This is written from the heart and personal experience. The elderly are not always regarded that way by their offspring until they have an accident or a bout of bad illness. And because they are "seniors" (as I prefer to call them) they do not recover as quickly, and often live alone.
This happened to me. My father had a serious accident on the stairs, which would have killed many people regardless of age. During his stay with us, I learned from his friends that he had had symptoms of illness for the past few weeks, such as confusion. After having 3 doctors visit, we discovered that he had a bad water infection.
Water infections can make a person act really confused. It can affect them so badly and last for months, and some symptoms can be similar to that of having a stroke.
I wanted to share some recommendations:
Try to be in touch with their friends; the people they see the most
Make sure at least one local trusted person has a key
If they act confused, have their urine tested for a water infection
Infections are NOT limited to just one - they may also have a chest infection
Try and talk to them before something happens - so that if you need to start caring for them their is no embarrassment
If you do not feel happy with one doctors findings, get another option, and like in my case, even a third opinion
DO not expect doctors to initiate investigations about the CAUSE, as they may just treat the symptom or injury
I just hope that this may help even one person who has been in my situation. Thanks for reading
This happened to me. My father had a serious accident on the stairs, which would have killed many people regardless of age. During his stay with us, I learned from his friends that he had had symptoms of illness for the past few weeks, such as confusion. After having 3 doctors visit, we discovered that he had a bad water infection.
Water infections can make a person act really confused. It can affect them so badly and last for months, and some symptoms can be similar to that of having a stroke.
I wanted to share some recommendations:
Try to be in touch with their friends; the people they see the most
Make sure at least one local trusted person has a key
If they act confused, have their urine tested for a water infection
Infections are NOT limited to just one - they may also have a chest infection
Try and talk to them before something happens - so that if you need to start caring for them their is no embarrassment
If you do not feel happy with one doctors findings, get another option, and like in my case, even a third opinion
DO not expect doctors to initiate investigations about the CAUSE, as they may just treat the symptom or injury
I just hope that this may help even one person who has been in my situation. Thanks for reading