Personal Care at Home – Tips for Managing Multiple Health Conditions

If your aging loved one has multiple health issues, she is not alone. It’s not uncommon for many people to be living with several health conditions at one time, but it’s especially common in the elderly. Age, hereditary, and lifestyle choices can all account for several health conditions that your loved one may have to manage daily. With diseases and conditions like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and arthritis to name a few, some people consider themselves blessed if they only have one.

Having multiple health issues that require treatment can require a bit of coordination and organization. There are different doctors involved, different medications, and different treatments, and sometimes those differences don’t get along and create more issues. Here are some tips to manage multiple treatments and medications.

1. Medication. Medication management is a big part of keeping your loved one healthy. The first step is to make sure all of your medication comes from the same pharmacist when possible. The pharmacist can help you with any side effects they may have when combined with other medications. Having a personal care at home provider helps ensure your loved one takes each medication when she needs it and how she needs will help your loved one get what she needs. A personal care at home provider can also help by noticing if one medication seems to be causing adverse side effects when combined with a new one. This is always important to watch for, especially when introducing a new medication.
2. Communication. Even though your loved one might have different specialists, each specialist must be aware of all of your loved one’s health conditions. This can help them determine which medications will be safe with the others as well as know which treatments will be better received by your loved one.
3. Understand the benefits and risks. Most treatments and medications have both benefits and risks. Talk to your loved one about both. She may decide she doesn’t like the risks or adverse health issues of treatment, thus requesting other options that might be better received. It’s important to understand you never have to do something the doctor prescribes so if your loved one is unsure, ask about options.
4. Look for treatments that have no side effects. These might include more homeopathic treatments like chiropractic or massage. They might include a change in diet or an increase in activity. A personal care at home provider can help your loved one reduce the salt in her diet or help her with gentle stretches in the morning. The nice thing about implementing these types of self-care practices is that they rarely have negative side effects.
5. Speak up if something isn’t working. Tell your loved one to let you or her personal care at home provider know right away if she’s suffering from side effects or pain from a new medication or treatment. The sooner you know and then the sooner her doctor knows, the sooner she can get relief.

Having a small team on your loved one’s healthcare team who are all aware of all of the players will help make sure every health condition is managed without causing adverse side effects to the other conditions.

If you or an aging loved one are considering personal care at home in Lexington, NC, contact the caring professionals at TenderHearted Home Care today. Call us at (704) 612-4132