Atrial fibrillation, or AFib, is a heart condition that causes a fluctuating heartbeat. The blood doesn’t move well through the body because of the abnormal heart rhythm, which can cause a variety of complications like heart failure, stroke, and even blood clots. It’s a serious health condition that brings with it side effects like shortness of breath and serious fatigue. If your elderly family member has been diagnosed with AFib, she may need to consider making some changes to her life, like hiring help from senior home care.
Ensure She Gets Regular Checkups
Your elderly family member’s doctor needs to keep a close eye on how she’s doing and how her treatment plan is working for her. That’s a lot easier when your senior is going to her follow-up appointments as scheduled. If it’s too complicated or even dangerous for your elderly family member to get there on her own, senior home care can take her to those appointments.
Help Her to Follow Her Treatment Plan
It’s also vital that your elderly family member is following her treatment plan accurately. Remembering to take medications as prescribed is crucial, as is making any lifestyle changes that her doctor has recommended. This is also something that’s a lot easier with assistance, and home care providers can help your senior to stay on target.
Prioritize Sleep and Rest
Getting plenty of rest, including quality sleep, is helpful for your elderly family member’s entire well-being, but it’s especially important with heart illnesses like AFib. If sleep is a problem for your elderly family member, talk with her doctor about what she’s experiencing. There may be other causes for her sleep issues and it’s important to dig deeper into those.
Talk with Her Doctor about Diet and Exercise
Another conversation for your senior’s doctor is whether exercise and dietary adjustments are good ideas for your senior. People who are carrying a little bit of extra weight find AFib even more difficult to manage, so losing a few pounds may also be on the list of things to do. Making changes to activity levels and to diet can be easier with help from senior home care professionals.
Reduce Stress as Much as Possible
Stress takes a toll on everyone’s health. That means that your elderly family member needs to find ways to manage her stress as much as she can. Practicing mindfulness, exercising, and resting when she can all can help with this. Having help from senior home care professionals can also relieve more stress than your senior realizes. She can be dealing with pressure to keep up with her home and all of the other tasks that need to be done, which is much more difficult as she ages and as health problems become more of an issue.
Managing atrial fibrillation properly can help your elderly family member to have the quality of life that she needs and wants at this stage of her life. Following her treatment plan as closely as possible helps her medical team to keep up with what is working for her and what isn’t.
Source
https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/atrial-fibrillation/default.htm
If you or an aging loved one is considering senior home care in Manteca, CA, please contact the caring staff at Provident Care Home Care today at (209) 578-1210.
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