Home Health Care: There are more than 14 million seniors living with diabetes, and there are more who are pre-diabetic.
November is Diabetes Awareness Month so it’s a great time to learn more about the symptoms of diabetes in seniors. If you start to notice these symptoms of diabetes in your senior loved one you should make an appointment for them with their doctor to have their blood sugar levels checked. Diabetes can be a problem for seniors because it can make existing health conditions worse but with help from you and from a home health care provider diabetes can be managed in most cases. The symptoms that you or your senior loved one’s personal care at home provider should watch for are:
Thirsty All The Time
Having increased thirst by itself may not be caused by diabetes. Most seniors are chronically dehydrated and might be thirsty for a variety of reasons including medication that they take, the season of the year, or other illnesses. However, if you notice that your senior loved one is thirsty more often than they used to be and you notice one of these other symptoms also, that could indicate that your senior parent has diabetes.
Increased Frequency of Urination
If your senior loved one is using the bathroom a lot more than they used to that’s a strong indicator of diabetes. If your senior loved one wears incontinence pads it may be harder for you or for a Home Health Care provider to know if your senior loved one is urinating more frequently but if you find that you are using a lot more incontinence pads or that pads need to be changed more often than they used to those are signs of more frequent urination.
Blurry Vision
If your senior loved one starts to complain about blurry vision or having sudden bouts of trouble seeing that is your cue to get them to a doctor as soon as possible. Diabetic retinopathy, or eye problems related to diabetes, can be very serious. It can cause blindness or permanent vision changes if it’s not treated and if the underlying diabetes isn’t brought under control. Take your senior loved one to an eye doctor. The eye doctor will first check your senior loved one’s vision and look for any of the usual changes in the eye that happen when a senior develops diabetes.
Tingling In Hands and Feet
A pins and needles type tingling in the hands and feet, which is called neuropathy, can be caused by diabetes. There may be medications that can help with that feeling but the best way to treat neuropathy pain in many individuals is to get the diabetes under control. Lifestyle changes like eating a healthy diet and getting exercise most days each week combined with insulin therapy can often reverse or at least reduce the pain caused by neuropathy. Exercise can also help neuropathy by boosting the circulatory system and increasing blood flow to those affected areas.
If you or someone you know needs Home Health Care in Mankato, MN, contact Adara Home Health Care. We provide quality and affordable home care services for many fragile or senior members in the communities we serve.
Call us at (888) 660-5772 for more information.