Seniors Site

There is something freaky about aging. I confess, when I was 20ish, I fear aging. I even went as far as praying to God to just go and get me before the skin under my chin sag. Or before I develop “bat wings” (you know, that embarrassing skin hanging right next to the armpit?) I firmly believe it was all vanity then as I have reached this age and not doing bad at all.
Understandably, as the body ages, there are also notable changes in your body. Some may come as a surprise while others are a lot common than what you think. A good precursor would be your mom, or your grannies on either sides, or anyone in the family much older than you. Take some time to analyze how they aged, what physical characteristics they share now that they are old and what illnesses and diseases they now have – you need to take note of these things as there is a huge chance you’ll get them too! Me, I did this one time before hitting 40 then adjusted my lifestyle according to my discoveries. Such as, bat wings that my mom and maternal aunts share – I hit the gym and worked on my arms as early as 35 while the skin around my arms were still elastic. It was more of a prevention on my part.
Here are some of the common bodily changes as you age:
· Declining brain activity. It was said that the brain is at its peak at mid-twenties, then after than it starts to decline. You will suddenly find yourself forgetting things or grasping for words to say at times. To combat this, you need to give your mind some exercise regularly. Puzzles help as well as reading.
· Eye changes. First off, your eye pupils will become a little less responsive each day as soon as you hit your 30s – sometimes starting a lot younger. They will also be producing lesser tears thus making your eyes drier and itchy. Other eye problems such as declining peripheral vision and clouding of eyes will soon be noticeable.
· Graying and thinning of hair. This is primarily because of the changes in our scalps. Graying is caused by diminishing melanin production.
· Changes in your ear. The eardrums are expected to thicken as we age. Also, past damages are most likely to show effects later in life.
· Wrinkly, saggy skin. This is because the connective tissues are no longer elastic and the skin is no longer producing enough oil to keep it moisturized.
· Changes inside the body. Your heart, bones and muscles are the first ones to give way when the body ages.

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.

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.

Indeed home safety is important, however, when caring for a senior suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, it can get doubly important since you have to anticipate situations that are usually not normal in a household. It can get a little stressful especially during your first few weeks on the job and quite frustrating too. To alleviate stress and prevent emergency situations from happening as well, you need all the help you can get most especially from the place where you too are going to spend much of your time together: your home.
When preparing your home for a senior with Alzheimer’s disease, you need to have a lot of foresight. Assess and anticipate situations just like you would when preparing your home for a baby but this time, you also have to consider their size and age. Armed with a notebook to jot down your observations, go over your home and take note of the things you think you need to change or adjust such as that rug that refuses to stay at one place or your spotless tiled bathroom.

· Take out hazardous materials you have been keeping such as cleaning agents, bleach, etc under the sink. Better to store them outside the house or in a part of your house wherein your senior cannot access. If this is not an option then try installing locks on your kitchen cabinet.
· Hide sharp objects and just about anything that can cause bodily harm such as knives, bottle opener, etc. Furthermore, remove anything that looks like food such as fruit-shaped plastics for display as these things can easily confuse a senior with Alzheimer’s disease.
· Install monitors around home. Of course, you don’t have to be all blatant about it instead, discreetly install monitors where your senior is most likely to be left alone such as their bedroom. This will also allow you to do other things inside of home while they are sleeping or not needing immediate attention.
· Be especially aware of electrical units with dials, particularly that of your heating devices. As much as possible, your water heater should be monitored by you when used. Same goes for electric blankets and heating pads.
· Avoid clear glass at all cost. A person, even without Alzheimer’s, can easily be confused by a clear glass, thinking that there is nothing that separates two parts of the house. This usually causes ugly accidents with lots of blood. To avoid this from happening, try sticking decals on clear glass so that your senior will have their point of reference.

Funny how after all these years - and multiple health-related surgeries after - I still have an aversion to needles and surgical knives. As much as possible, I stay away from them and I will only submit myself to such if my life depends on it, otherwise, I would be happy to go my merry way without it!

When you say “rejuvenate”, it means to restore its youthfulness. For us seniors, wrinkled and all, rejuvenation is a holy word: you only utter the word if you are completely and without a doubt, sincere about it! Secrets to skin rejuvenation get passed on powder rooms and quiet, secret side of the kitchen, from one wrinkled lip to another. You’ll be surprised when you hear the horror stories and the “almost successful” ones when it comes to skin rejuvenation and wrinkles.

For me, I like to try non-evasive ways to “rejuvenate” my skin and I jump with joy when I see even a small improvement. Trust me, natural ways do take their time and usually you won’t even notice it yourself. The effect is so subtle, you will be surprised one day upon hearing other people notice the changes in your skin. The trick is to stick with a natural beauty regimen and stop monitoring the changes since, like I told you, you probably won’t see them yourself. This way you won’t get frustrated and change course yet again.

So tip number one would be, give it some time. Personally, I think 3-6 months is decent time enough to see or notice any changes if you would like to go natural on your skin rejuvenation plan. Try to maintain your natural rejuvenation plan for 3-6 months and if there’s really no changes whatsoever then it’s time to move on. However, if you notice any discomfort such as bad skin reactions or tingling of the skin at any time during your beauty plan, stop at once and consult your doctor. Your current skin routine may not be suitable for you.

Tip number two is to try to lead a clean and healthy lifestyle. In other words, if you would like to look and feel younger then you should sober up! It was proven that most vices and habits affect your body’s natural aging process - they accelerate the process thus adding up years on your skin. Do take note that just by being outside, exposed to harsh environment, can age your skin, whether you like it or not - reason enough to take care of yourself even more.

Hydration is number one. When you age, your skin’s moisturizing ability declines thus leaving your skin dry and vulnerable which leads to signs of aging. Drink lots of water – not any other liquid, just water – and load up on fruits that are watery such as watermelon. You should also go for foods that are high in anti-oxidants since they combat free radicals. Your best bet would be berries.

Lastly, give your friendly neighborhood health store and check out essential oils that are safe enough for you to use on your face.

There are about 1 million cases of cancer diagnosed every year and for every senior with cancer, there is at least one caregiver assigned to the patient so if you are taking care of a senior with cancer today, that means you are not alone. The trouble with caregiving is that sometimes people expect too much from you. There is no way you can be the superwoman they want you to be. That’s not possible. Educating yourself is the key to easier and manageable caregiving life.
Below are some key points you might want to remember when caring for a loved-one with cancer:
· Acceptance. It is important for your senior to accept his or her condition. More importantly is for you to be able to accept it as well. Acknowledge that the person now has a medical condition that needs to be given attention every single day. That the condition can get worse or perhaps the possibility that it won’t ever be the same again. Never underestimate cancer, it would be best to always update yourself about the condition so you’ll always be one step ahead of things.
· Support groups. Put together support groups - and I am putting emphasis on the plural term as you need all the help you can get to manage cancer. There are several ways to create support groups so that you’ll never have to worry about reaching them whenever you need one. You can create your own medical support group which consists of doctors, nurses and just about anyone who has medical background. Then you can also put together a family support group which can help you with your caregiving duties, etc. There are also online support groups that can help you with some of the basic questions about caring for a loved-one with cancer.
· Every case is different, every symptom is different. Never judge a cancer patient of making it all up – if you are starting to get annoyed with aches and pains that don’t seem to go away no matter what you do. Bear in mind that cancer patient has different needs and never expect them to be strong since it is their body they’re against with.
· Ease the pain by making them smile. Cancer is indeed a very complex condition and there are no guarantees that a person can go through it alive. The only thing you could ever do for them is try to make them smile and make life more worthwhile.
· Allow them some space. Let them know it is okay to be sad and never force them to be strong. In time, they will eventually accept their condition and will decide on doing what they think is best for them.