Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to serious health issues, including heart disease and stroke. Here are some things you can do to help your senior to get back on track with her blood pressure.
Talk to Your Senior about What She’s Experiencing
Talk with your elderly family member about what’s going on with her blood pressure. Ask her what she’s finding difficult about managing her blood pressure and what she sees as the biggest obstacle to getting her numbers back under control. There’s not always a lot that your senior can do, but making the changes that she can make alleviates a lot of stress.
Set Some Goals with Her Doctor’s Help
Talk to your aging family member’s doctor, too. If she hasn’t been on medication yet, maybe it’s time for that. Or, if there are other changes that she’s been resisting, it might be time to put together a real plan for managing your elderly family member’s blood pressure. Work out some goals together as a team so that you can start to put those plans in motion.
Listen When Your Senior Needs to Talk
Dealing with a chronic health issue is not easy. It’s especially not easy if your elderly family member is having to make changes to her lifestyle that she doesn’t want to make. She may not have chosen to start exercising, for instance, but now feels that’s unavoidable. When she needs to vent, be an ear for her.
Track Results with Her
Keeping track of your senior’s blood pressure readings at home helps her to see what’s working and what isn’t. Many people with high blood pressure find that they’re able to keep it under control with diet and exercise. Even if that’s not the case for your senior, having some readings to take to her doctor can help with formulating new goals and plans.
Find Solutions that Help Her to Stick to Her Plan
You may find as you go along that there are other obstacles in your senior’s way of keeping her blood pressure under control. Find solutions along the way that help her to work around those obstacles. If she’s experiencing cognitive challenges, for instance, it might help to have elderly care providers there with her to remind her to exercise and to eat healthy foods.
Whatever is in the way of your senior’s quest to lower her blood pressure may be more manageable than she believes. With your help, she can learn ways to cope and may start to have greater success.
IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE IS CONSIDERING ELDERLY CARE IN BRADENTON, FL, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT HOME HELPERS OF BRADENTON. CALL TODAY: (941) 499-5946
