Whether your elderly family member has a family history of diabetes or is suddenly dealing with this condition out of the blue, it's essential to have the right plan in place. Your elderly family member needs all the support that she can get from her medical team, you, and in-home care providers. You can all work together to ensure she has what she needs to stay as healthy as possible.
Learn Everything You Can about How Diabetes Affects Your Senior
No matter how advanced your senior's diabetes is, you and she need to learn as much as possible about how it impacts her daily life. Work with her doctors to ensure you've got all the information you need to create a solid care plan. As her situation changes over time, that plan needs to be adjusted.
Help Your Senior to Find Ways to Stay Positive
Being overly optimistic isn't a good idea because your senior needs to be realistic about her health. But that doesn't mean you need to abandon positivity. Finding ways to stay optimistic about changes that support her health can help your elderly family member embrace those changes. Keeping your elderly family member's life happy also helps her to stay healthier.
Look for Simple Ways to Adjust Her Diet
Your senior may worry that she needs to make significant shifts in her diet to start making a difference with her diabetes. Significant changes can yield big results, but they're also more challenging to maintain over the long run. It's much better to start with more minor, simple changes that are easy for your senior to adapt. In-home care providers can make keeping up with dietary changes even more manageable.
Focus Less on Numbers and More on How She's Feeling
At first, your senior might focus a lot on whether her glucose numbers are "right" or "good" or not. Sticking with her care plan and following her doctor's recommendations will be the best way for your senior to see improvement in her glucose numbers. Elder care providers can help your senior remember to test, take medications, and stick to her daily routine. A routine full of healthy activities, quality sleep, and healthy food supports your senior's goals related to her overall health.
Get Assistance to Make Life Easier
Having the best possible quality of life might mean that your elderly family member has the support and hands-on assistance she needs daily. In-home care providers can take care of the daily tasks that might be getting more complicated for your senior to handle independently. Freeing her from those responsibilities can help her focus more on her health.
Getting the best handle on her diabetes takes time for your senior. With your help and the help of other caregivers, she can learn what she needs to do to get the best results possible.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring In-Home Care in Bel Air, CA, please call Mom's Home Care and talk to our friendly, knowledgeable staff.
Our number is 323-244-4789.