Senior and aging parents or loved ones often need specialized medical attention. Maintaining and achieving optimal wellness for geriatric patients is beyond medicine. Effective care for the elderly is a teamwork job for both caregivers and health professionals. They both come together to provide a safe environment for their seniors and manage their health conditions. Geriatric care in Conroe has taken this to another level by providing both compassionate and medical approaches needed to treat their patients.
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Common geriatric health issues
Urinary incontinence
This is a condition where a person is unable to control their bladder and leaks. This leads to isolation and causes embarrassment. This disease can affect anyone, but it’s common in older people, especially women. If an experienced geriatrician treats the condition, it can be controlled and cured.
Symptoms of urinary incontinence cannot be related directly to a person’s ability to control elimination. Problems with walking, mobility can prevent elders from moving around to help themselves. Slow reactions or pain from arthritis due to medications can make you not get to the bathroom on time.
Sleep apnea
This is a condition where people stop breathing in their sleep. People with this disease seize breathing almost hundreds of times during the night, for as long as a minute. Sleep apnea is more frequent in men than women, especially among African-American and Hispanic men.
If this condition is left untreated, you can have severe and life-threatening consequences. Lack of reinstating sleep in patients has been pinned down from strokes, high blood pressures, heart disease, and depression to automobile accidents.
Sleep apnea is treatable through a diagnosis, lifestyle changes, and simple devices. Many breathing assistants are available to help reduce the condition. The geriatrician might help treat and assess the cause of sleep apnea, such as high blood pressure, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
Osteoporosis
This is a loss of bone tissue, which occurs with age and leads to fragile and weak bones. Osteoporosis accelerates the risk of broken bones during a fall, especially in the wrist and hip. Most of those who have osteoporosis and the consequences of the falls are women. At the age of 50 and older, women are most likely to get an osteoporosis-related fracture. Some 40% of women experience a broken bone due to osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis medical treatment is based on stopping or slowing down bone loss and determining the correct pain threshold for the condition. A geriatrician can identify osteoporosis and plan referrals to the right specialist if needed. A geriatrician can also help with intuitions concerning exercise and diet to help the elderly manage living with the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder, which destroys memory slowly. It can stop the ability to perform even the simplest tasks for daily living. It happens to be the most common cause of dementia. Symptoms of the diseases first disappear in the mid-60s. Memory issues are the first signs, but symptoms can vary from person to person.
Alzheimer’s disease is not preventable. But several lifestyle risk factors that might contribute to or intensify Alzheimer’s can be modified. A geriatrician may help guide the patient’s family in dealing with this disease.
While treating a geriatric patient, the living environment and the family plays an important role. Providing activities for daily living, such as social engagement, exercise, diet, and managing the patient’s symptoms, contribute to the patient’s emotional well-being. Geriatric care can help the family go through these challenges through support strategies and direct supervision.
