Several weeks ago, a dear family friend of mine suffered a devastating stroke. For a few days, his family members didn’t know if he would survive this event. Thankfully, he did. Now, he is undergoing the slow recovery process in a nursing home. Since his stroke, his family has been amazing. They visit him daily at the nursing facility. They have even decorated his room in an effort to make him feel like he is at home. If your loved one has recently been admitted to a nursing home, don’t despair. You may be able to help your loved one adjust to this living situation better by being supportive. On this blog, you will discover the ways to make your loved one’s transition to a nursing home easier.
A Home Away from Home
The Importance Of Seniors Taking Their Medications As Directed
Johnny Rodriguez
The average senior takes more than five prescription medications daily, and seniors living in nursing homes often take more than this. Taking these pills as directed is important for a senior's health and safety, but many seniors have trouble with this. If your senior parent lives alone and is experiencing problems taking his or her medications properly, you may want to consider moving him or her to an assisted living facility. While this is not the only reason people move to these facilities, it is a problem that can be solved if your parent is willing to move to a place where help is available. Here are three things to understand about this.
Why seniors have trouble with taking medications properly
Taking the right amount of medication at the right times is vital for a person to have optimal health. The problem is that many seniors get confused with their medications. They may forget to take their pills, or they might take too many pills simply because they forgot they took them.
As the child of a senior parent, you could try to help him or her with this by arranging the medication in a pill container, but this still might not work. If you are worried about this and other issues, you may want to talk to your parent about moving to an assisted living facility.
The problems that can happen from not taking medications properly
There are several key issues with seniors taking medication. For one, seniors are more likely to overdose on medications or experience adverse reactions from mixing medications because of the amount of prescription drugs they take. If a senior takes too many pills at a time or in one day, or if he or she mixes the wrong medications, health problems can occur.
On the other hand, seniors can also experience problems if they are not taking enough pills each day. For example, if a senior is supposed to take an anti-anxiety pill each day and forgets to do this, he or she might suddenly begin feeling nervous, overwhelmed, and upset. If a senior is supposed to take insulin pills and forgets, he or she may have problems with high blood sugar levels.
When people move into assisted living centers, they receive help in a number of ways. One important way is medication management. If your parent needs help with this and in other ways, you may want to start looking for an assisted living facility (such as Harbor View Home) for him or her to move to.
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