October 2019 - Green Tree Home Care

The weather has gotten colder!

And even though we don’t get snow like most of the East Coast, we’re experiencing our share of cold weather.

As a caregiver, it’s important to be prepared for this weather as well as watch out for any cold-related illnesses like pneumonia.

Adults over the age of 65 are more likely to get pneumonia.

The good news is that, it can be prevented.

In fact, the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends two pneumococcal vaccines for adults older than 65.

CDC’s suggestions are to:

Get a dose of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) first. Then get a dose of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) at least 1 year later.
If you’ve already received PPSV23, get PCV13 at least 1 year after receipt of the most recent PPSV23 dose.
If you’ve already received a dose of PCV13 at a younger age, CDC does not recommend another dose.

In today’s post, we’ll take a look at what you can to do prevent pneumonia.

Pneumonia in the elderly

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs that is caused by various micro-organisms including pneumococcal bacteria and the influenza virus.

The micro-organisms are more likely in thrive in an immune-compromised system.

When a person has a comprised immune system, they are not able to fight off infections easily. In those instances, any bacteria or virus present begin to multiply vigorously and this ends up in disease.

One of the environmental factors that can compromise a person’s immune system is the cold weather outside.

And when you add other risk factors such as age and other pre-existing health conditions, pneumonia becomes a scary prospect.

Thus as a caregiver, it is important for you to be on the look out for your loved one so that you can prevent it.

Steps to prevent pneumonia this season

Make sure your loved one is up-to-date on their vaccines for pneumonia and influenza. As I mentioned above, the CDC recommends it for people above the age of 65.
Make sure your loved one has warm clothes to wear during the colder parts of the day.
Cigarettes and cigarette smoke contributes to pneumonia. Thus, it’s important to stay away from cigarette smoke or encourage your loved one to quit smoking.
Ensure that heating is working in your loved one’s home. In San Diego, the nice weather makes most of us forget about heating for our homes. However, it’s important during the colder months. A space heater can be a temporary solution but the sooner you are able to provide heating for your loved one, the better.
Other people are sick during this season, wash your hands regularly if you will be around anyone who is sick.
If your loved one has on-going medical issues such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease, it is important to manage it properly. These existing medical conditions can compromise the immune system and contribute to severe pneumonia.

Pneumonia in the elderly is serious enough that the CDC has recommendations regarding it.

Thus as a caregiver, you cannot take it lightly. Taking the steps I’ve outlined above will help your loved one stay healthy this season and will ultimately save you and your family from needless medical costs.

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One in 10 women struggle with osteoporosis when once they hit 60 years.

That ratio goes up to 1 in 5 once a woman hits 70 years old.

That ratio sounds dreary and makes it look like there is nothing you can do about keeping your bones healthy.

But that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

There are steps you can start taking today, regardless of your age, that will improve your bone health and reduce the effects of osteoporosis.

And we’ll be talking about those steps in today’s post.

12 tips to keep your bones healthy

Add more calcium and vitamin D to your diet

Calcium and Vitamin D are essential nutrients that help your body to produce new bone cells. Increasing your intake of either or both of them will improve your bone health dramatically.

Eat low-fat yogurt and Greek yogurt.
Green vegetables like broccoli, bok choy and kale are rich in calcium. Add those to your diet as well.
At the grocery store, you will find certain foods that are fortified with vitamin D and calcium like orange juice and certain cereals. If you tend to buy those food items, buy the ones fortified with these nutrients.
Taking a calcium or vitamin D supplement is a good idea too!
Add more fruits and vegetables to your diet. Apart from vitamin D and calcium, fruits and vegetables contain so many more nutrients that improve other systems that support bone health.

Increase weight-bearing and muscle-building exercises

Exercise can improve your bone health as well.

Walking doesn’t seem like an impressive exercise type-but it is effective. A brisk 30-minute walk around your neighborhood is a good way to improve your bone and overall health.
Dancing is another great exercise that will keep your bones healthy. Sway away my friend.
Add some resistance to your exercise. If you walk, use dumb-bells to increase the resistance. You can also use resistance belts and other equipment that make your exercise just a little harder but not stressful.
Mix it up. Sometimes, one exercise type becomes boring. You don’t have to do just that. Try a new activity and add more spice to your life and health to your bones.

Develop healthy habits (and drop bad ones)

There are certain habits that will simply get you in a lot of health trouble.

If you’re trying to improve your bone health, those bad habits have to go.

I’ve already mentioned some of the good habits you can develop above. Here are a few bad ones to drop.

Quit smoking. Ask your doctor about different ways to quit if you’re finding this difficult.
Reduce or eliminate foods that are salty or high in sugar.
Reduce your alcohol intake and keep it to 3 drinks or less per day.

Know your risks

It’s important to know your risk for osteoporosis or any other bone disease.

If you know your family health history and there is a history of osteoporosis, chances are that you have a high risk for it.

Certain lifestyle habits like drinking, smoking and high sugar diets could contribute to osteoporosis as well.

Even if you’re genetically predisposed to osteoporosis, adopting the healthy habits I just talked about will go a long way to reducing the effects of the disease.

In addition to all this, it’s important for you to talk to your doctor or healthcare provider about your risks.

They can work with you to come up with a plan that will keep you healthy for a long time to come.

Staying safe when you have a risk for osteoporosis

A person with osteoporosis can easily fracture their bones.

Thus, it’s important to keep your home safe if you have a risk for or have been diagnosed with osteoporosis.

Read this post to learn more about keeping your home safe for you and your loved one.

Make sure to have your vision and hearing checked each year.
Keep night lights in hallways you or your loved one use at night.
Get rid of any loose items such as clothes, toys and rugs that someone could trip over.
Keep an alert device handy so you can call someone should you fall and need help to get up.

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According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, more than 40 million people provide unpaid care for their loved ones each year.

If you have a friend who is a caregiver, then you already know by now that they are worth 1000 gifts for all the work they do.

But that would cost us a lot so sticking to one gift at the end of the year is usually a good idea.

The year is coming to an end and so are the holidays and perhaps you’re thinking about a gift you could buy for your friend who is a caregiver.

In this post, I’ll share some ideas on gift ideas for your friend who is a caregiver.

Let’s get right into it.

Gift ideas for your friends who are caregivers

Massage gift cards

Care-giving can require a lot of physical activity. Thus, even a minute of massage is appreciated by caregivers.

If you can find a gift card to a massage parlor, your caregiver friend will love you forever.

Spa day

Continuing on with the theme of relaxation, you can give your friend the gift of a spa day. A day of relaxation will help your caregiver friend recuperate and be rejuvenated enough to care for their loved one.

Home spa kit

And in case, they don’t want to brave the traffic or bad weather to get to a massage place or full-on spa, you could get them an at-home spa kit so they can relax at home.

Send them to see their favorite show

Is your friend into the theater arts or do they have a favorite band? Send them off to enjoy one of these experiences!

Books

Books can help anyone escape into a place of fantasy and enjoyment…even if it’s just for a few hours.

So whether it’s a year’s subscription to an audio book service like Audible or a book series you know your friend will enjoy, books are wonderful gifts.

Household help

Apart from the gifts that help your friend relax, they will also appreciate household help.

Any help they can get with cleaning their home, laundry, folding, yard maintenance and household repairs go a long way.

These days, you can buy gift vouchers for such services from local providers or from marketplaces like Amazon.

Food

Everybody needs to eat!

You can buy groceries or prepare meals for your friend.

If you can’t do this yourself, you can purchase a meal delivery service for your friend.

Hobby-building

Is your friend into any hobbies? Do they like to crochet, paint, knit or play a sport?

You can support that hobby with a thoughtful gift!

These are just a few gift ideas for your friends who are caregivers.

Caregivers are some of the most-overlooked and under-appreciated people. And so, show them you care these holidays by surprising them with one of these gift ideas.

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While elderly incontinence is common, it is not a normal health condition.

In fact, because it is so common, people will not see a doctor or health practitioner until it’s too late.

In today’s post, we will go into why you should see a doctor about you or your loved one’s incontinence and what you can do to manage the condition.

Let’s delve right into it.

Incontinence defined

What exactly is incontinence?

Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine.

According to the National Association of Continence, over 33 million people struggle with incontinence.

If you or your loved one are going this right now, it can feel embarrassing.

It is also common for people to feel like they have lost control when they’re faced with incontinence.

But, the good news is that, incontinence can be managed and even treated if you take the right actions.

Causes of incontinence

Urinary incontinence can be caused by several factors including:

Stress – For people who have weak muscles in their urinary tract, coughing, sneezing or constipation could cause incontinence
Weak bladder muscles
Enlarged prostate
Prostate cancer
Childbirth – Women who have had complications of childbirth or had many children may struggle with incontinence.
Infections in the urinary tract
Surgery – Certain surgeries that involve the bladder, prostate or a part of the urinary tract can lead to incontinence as well.
An obstruction along the urinary tract may also lead to incontinence. This obstruction could be a tumor or a urinary stone.
Neurological disorders can also lead to urinary incontinence. Conditions like Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis or a spinal cord injury can affect the action of nerves in the urinary tract and that can lead to incontinence.

Why you should see a doctor about elderly incontinence

As you may have deduced from the above, it’s important to see a doctor so they can rule out any serious cause.

Thus, my advice to you is that the moment you or your loved one notice incontinence, make plans to see your primary health practitioner. They will then likely refer you to a urologist or geriatric doctor.

If it is a tumor, your loved one may need to undergo treatments.

If it is an infection, antibiotics can be prescribed to deal with the issue.

For older adults that have chronic urinary incontinence or who have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, behavioral therapy may prove helpful in helping to control the condition.

Whatever the case is however, if you or your loved one is struggling with incontinence, don’t think you have to struggle alone.

Talk to your doctor and plan a course of action.

Managing elderly incontinence

Talk to someone. It is hard to navigate big changes like urinary incontinence for your elderly loved one.

It’s important to be honest about those feelings and talk to somebody about it.

Also, get the right supplies. These days, you have access to a wide array of incontinence products on the market. In fact, there are products that feel just like underwear but which will keep your loved one dry. There are also special bedding supplies that will help keep your loved one dry at night. Talk to your local medical supplier about what will suit your family’s needs the best.

Remember to keep them safe. A urinary accident can lead to a small puddle that can cause falls. If your loved one is not comfortable using adult diapers, create a communication system so that it can be cleaned up quickly.

And don’t forget to continue to provide excellent perineal care.

Make it easy for your loved one to travel to the bathroom when there’s a need.

If your loved one has prescriptions for incontinence, it’s important that you encourage them to follow the regimen to prevent further complications.

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You’ll be caring for your loved one at home on a hospital bed.

And this is your first time caring for someone in a hospital bed.

How do you even navigate it so that your loved one is comfortable and taken care of?

In today’ post, I will share some best practices on caring for your loved one who is in a hospital bed.

I will also share some times on how to take care of yourself while you care for your loved one who is in a hospital bed.

Let’s dive right into it.

Caring for a loved one in a hospital bed at home.

Take stock of your own feelings

Before we even get into talking about taking care of your loved one in a hospital bed, let’s talk about you.

How are you doing?

Bringing a loved one home to a hospital bed is no mean feat.

By now, you’ve spent a lot of money to ensure your loved one is getting the right bed that will help them be comfortable.

Perhaps, your loved one’s diagnosis and whether or not they’ll live is weighing on you.

Or maybe you’ve had to rearrange and make improvements to your home just to accommodate the hospital bed.

It sure sounds like a lot doesn’t it?

If you’re in that space, I recommend joining a support group that will help you cope with the feelings. You can also speak to a mental health professional about your feelings.

Don’t be shy of expressing how you feel and processing your own feelings so you can better support your loved one.

Factors to consider in caring for your loved one in a hospital bed.

Space

Do you have the space for the bed? If you don’t see where you could fit a hospital bed right now, it may be time to make the space for it. This may require getting rid of other things in order to create the room for the hospital bed.

Supplies

Do you have the right supplies? This will depend on several factors and one of those factors is whether your loved one is mobile or not. If there are not mobile, you will have to think about giving them bed baths, preventing bed sores, keeping them safe and how you’ll be helping them move about on a daily basis.

Privacy

Make sure you don’t forget curtains for privacy. If the room your loved one will live in has windows, it will be helpful to get curtains so you can help them maintain privacy. And those forget to draw them open for sunshine and fresh air as well.

Family activities

Will your loved one be able to engage in family activities from their room/bed? Being bedridden doesn’t mean your loved one cannot be involved in family activities. In fact, this will improve quality of life for them. So have them in a where children and grandchildren can come and enjoy time with your loved one while they can.

Get help if you need it

Don’t forget to get the help you need. This may involve drawing up a time-table with family members or hiring professional home care help for your loved one. Whatever the case maybe, realize you don’t have to go through this alone. There are others who can come alongside you to support you on this journey.

Advanced directive and wills

If your loved one is still able to make decisions, this might be the time to tie up any loose ends when it comes to advanced directives and wills. If this type of documentation has not been made clear and your loved one is terminal, this is a good time to set those things in order.

Taking care of a loved one on a hospital bed at home is tasking, to say the least.

However, the points I raised above will help you get ready for this major life change.

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What is Dowager’s hump? And how can you prevent it?

Dowager’s hump is the slightly rounded hump you might observe at the back of an person’s neck. Dowager’s hump can happen irrespective of age and while both men and women develop it, we mostly see it in women.

Sometimes people call this a “roundback” or in more severe cases, a “hunchback”.

The medical term for Dowager’s hump is kyphosis.

Kyphosis is caused by continual curving of the spine towards the front of the body.

And so daily activities like being hunched over a computer all day at work or doing work that involves bending the neck excessively can cause the condition.

Another cause of kyphosis is osteoporosis; a condition which predominantly affects women.

It may also be a congenital problem.

For most people who develop kyphosis later on in life, it is most likely due to bad posture or osteoporosis.

In most instances, kyphosis is painless.

For some people however, it is painful.

And even for those with painless kyphosis, a severe spinal curvature can cause other problems later on in life.

So what can you do about it?

How can you prevent or even reverse Dowager’s hump?

That is what we’ll be covering in this post.

How to prevent Dowager’s hump in the elderly

Avoid bad posture

For most of us, work is unavoidable.

Mechanics, nurses, teachers and office workers all have to do some kind of work that involves bending the neck for long periods of time.

So avoiding work is definitely not an option.

However, there are exercises you can practice on a daily basis to prevent the eventual problem of kyphosis.

Examples of exercises you can do are as follows:

Stand up and stretch at least once an hour to take the stress off those neck and back muscles that you’ve been engaging.
Extend your neck backwards and turn it from side to side to get rid of the pain that comes with bending over for so long.
With the help of a physical therapist or a fitness professional, you can learn how to do push-ups to relieve some of the pressure on your back.

General exercise also helps to keep your muscles and bones healthy.

A healthy diet helps

A balanced diet that delivers all the necessary nutrients to your body is key to a healthy body.

For people who are more prone to osteoporosis, this will mean that you eat meals that are high in calcium in Vitamin D.

A diet that contains a lot of fruits and vegetables is also helpful.

Doctors have found that the phosphoric acid in certain sodas for instance can cause brittle bones. Tea and coffee seem to have similar effects at high levels. This can make a Dowager’s hump worse. So, if you can avoid drinking sodas excessively, this will be helpful in the long run.

If you’ve already developed Dowager’s hump, it’s important to realize that even though you may be doing all the exercises and taking the right steps, it will still take a while to see improvements.

Don’t get discouraged.

Continue to practice good posture, practice exercises that strengthen your back and neck and maintain a balanced diet.

Doing this things can prevent and even reverse Dowager’s hump.

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How long does it take to pass a kidney stone?

Kidney stones are painful. There are no two ways about that.

And if you’re currently experiencing it, then you’re wondering when you’ll be free of this nuisance.

While there is no hard and fast rule as to when a kidney stone will pass, there are a number of things you can do as an individual or as a caregiver to help your loved one get rid of a kidney stone.

Passing a kidney stone – How to speed the process along

Regardless of the size of a kidney stone, it is important to report to a doctor immediately so they can help determine the best course of action. If the stone is small enough, the doctor might send you or your loved one home with instructions to drink more fluids so the stone can pass. Once they determine it is a large kidney stone, there are medical procedures that can be used to break up or remove the stone.
If your doctor determines that the stones are small enough to be passed, they will recommend that you drink more fluids. One of the causes of kidney stones is dehydration. If your body doesn’t not have enough water to dissolve the salts and minerals in your body, it can lead to kidney stones. So drinking a lot of water will help that stone pass quicker.
Pain medication. Kidney stones are painful. Pain killers can help to reduce the pain so you can move around and perform your daily activities. Moving around could also help with breaking apart the stones and help you or loved one pass the stones easily.

Passing a kidney stone: Special circumstances to pay attention to

Even if you’ve seen a doctor previously and you notice that your urine is cloudy, you should go again.

Cloudy urine indicates that there is an infection.

If a medical professional does not treat the infection, sepsis (the spread of bacteria through the body) can happen. Sepsis regularly causes death.

Thus, cloudy urine should move you to action immediately.

So how long again?

According to the American Urological Association, once a kidney stone makes it way to the urinary tract, it will pass within 2 days.

However, it is not unusual for a kidney stone to take up to 40 days to pass.

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