Part 2 – Managing Diabetes in the Elderly
Managing diabetes in the elderly can pose a challenge to caregivers. Your elder may also have other health conditions that need to be taken into consideration as you try to control the diabetes such as heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke to name a few. Untreated diabetes can lead to other problems like loss of eyesight, foot problems, and hearing impairment.
The goal of managing diabetes in the elderly is to keep the diabetes in control and prevent future health issues caused by diabetes.
Diabetes forces people to make huge changes in their lives. All their lives they have been able to eat whatever sweets whenever they wanted and exercise however they wanted. Now that a person is diagnosed as diabetic their easy going lifestyle must change, diet changes, how they exercise may change too. Diet cola! Thirty years ago there wasn’t such a thing a diet soda! Oh and in the South – sweet tea is a staple!!
My Dad was a diabetic. This brought many challenges to our family. The biggest problem was that Dad loved sweets – chocolate anything, cakes, candy, pies, and anything with sugar. My Mom was very clever; she would hide the candy in the dishwasher. Dad never would look in there!
When Dad got near the end of his life he couldn’t swallow food. Some of the food that he ate went into his lungs. The little flap in the throat that opens and closes when you eat to close off the airway didn’t work for him after his last stroke. Our family chose to put him on a feeding tube in order to keep the food out of his lungs and stop the pneumonia. At that point we thought that he may gain this ability back, but he never did. Our issue with the tube feeding is that there are very few nutritional formulas that are made for diabetics and there are none that are concentrated. Dad’s other issue was that he had congestive heart failure and he could only have a certain amount of liquids a day or it would send him to the hospital. Our family had a huge time with trying to control his diabetes.
The big question is “So how do I control my elder’s diabetes?” This is a very difficult question to answer, but I do have some hints for you:
- Work with your elder’s physician closely. This doctor plays a huge role in the health of your elder. Your elder may need to see a specialist that deals with diabetics (usually an Endocrinologist) as a normal part of their practice. It is ok to “step out of the box” and go to another doctor other than the doctor they have been to for 30 years.
- Follow the diet that the doctor has given your elder.
- Get your elder active for 30 minutes a day. Exercise plays a key role in the overall health and treatment of diabetes.
- Have your elder take the medicine for diabetes (if they are on one) on schedule.
- Check your elder’s blood sugar as the doctor has indicated and keep track of your blood sugar levels. Remember they may need to help with this task.
- Do a foot check daily for cuts, bruises, sores, swelling, blisters etc. Untreated infections of the foot can lead to amputation.
- Be sure your elder brushes and flosses their teeth every day. The mouth is a huge source of bacteria that can harm you elder if not cared for properly.
- Maintain a good blood pressure and keep their cholesterol numbers in the good range. Make sure they are taking their blood pressure medications.
- Encourage your diabetic elder not to smoke. Smoking compounds the chances to get more of the complications from diabetes such as vision, hearing, kidney disease, etc.
Managing diabetes in the elderly can be a challenge for caregivers, just remember that you may have to take baby steps to get them on board with the doctor’s plan and just keep plugging along it will help them maintain a healthy life.
Mary Davis was a caregiver for her parents for 4 ½ years after both her Mom and Dad had strokes. Mary is the owner of 2 elder care websites (http://www.careforyourelderblog.com
http://www.secretsofeldercare.com/) and author of 9 e-books.
Read original blog post
Recent Comments