with.
· Necessary physical ability. Your dad wants to visit China, particularly THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA. Unless he is a lifelong runner of some sorts with will and endurance of a steel, surely you know there’s no way he will be able to endure the long walks and steep climbs. When planning trips and activities, make sure that all necessary physical requirements will be met by your senior.
· Plan expenses ahead of time. Small things like who picks up the tab for dinner tonight or who buys that pearl necklace for mom can be worked out during the trip however, bigger expenses like air fare and accommodations should be planned just so nobody would be surprised – or stressed – come billing time.
· Secure proper documentations. Such as your senior’s prescriptions signed by their doctors or perhaps that medical journal they have been meticulously keeping. You might need them while on trip while I pray not.
· Pack practical. Between you and your senior, you have a lot to keep track of, you certainly don’t need any more. Pack light and pack only those you know you will be needing during the trip. Those you can easily buy can be left behind.
· Safety and security should come first. While it is fun to conquer an unknown territory, you won’t be needing that extra uncertainty while travelling with your senior. Save the “devil in you” for next time.

Dementia fuelled tantrums can be so trying and it is not impossible for caregivers to just snap or feel defeated. Whether they are directed to you or to no one in particular, you as the caregiver should be the one to diffuse or be on top of the situation always. Do take note that it is common for seniors with dementia to have tantrums and sudden outburst. It is also common for them to be agitated or to be aggressive about something even if the trigger is near non-existent.

Below are some tips for caregivers on how to handle dementia tantrums:
Stay calm. If this is your first time to encounter such outburst, try to stay calm and try to sooth your senior. If all else fails, try to calm yourself as it is the only way you can assess and handle the situation more effectively.

* Divert attention. Try, if you can, to divert your senior’s attention. While this may not work always, it’s worth a try. You can try to give them a task – something that will drive their attention away from the source of their frustration/outburst.
* Be a traffic controller. If your senior has managed to make a scene, try to move people along while explaining that your senior has dementia. Having people stare at your senior will only agitate your senior more thus prolonging the outburst.
* Find the source as quickly as possible. Surely there is a source for such an outburst. You should be able to find out the cause of the outburst and be able to eliminate it from your senior’s site.
* Remember the things that are most likely to upset them and avoid these things like a plague. While it won’t be easy to pinpoint exactly what upsets your senior thus eliminating the possibility of a future meltdown, knowing what disturbed your senior in the past is a good starting point.
* Get to know your senior’s condition more. Understanding dementia as well as your senior’s level or degree with regard to their condition will tell you what activities are best suited for your senior and what are the things you need to avoid. For example, if one day you find yourself unable to remember the word for a certain color in a color game, wouldn’t it be so frustrating, you would want to lash out on anyone within range? When you know or at least, have been monitoring your senior closely, you would know their limitations thus be bale to avoid activities that may cause a meltdown.
* Medications can help. A person with dementia is most likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders, for which medications can help. Be sure to contact and consult their doctor for this option.

No matter how hard you remind your senior that smoking can kill, they will still – and stubbornly – do it. You know why? It is because they believe that when they reach a certain age, they can do whatever they please since they will die soon anyway. What they don’t know though is that smoking actually lessens their quality of life which means that the time they should be up and running chasing their grandkids could easily be a life too tired and breathless to get up the couch. While it is true that we will all die anyway, wouldn’t it be nicer if we go with much cleaner lungs?

Do note too that five years of not smoking is equivalent to years saved from having any smoke-related diseases such as lung problems and even cancer. There are immediate effects when you stop smoking such as marked improvement in senses of taste and smell. Your breathing is more likely to become easier. Best of all, you are doing the world a whole lot of favor by not polluting it any further. Most doctors advise their seniors to stop smoking because smoking can aggravate whatever disease your senior might be having right now and it goes without saying that it prevents a doctor from giving you the right diagnosis for your condition if the patient is still smoking.

One way of quitting is going cold turkey although this method has uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that your senior may not like. Are they even ready for this? If you would like to get your senior to stop smoking, the decision should first come from his own self than forcing them to do it. As you may know, if you force them to quit they will just end up sneaking a stick or two when you’re not looking.

Preparation is very important if you would like your senior to quite smoking. There is no better way to prepare them for what’s ahead than bringing them to the nearest health clinic which specializes in smoking or lung care and have them prepped by a professional. This way, your senior will have all the information they need firsthand.

It is also important to give them all the support they need when they eventually decided on quitting. Needless to say, you should stop smoking too if you are to preach about non-smoking lifestyle. They to remind them, if you feel they are slipping into smoking again, what they would be missing and why they are doing it in the first place. Discouraging others from smoking when your senior is around will also help.

I couldn’t stress enough how dangerous it is for seniors to commit medication mistakes. However, if you juggle five or more kinds of medication a day, it is not impossible to slip once in a while – even your caregiver can slip, if he or she is not too careful of what they are giving you. It is important to note that medication mistakes may not only land you in an emergency room, it can even kill you!
If managing several meds a day, you might want to get systematic about it. This way, you’ll have a “system” to fall back into if your memory and eyes failed you. Below are some more tips on how to avoid medication mistakes:
· Illegible prescription. I personally don’t depend on my prescription alone; I Google things first before actually buying my medications. This is because, every now and then, I stumble upon a prescription with a really bad doctor’s scrawl, it was barely readable. You can skip the Google part by asking your doctor to write down what the drug is for right beside the prescribed drug. This way, the pharmacist won’t be confused.
· Bad drug interactions. Each drug has their own side effects thus when mixing a drug or two, it is possible that they won’t interact positively with each other. The best thing to do is to always take with you a list of medications you are currently taking whenever you consult a doctor and show them your list if they need to prescribe a drug for you. Also, observe yourself on first few days upon taking the new medication to gauge if you are having a bad drug interaction.
· Oversedation. Most drugs have sedative effects such as drowsiness, sleepiness or dizziness. When you take a drug with this kind of effect then you take another with the same kind of effect, then you boost their sedation effect which is really bad for your nervous system.
· Wrong dosage for your ideal requirement. There are three things you need to take note of when receiving a prescription note: the name of the medication, dosage and frequency of use. These three you need to get exactly right each and every time. Moreover, you need to really examine the medication you just bought from the pharmacy to determine if you got the right drug name and dosage.
· Drinking while under medication. You know better than to mix drugs with alcohol right? While there are some drugs safe enough to take and drink afterward, most are not so to be on the safer side, just don’t drink alcohol.
· Different brand names, same generic name. Please take some time to examine your medications and read/compare generic names. It may be doctor A gave you brand A then doctor B gave you brand B although they have the same generic name, if this happens, it only means you’re taking twice the amount of meds you need.

Before a senior reaches a point where he or she is all mellow and embraces a come-what-may attitude, they will go through a phase when emotions run wild – some seniors don’t even get pass it! Young ones should understand that an aging body undergoes tremendous changes – at a very fast rate, at that – that these changes have become harder to accept especially when dealing with other non-age-related ongoings such as loss of a loved-one and financial problems.
The ability to cope with problems is no longer an issue a senior could focus on. Like I said earlier, if a senior couldn’t bring themselves to just accept aging as it comes, it is only natural for this person to feel angry all the time. Whether you’re the caregiver or the senior himself wanting to control your anger, this post points out some things you can do to manage your emotions particularly your anger.
Your comfort comes number one. There’s nothing more annoying than be in a place where you are not comfortable being in. If you are a caregiver, try not to move them from one place to another especially if your senior is going through a hard time. Being in a place where everything is unfamiliar can surely bring on not so good responses from our elderly friends. As much as possible, let them be in a place where they feel safe and comfortable so they could deal with their emotions better.
Try to limit changes. As you are right now, you got your plate full so try to deal with what’s in front of you right now to be able to prevent stress from happening. Take the one-at-a-time approach so you’ll not trigger undesirable emotions.
Taking up new interest and/or hobbies can also help you turn your misunderstood emotions into something more productive. When I’m angry, I go to the gym and have my rage spent on full blown exercising. You’ll not believe how much sweat you’ll be able to get out of your system after a rage-fueled session! More so, you’ll actually feel good and less angry at the end of your exercise session – it certainly beats one session with your mind doctor which usually ends up in more meds to take.
Frustrations almost always end up in anger – even young ones know that! For seniors however, it doubles up the chances since they are most likely to be frustrated how limited their capabilities have become and how helpless they feel most of the time. On top of making your senior comfortable at all times, emotionally and physically, try to make them feel they are still part of the family, and that they still have worth. This way your senior won’t feel worthless.

It is normal for us to be concerned about our aging loved-ones’ health so it is really important for us to know and be able to recognize signs of heath problems as early as possible. This way, we can help them right away and make their lives more comfortable and hassle-free.

Thus the need to know warning signs and what to look for to identify health problems. It is important to note though that as soon as you see one or two of these signs on your senior, you must take them to a healthcare professional at once to be able to determine if their condition is still normal or if they need immediate care. Never delay response to these warning signs.

1. Having a hard time using their hands. If there’s one thing we, humans, use all the time but often got overlooked, it is our hands. Normal hand-things such as grasping and picking up things become quite a feat for seniors with health problems.
2. No interest in preparing food. If your senior used to love cooking and suddenly you find their fridge devoid of anything edible then it is time for you to intervene. Naturally if they are having a hard time using their hands and reading labels, there is something wrong with their health.
3. Sudden complaints of food not tasting or smelling right. Actually it is normal for aging people to suddenly experience loss of taste and smell however, underlying health problems usually brought about these sensory conditions as well.
4. Weight loss. Of course, as symptoms pile up, your senior is expected to lose weight – drastically.
5. Personal hygiene problems. Have you noticed neglect on their personal hygiene such as taking a bath and brushing their teeth. These things are hard to miss since they will definitely smell.
6. Neglect of their home and surroundings. Check their bathrooms if you are not comfortable in checking their rooms, since bathrooms are the first part of the house to go all smelly and undesirable when neglected for few days.
7. Repeating stories over and over again but not showing signs that they knew about the first time they told you that particular story. This is a clear sign of early dementia, if you ask me.
8. Depression. Sure depression has many signs in its own but the most telling would be mood swings, or worse, being sad and distant or angry and violent all the time. When you’re in constant pain, it is but natural to be depressed.
9. Chronic fatigue to a point where your senior no longer wish to go out of the house and would rather just sit on her favorite couch or be on bed 24/7.
10. Limited range of motion. The most discreet way of observing your senior if they are experiencing difficulty when moving around is to have them walk even a short distance. Take note of how they walk. Are they walking funny? Perhaps swaying from one side to another. Or dragging their feet like it was made with lead? If there is an obvious steadiness, you should consult a doctor.