In-Home Care: In our lungs, there are air sacs that are called alveoli.
In the case of pneumonia, infection causes inflammation in these air sacs. The inflammation causes the air sacs to flood with fluid or pus and make it difficult for oxygen to flow through the bloodstream. Eventually, this causes breathing problems along with high fever, chills, and other symptoms. These symptoms differ and worsen depending on age, overall health, and the intensity of the infection. Pneumonia can affect one or both of the lungs at a time. In-home care services can help your loved ones to manage these difficulties- their professional knowledge and required care that will eventually reduce the difficulties for the family too
Symptoms of pneumonia:
Though the symptoms may be different from patient to patient, generally, elderly adults with pneumonia have breathing difficulty, and may also have a mild fever. In other cases, seniors could even have a normal body temperature as well. Seniors with pneumonia may also show signs of confusion, dilemma, inattentive mental awareness in general. There are some common indication are given below:
Severe breathing difficulties
Continuous coughing with phlegm
Chest pain
Fatigue
Experiencing delirium
Lack of an appetite
Rapid breathing
Complications in pneumonia:
Seniors are always at risk of complications and the following complications in pneumonia can be deadly.
Bacteremia: A fatal infection that can spread through the bloodstream to the other vital organs and can cause fatal damages.
Pleurisy: In this case, the membrane of the lung gets inflamed and it needs surgery in most cases to drain the infected fluid.
Lung abscess: A pus-filled cavity that can develop in the infected area.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS): This can happen when the infection damages the lungs severely- which may cause lung failure and needs mechanical ventilator respiratory support.
Preventive measures:
You can safeguard your loved ones from being affected in the first place with the following measures:
Getting the pneumococcal vaccine
Getting the influenza vaccine each year
Washing hands regularly with disinfectants
Avoid smoking
Taking healthy lifestyle choices in diet, physical activity etc.
Conclusion: How You Can Help a Senior with Pneumonia
The course of treatment in case of pneumonia depends mainly upon the root cause of the illness. The main goal of the treatment is always to eradicate the infection and defend against any complications to occur.
At the same time, treating the symptoms and difficulties to help your aging loved ones to feel better, is one of the challenges which can be minimized by employing in-home care services. In case of bacterial pneumonia, antibiotics will treat the infection but leave some side effects untreated that later on will also require professional care.
It is also absolutely important for your senior to take all their medicine and finish the course as prescribed by the doctor. It’s often observed that once the patient starts feeling better, they stop or ignore the medication. Not completing the antibiotic may cause the infection to come back and make things worse. So, having an in-home care agency may be a good overall solution in the long run for your loved one. Call us today and review your options!
If you or an aging loved-one is considering In-Home Care in Taunton, MA, please contact the caring staff at Cranberry Home Care today. 508-946-2200
Sources:
https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/rapidly-managing-pneumonia-in-older-people-during-a-pandemic/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2917114/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4072047/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/8-things-you-should-know-about-pneumonia
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