Watching your parents age can be really difficult. Hence, it is essential to accept the realities to ensure that your parents get required care they deserve. This will not only help them age gracefully but also with dignity and support. That’s why recognizing the signs and gestures that indicate your parents need home care is of utmost importance. Here are 8 gestures that will help you understand whether your parents require in-home care.
#1. Forgetting Obligations, Appointments, and Meetings:
Forgetfulness can be early signs of Alzheimer’s or Dementia. Patients who have started to miss appointments, meetings, etc. may be demonstrating early signs of memory loss. If your parents start to forget important obligations and meetings, it should be understood that they need additional help.
#2. Difficulty in Standing On Their Own:
If you’ve noticed your parents facing troubles while standing up on their own, it’s better you call for in-home help. Although this seems to be a small problem, these may be early signs of Arthritis. You should keep in mind, at this stage your parents can easily get stuck for hours without help.
#3. Bruising on Your Parents’ Body:
When old adults have mobility issues, they find it difficult to walk and move around. This leads to unexpected falls further leading to unexplained injuries. Although your parents may try to play it off as nothing, it is your job to check for injuring. If you feel that you cannot be present while such accidents happen, it is best to hire an in-house caregiver.
#4. Having Poor Personal And Home Hygiene:
You may notice that the trash hasn’t been taken out for days or the refrigerator is filled with rotten food. You may also notice that your parents have stopped showering for some time leading to increased body odor. That not only indicates simple forgetfulness but also having poor hygiene. Poor Hygiene may not only lead to infections but also other unpleasant diseases.
#5. Being Forgetful and Confused:
Forgetfulness can be early signs of Alzheimer’s. This also leads to staying frustrated, cranky, getting lost and display signs of confusion. Forgetting critical things like taking medication or having meals may affect one’s health condition seriously. Early signs of Alzheimer’s or Dementia warrants additional assistance.
#6. Living in Seclusion:
Do you find your parents staying at home most of the time? This is because they’ve lost interest in the outside world. This is known as seclusion. This can be really dangerous as seclusion contributes to the development of Alzheimer’s or Dementia.
#7. Unusual Weight Loss or Gain:
Sudden and unusual weight gain or loss of your parents indicate poor diet routines. Poor diet can lead to various diseases hence, this needs to be checked.
#8. Depression:
It is common for elders to suffer from depression especially if their spouse has passed away. In this case, a caregiver can be appointed how can help providing companionship.
#9. Boredom:
Elders often stay bored and the cause of this is often found to be complete isolation from the outside world. In-home caregivers can help in such situations by talking to them, playing games or even taking them to social gatherings.
#10. Frequent Mood Swings:
Extreme moodiness or frequent mood swings in elders suggests that they are suffering from early stages of Depression or Alzheimer’s. This is another dangerous warning sign that you should consider. In-home caregivers can help in monitoring the elders’ activities. This will help reduce the risk of their mental health getting worse.
These are 5 important gestures that you should consider looking in your parents in order to ensure their safety. If you find you have recently experienced these gestures from your parents, it is best to consult a physician right away. Check out this infographic shared by 123 HomeCare for more information.
Author Bio: Brandon Shamis has been a core part of 123homecares he is handling the role of operation head. 123 home cares is one of the best and most trusted non-medical home care companies we focus on delivering the highest quality of care in the easiest and most convenient way possible.
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