Tips for Helping a Senior with Alzheimer’s Disease Avoid Dehydration

Seniors who are living with Alzheimer’s disease are likely to experience a wide range of challenges and limitations. They are also more likely to be vulnerable to a variety of issues and complications. This includes a greater risk of suffering from dehydration.

Many issues can contribute to this increased risk for dehydration, including the senior no longer being able to detect thirst signals, not understanding what the thirst signals mean or how to soothe them, not remembering when they last drank, or not being able to access water reliably. As a family caregiver there are steps that you can take to help a senior who is living with Alzheimer’s disease avoid dehydration and the potentially devastating consequences that can come with it.

Home Care Services Cleveland NC – Tips for Helping a Senior with Alzheimer’s Disease Avoid Dehydration

Use these tips to help a senior with Alzheimer’s disease avoid dehydration:

• Make drinking water a part of your regular daily routine with them. Scheduling and predictability are valuable for helping to structure the day of a senior with Alzheimer’s disease and encouraging them to cooperate with certain care tasks. Making drinking a part of this is a great way to get them to sip throughout the day even if they do not know why they are doing it
• Give them a refillable water bottle and encourage them to sip on it throughout the day. Consider putting small pieces of tape on the side of the bottle with times marked on each so that they know their “goals” for drinking the water.
• Encourage them to eat foods that are high in water content to boost their hydration even when they aren’t drinking.

Talk to your parent’s doctor about any medications that they are taking and if they might increase susceptibility to dehydration. Talk to them about how to manage this, including the possibility of changing their medication or how to safely increase their hydration.

Starting home care services for your aging parent can be a fantastic way to enhance their quality of life and encourage them to maintain a lifestyle that is as fulfilling as possible as they age in place. A home care services provider can be with your parent on a fully customized schedule that is designed around not just their needs, but also the care that you give them on a regular basis.

This ensures that they get the level of care that they need and deserve while also ensuring that you have the time that you need to focus on other obligations in your life. The highly personalized care that your aging parent can receive will be specifically tailored around them as an individual, allowing them to be happy, healthy, safe, and comfortable throughout their later years.

Sources:  https://www.medicaldaily.com/75-americans-may-suffer-chronic-dehydration-according-doctors-247393

https://www.elderoptionsoftexas.com/article-signs-of-dehydration-in-elderly.htm

If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Care Services in Cleveland NC, please contact the caring staff at TenderHearted Home Care today. (704) 612-4132.