Two of the biggest issues you’ll face when your mom has Alzheimer’s are daily medications and diet. She won’t remember to take medications without being reminded. She may be in the kitchen or bathroom, see her pills and not realize she’s taken them. If you’re not careful, she may take a second, third, or even fourth dosage.
Whiteboards and pill dispensers may help for a while. As she forgets how to read or what day it is, the medications have to get locked away.
Diet is another issue. She will lose the cues that dictate when she’s hungry and when she’s not. She may refuse to eat foods she used to love. You soon find that she won’t eat anything but French bread, pea soup, bananas, and yogurts sweetened with sugar and fruit.
If your mom has Alzheimer’s and is diagnosed with diabetes as well, it can be very hard to navigate. She prefers sugary foods, which are not good choices. She forgets how or when to check her blood sugar levels. She cannot understand why she has to have shots of insulin. In fact, she doesn’t even remember she has diabetes, so the treatments frighten her each and every time.
Track and Share Blood Sugar Readings, Insulin Doses, and Diet.
Managing diabetes requires constant attention to symptoms of blood sugar levels that are too high or too low. Your mom may not be able to tell you when that happens. She might not be able to tell you she’s very thirsty, feeling lightheaded, or having problems with her vision.
Family caregivers have to keep a diary of testing times and readings, insulin injections, and what’s been consumed. You must keep up with this. If there are multiple caregivers, this information must be shared with everyone. Online programs and apps like Carezone can help.
Don’t Be Ashamed if You Need Help.
Don’t be ashamed to admit you can’t handle this amount of care. If you need a senior care professional to come in and assist you with your mom’s care, hire one. Skilled nursing care can help you administer tests and insulin injections, caregivers can reduce your load by taking over meal preparation and housework.
Make sure you have the support you need. Call us to discuss the ways caregivers can help you provide the best care for your mom. All it takes is a phone call to learn more about the ways caregivers help with diabetes and Alzheimer’s care.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring senior care in Edison, NJ, call the caring staff at Helping Hands Home Care today at 908-418-4299. Providing Home Care Services in all of Northern and Central NJ, including Clark, Westfield, Cranford, Scotch Plains, Rahway, Linden, Summit, Edison, Elizabeth, Mountainside and the surrounding areas.
After graduating from Seton Hall University with a BS in finance Helping Hands Homecare’s Owner / President, Robert D’Arienzo, went to work on Wall St. for six years. However, after Robert’s grandmother became ill with stomach cancer Robert and his family needed to find assistance in the home for her. After many trials and tribulations Robert could see that there was a great need for quality home care services here in NJ and loved the idea of being able to assist other families who were going through what his family went through with his beloved grandmother.
Thus, Robert had found his passion. After almost a year of preparation Robert opened Helping Hands Homecare in 2003. Robert wanted Helping Hands Homecare to focus on providing the highest quality of caregivers, exceptional customer service, and providing a service that familys could depend on in their time of need. Since then Helping Hands has assisted hundreds of individuals with the simplest of needs to more complex cases while preserving those standards set out many years ago.
Robert is a Google Verified Author
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