Pain can be so frustrating to witness. You and your senior may not know what to do or even what has caused the pain she’s experiencing. These ideas can help you to narrow down that information so you can use it in the future.
Determine When the Pain Began
Intermittent pain is tough to pin down. One piece of data that can help is when the pain started. It might have started in correlation with a minor injury or even with a major event that somehow didn’t seem connected. Do what you can to work out with your senior when exactly the pain started showing up. If the pain changed in a big way, it can help to note that, too.
Track How Often the Pain Occurs
Something else to consider is how often the pain is showing up. Is it something that hits every day or is it happening with big weather shifts? Chronic pain that dramatically affects your senior’s daily activities can be a huge debilitating factor. It’s also a lot different from pain that shows up on a much less frequent basis. The frequency of the pain can also help you to notice what might be causing it.
Does Anything Help? Or Make it Worse?
It also helps to keep track of what you and your senior try in terms of pain management. Do anti-inflammatory over-the-counter medications make the pain worse or better? That can tell you a lot. Maybe moving a bit helps, or ice packs relieve the pain. Whatever it is that you’ve tried gives you a little bit more information that you can use to keep on troubleshooting.
Keep a Log of Potential Triggers as You Find Them
As you narrow down potential triggers of pain, you’re going to be able to see patterns much more easily. That can allow you to make more solid conjectures about what might help your senior at a given moment. It helps to keep a log of all this information. That way when elder care providers step in to help, for instance, they have that information you’ve worked so hard to collect.
Talk to your senior’s doctor about new pains and pain that won’t go away. There may be other health considerations to keep in mind while you’re sorting through all these issues for her and this information can help get to an answer.
Excerpt: Pain can be absolutely debilitating for your aging family member. Knowing and understanding her pain triggers can help.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering Elder Care in High Point, NC, please contact the caring staff at Affordable Family Care. Serving Raleigh, Greensboro, and the surrounding areas in North Carolina. Call today 919-676-1070.
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