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Better Health While Aging

Practical information for aging health & family caregivers

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Helping Older Parents Articles

Wondering whether you should worry? Having trouble getting parents to accept help? Overwhelmed by challenges and concerns?

This part of the site is especially for you! It includes our hand-picked articles, tips, & resources for people helping older parents.

Medicare: The ABCDs to Know & Tips for Open Enrollment

by Michelle Allen, LCSW

Every year, Medicare has an open enrollment period: October 15 – December 7.

During this time, Medicare beneficiaries can do the following:

  • Switch from Original Medicare to Medicare Advantage, or vice versa;
  • Switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another;
  • Change Medicare Part D (prescription drug) plan; or
  • Enroll in a Medicare Part D (a late enrollment penalty may apply).

Medicare health and drug plans can make changes each year—things like cost, coverage, and what providers and pharmacies are in their networks.  It is important for Medicare beneficiaries to review their current plans, options, and needs for the next year. Many beneficiaries fail to take any action during open enrollment; Medicare is not a “set it and forget it” insurance plan.

Before you can start deciding if and what to change about your Medicare benefits, you have to understand the basics of Medicare.

In this article, I’ll review the basics of Medicare Parts A, B, C and D. Then, I’ll share some tips on navigating the Medicare Open Enrollment period and how to get help, if you’re considering making a switch or if you need help affording the Medicare premiums.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles

Financial Exploitation in Aging: What to Know & What to Do

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Here’s an upsetting situation that comes up a lot, and may have come up for you: is someone financially taking advantage of Mom or Dad?

It’s a pretty legitimate concern to have. To begin with, most people know that there are plenty of “scammers” out there, phoning or mailing older adults with deceptive information designed to hoodwink them out of some of their savings.

But there’s actually another form of exploitation that may be more common, and is often harder for families to address.

That would be exploitation perpetrated by a someone the older person knows and has a personal relationship with.

Sometimes the person suspected of exploitation is relatively new to the older person’s life, such as a new romantic interest, friend, or paid caregiver.

In other cases, family members become concerned that someone in the family – such as one of the older person’s children – is beginning to take financial advantage of things.

Exploitation in the context of personal relationships is often especially tricky for families to address. The older person may be quite attached to – or otherwise feel dependent on – the person that others perceive as suspicious or problematic. Or there may be concerns about stirring up family dramas and conflicts, by voicing concerns about a sibling or another relative.

People are often unsure of what exactly constitutes illegal activity, and what can be done if they are concerned about financial exploitation.

So in this article, I’ll cover the key things you should know, so that you can better evaluate and address a worrisome situation, should one arise.

Specifically, in this article I’ll explain:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles Tagged With: elder abuse, financial concerns, memory

Flu Shots for Older Adults During COVID Times: What to Know & Do for 2022

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

It’s that time of the year: fall, which I think of as flu vaccination time.

I always think getting a flu vaccine is a good idea for most older adults. In these COVID pandemic times, I think it’s even more important.  So I agree with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which is urging that people get vaccinated against influenza early in the fall (before the end of October 2022).

Now, vaccination against seasonal influenza can seem like a bit of a tricky topic. Many older adults are skeptical of the need to get a yearly vaccination against influenza. They aren’t sure it will help. Or they think that the vaccination will actually give them a mild case of the flu. Or they just don’t like needles.

Or maybe they aren’t sure which type of seasonal flu shot to get: the regular one or one of the newer “stronger” versions, designed for older adults?

And now that we have COVID-19 to contend with, vaccination for seasonal influenza might feel even more confusing for people. 

Don’t let yourself be confused. In this article, I will share with you what I know about influenza vaccination and what I’ve learned about influenza in COVID times. I also have updates on the new stronger flu vaccines that are now recommended for older adults.

 

This year, I agree with the CDC that it’s important for people to get their seasonal flu shot,  and if you are an older adult, I recommend getting one of the three flu vaccines specifically recommended for older adults. (See below for more on these!)

Among other things: although we’ve had some milder flu seasons these past few years, Australia just had its worst flu season in five years and experts say we should be prepared to see more flu circulating this year.

Note: If you are age 65 or older and it’s been more than 2 months since your last COVID booster, you may be able to get your COVID fall booster shot at the same time. (For more on the new bivalent COVID booster , see COVID Vaccination & Boosters for Aging Adults: What to Know & Do.)

In “normal” pre-COVID times, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that every year, influenza affects 9-45 million Americans, causes 140,000-810,100 hospitalizations, and results in 12,000-61,000 deaths. In most years, influenza vaccination does help reduce hospitalizations and deaths (I go into details below).

And now this fall, this will be our third winter dealing with COVID-19 as well. As of September 2022, we still have 400-500 people dying of COVID every day, and my recent review of CDC data suggested that over 80% of the deaths are in people over age 65. We don’t know for sure what will happen this fall, but since COVID seems to spread more when people are indoors and in proximity to the exhalations of others, it’s certainly possible that COVID could get worse again this winter.

So this year,  it’s important to do what you can to reduce respiratory illness, to protect yourself, and to protect others. And getting vaccinated against influenza is one of the things we can do.

In fact, I’m about to go get mine. As a healthy woman in her 40s, I’m not that concerned about getting dangerously ill from influenza. Instead, I get my annual flu shot because I want to minimize my chance of getting sick and perhaps exposing my older patients to influenza.

Here’s what I’ll cover in this article:

  • The basics of influenza and vaccination against the flu
  • What we know about influenza and COVID-19
  • What to know about flu shots for older adults & the CDC’s new recommendations specifically for older adults
  • What’s new and resources for the 2022-2023 flu season
  • Which influenza vaccination is probably best for most older adults
  • What to do if your older parent or relative is unwilling or unable to get vaccinated
  • Whether it’s more important to get a flu shot or a COVID vaccination (or a booster)
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles

5 Ways to Help Someone Age in Place

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Aging Farmer

People of all older ages often tell me they hope to age in place.

Meaning, they want to be able to remain in their home and community, even as time brings changes to life, health, and abilities.

These days, many older people do end up moving, often reluctantly. And this doesn’t have to be a bad thing; I find that after a period of adjustment, many aging adults enjoy their new homes and communities. But no one likes the thought that they might *have* to move, because it’s become too difficult or risky to remain in one’s preferred home.

Now, as for all things in life and health and aging, it’s impossible to guarantee the outcome we want. But, as in almost all things in life and health and aging, there’s plenty you can do to put the odds in your favor, when it comes to aging in place.

The key is to understand what often interferes with remaining in one’s home. Then you can think about how to anticipate, prevent, or work around many of those challenges to aging in place.

In this post, I’ll describe some of the common reasons that I see older adults struggling to age in place. Then I’ll share 5 specific things you can do, to help an older person better age in place.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles

6 Causes of Paranoia in Aging & What to Do

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

paranoid elderly mother

Q: My mother is 80.  She is very active (despite breaking her hip 2 years ago), she still attends water therapy 3 times a week at the YMCA, she drives to the base (which is 20 miles away) and pays her bills on time.  She is a retired Psych nurse and has shown signs in the past of paranoia. 

Lately, she has “heard” voices of her grandchildren in her home and called my sister. She also has difficulty with getting the right words to say out and has her sleep pattern out of whack and will call people at odd times of the night.  With her independence comes the fact she won’t share any medical information because she thinks we are out to get her committed.  

How can I test her/question her to find out the level of decline she may be in to make sure she is safe? — K

A: Great question. As you may know, it’s fairly common for aging parents to develop problems like the ones you are describing. Understandably, these problems are frustrating and worrying for adult children.

You are absolutely right to be concerned about your mom’s safety. I do have some ideas for how you can get started assessing her, which I share below.

But first I want to explain the most common causes of this type of behavior in older adults. That’s because one of the things you must do is help your mother and the doctors figure out why she’s developed these behavior changes and other symptoms.

A fair number of people don’t get around to the medical evaluation because they assume that these crazy behaviors are either normal aging (definitely false) or dementia such as Alzheimer’s (true about 40% of the time).

Furthermore, it’s often hard to get a resistant older parent medically evaluated.

Still, it’s worth persisting in this, because many causes of paranoia or other odd behavior in older people can be treated.

Paranoid symptoms (e.g. believing that someone is out to get you, or is taking your stuff, or is in the house at night) falls into a category of mental symptoms that is technically called “psychosis.”

Symptoms of psychosis can include:

  • Delusions, which means believing things that aren’t true or real.
  • Hallucinations, which means seeing or hearing things that aren’t there.
  • Disorganized thoughts or speech, meaning saying or thinking things that seem illogical or bizarre to others.

Psychosis is uncommon in younger people but becomes much more common as people get older. That’s because any of these symptoms can emerge when people’s brains aren’t working properly for some reason.

A 2015 review article on “late-life psychosis” estimates that 23% of people will develop symptoms of psychosis in late life.

I like this review article because the authors organize the causes of late-life psychosis into six “Ds”:

  • Delirium (10 %).
    • This is a very common condition of “worse-than-usual” mental function, often brought on by the stress of severe illness, surgery, or hospitalization. See 10 Things to Know About Delirium for more.
  • Drugs, alcohol, and other toxins (11%)
    • Medication side-effects can cause delusions, hallucinations, or other forms of psychosis. Pay special attention to medications known to affect memory and thinking. Abuse of — or withdrawal from — alcohol or other substances can also cause psychosis symptoms.
  • Disease (10%)
    • Many physical health problems can interfere with brain function. These include electrolyte problems such as abnormal levels of sodium, potassium, calcium, or magnesium in the blood, low levels of vitamin B12 or folate, thyroid problems, severe liver or kidney dysfunction, infections, and neurological diseases. Brain damage from minor strokes can also cause psychosis symptoms.
    • Urinary tract infections can cause psychosis, but in my experience, they are almost never the cause of paranoia or other symptoms that have been going on for weeks, months, or longer. (A positive urine culture in an older person who has been having psychosis symptoms for a while probably reflects a colonized bladder.)
  • Depression (33%) and other “mood disorders,” including bipolar disease (5%)
    • About 15% of people with major depression may experience psychotic symptoms. Delusions of guilt or deserved punishment are especially common.
  • Dementia (40%), including Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy-Body dementia, and others
    • Delusions are extremely common in dementia, especially delusions of theft, spousal infidelity, abandonment, and persecution. Hallucinations (especially visual hallucinations) are also common, especially in Lewy-Body dementia. For more on how dementia is diagnosed, see How We Diagnose Dementia: The Practical Basics to Know.
  • Delusional disorder (2%) and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (1%)
    • These two conditions have many symptoms that overlap with those of dementia, delirium, or other conditions affecting thinking. Doctors must exclude these more common conditions before diagnosing a person with schizophrenia or delusional disorder. Schizophrenia affects an estimated 0.1-0.5% of people over age 65. Many were diagnosed earlier in life but some people can develop the condition later in life. Delusional disorder affects an estimated 0.03% of older adults.

The authors of this review article also note that it’s common for older adults to have vision and hearing problems, both of which can trigger or worsen delusions and hallucinations.

So as you can see, when older adults experience delusions, hallucinations, and paranoid thoughts, there is almost always something more going on with their health. Figuring out what is beneath the “crazy” or “irrational” or “paranoid” behavior is key.

Hence I recommend you keep these six causes of paranoid symptoms in mind, as you try to find out more about how your mom has been doing.

How to check on “levels of decline” and safety

It’s great for you to be proactive and want to help check on your mother safety and situation. Ultimately you’ll need to work with professionals, but you can speed the process along by checking for common red flags, and bringing them to the attention of your mother’s doctor.

As a geriatrician, I generally try to assess an older person in the following five domains:

  • Ability to manage key life tasks
    • These include the ability to manage Activities of Daily Living (key tasks we usually learn as young children, such as walking, dressing, feeding ourselves, and toileting) and also Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (key tasks we learn as teenagers, such as managing finances, transportation, meal preparation, home maintenance, etc).
  • Safety red flags
    • This includes signs of financial vulnerability or exploitation, risky driving, leaving the stove on, wandering, or signs of elder abuse.
  • Physical health red flags
    • These include weight loss, declines in strength or physical abilities, falls, frequent ER visits, and complaints of pain.
  • Mood and brain health red flags
    • These include common signs of depression (especially sadness and/or loss of interest in activities), signs of loneliness or isolation, new or excessive worrying, as well as other signs of memory and thinking problems
  • Medication management red flags
    • These include signs of difficulty taking prescriptions as directed, checking on possible medication side-effects, and identifying medications that are on the Beer’s list of medications that older people should avoid or use with caution.

Because concerned family members often ask me about checking on an older parent, I created a guide with five checklists based on the five sections above.

You can print the guide and use the checklists to spot these red flags that often represent serious safety or health problems.

Now, no guide is going to enable you to diagnose your parent. And no guide can guarantee that you’ve identified and addresses the most important safety issues. You’ll need to work in person with professionals to do that.

But by being methodical in observing your mom and in documenting your observations, you will make it much easier for professionals to figure out why your mother has developed these behaviors you are concerned about.

Also, by identifying specific red flags or problem areas, you’ll be better equipped to work with your mom and other family members on addressing safety concerns. That’s because it’s much more effective to focus on issues that are specific and concrete (“I noticed that you seem to be having trouble with your grocery shopping”), rather than simply telling an aging parent that you are worried about their safety.

Tips on following up on safety issues and memory problems

Once you’ve identified safety issues and signs of underlying health problems, you’ll want to follow up. You’ll need health professionals to help evaluate and manage any underlying health problems, and you may find you need help from other types of experts as well.

If your older parent is paranoid and resisting your involvement, this often becomes a stuck spot for families.

How to get unstuck depends on the situation. Here are some ideas that often help:

  • Relay your concerns to your parent’s doctor. The doctor needs to know about the symptoms and problems. The doctor may also be able to persuade your older parent to accept some help, or even the presence of another family member during medical visits.
    • Patient privacy laws (e.g. HIPAA) do not prevent families from providing information to a person’s doctor over that person’s objections.
    • The doctor will probably not disclose health information to you but may do so under certain circumstances. That’s because when a patient is “incapacitated”, doctors are allowed to disclose relevant health information to family members, if they feel it’s in the best interest of the patient. For more on when health providers may disclose information to family members, see 10 Things to Know About HIPAA & Access to a Relative’s Health Information.
    • If you send your concerns in writing, they will probably be scanned into the medical record.
    • Also ask if any social work services are available through your parent’s health provider.
  • Contact organizations that support older adults and families, for assistance and for referrals. Some good ones to try include:
    • Your local Area Agency on Aging; find it using the locator here.
    • Family Caregiver Alliance. The navigator showing state-by-state services is especially nice.
    • Local non-profits serving seniors and families. Try using Google to find these.
  • Get help from a geriatric care manager (now known as aging life care professionals) or other “senior problems” expert. This usually requires paying out-of-pocket, but can enable more hands-on assistance than is usually available through social workers and non-profits.
    • The ideal person will be good at difficult conversations with older adults, will be able to help you communicate with doctors if necessary, and will know what local resources are available to address any safety or living issues you detect.
  • Get advice from other adult children who have faced similar situations. You can find caregiving forums and message boards online, where people share ideas on getting through these challenges.
    • There’s an active forum of people caring for older relatives at AgingCare.com.  You can find a lot of ideas and support there. However, most such forums have minimal moderation from professionals, so you should double-check on any medical, legal, or financial advice you get.
    • Daughterhood.org is a website and community for people helping older parents. Look to see if they have a local “Circle” near you.
  • Consider contacting Adult Protective Services if you think this might qualify as self-neglect. Self-neglect means an older person is living in a way that puts his or her health, safety, or well-being at risk. It’s not uncommon for older adults with memory or thinking problems to self-neglect.
    • This is considered a form of elder abuse and can be reported to Adult Protective Services (APS).
    • For a good overview of self-neglect and how APS can get involved, see here.
    • In most states, health providers and certain other professionals are “mandated reporters” for elder abuse and self-neglect, which means they are supposed to report any such suspected cases to APS.

When it comes to contacting the doctor and hiring an expert to help, it’s best if you can get your mom’s agreement before proceeding. (Or at least, not have her explicitly forbid you from doing these things). Here are some tips to help with your conversations:

  • Use “I” statements as much as possible. “I’ve noticed you’ve been calling people during the night. I’ve noticed you sometimes have difficulty with your words. I’m concerned and I’ve heard it’s important to have such symptoms evaluated by a doctor, because they can be due to treatable medical problems.”
  • Frame any suggestions you make as a way to help your mother achieve her goals. For most older adults, these include living at home for as long as possible, maintaining good brain function and physical function, and otherwise remaining as independent as possible.
  • Avoid relying on logic. Logic never works well when it comes to emotionally-charged subjects. And it especially doesn’t work if people are experiencing any difficulties with memory or thinking. So don’t expect your mom to be logical and don’t rely on logical arguments to convince her.

For more on approaching a parent who is resistant to help, I explain how to do this in my free online training for families:

Now, if you find it causes your mother intense anxiety or agitation to discuss your concerns and your suggestions for helping her, it may be reasonable to just proceed. After all, you do have reasons to believe that some kind of health issue is affecting her thinking.

So especially if you’ve identified any safety problems, it’s reasonable to move ahead despite her preference that you not intervene.

In closing, I’ll reiterate that this is a very tough situation to navigate, and it usually takes time and persistence for families to make headway. Do try to take care of yourself as you work through this. Connecting with others facing similar challenges is a great way to get support and practical ideas on what to do next.

Good luck!

This article was first published in 2016; it was reviewed & minor updates were made in August 2022.

Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles, Managing relationships, Q&A Tagged With: memory, paranoia, resisting help

Cerebral Small Vessel Disease:
What to Know & What to Do

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Signs of cerebral small vessel disease. From Inzitari et al, BMJ. 2009 Jul 6;339:b2477. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b2477

This article is about the most common aging brain problem that you may have never heard of.

While leading a fall prevention workshop a few years ago, I mentioned that an older person’s walking and balance problems might well be related to the presence of “small vessel ischemic changes” in the brain, which are very common in aging adults.

This led to an immediate flurry of follow-up questions. What exactly are these changes, people wanted to know. Do they happen to every older adult? And how they can best help their parents with cognitive decline?

Well, they don’t happen to every older person, but they do happen to the vast majority of them.  In fact, one study of older adults aged 60-90 found that 95% of them showed signs of these changes on brain MRI.

In other words, if your older parent ever gets an MRI of the head, he or she will probably show some signs of these changes.

So this is a condition that older adults and families should know about. Furthermore, these changes have been associated with problems of consequence to older adults, including:

  • Cognitive decline,
  • Problems with walking or balance,
  • Strokes,
  • Vascular dementia.

Now, perhaps the best technical term for what I’m referring to is “cerebral small vessel disease.” But many other synonyms are used by the medical community — especially in radiology reports. They include:

  • Small vessel ischemic disease
  • White matter disease
  • Periventricular white matter changes
  • Perivascular chronic ischemic white matter disease of aging
  • Chronic microvascular changes, chronic microvascular ischemic changes
  • White matter hyperintensities
  • Age-related white matter changes
  • Leukoaraiosis

In this post, I will explain what all older adults and their families should know about this extremely common condition related to the brain health of older adults.

In particular, I’ll address the following frequently asked questions:

  • What is cerebral small vessel disease (SVD)?
  • What are the symptoms of cerebral SVD?
  • What causes cerebral SVD?
  • How can cerebral SVD be treated or prevented?
  • Should you request an MRI if you’re concerned about cerebral SVD?

I will also address what you can do, if you are concerned about cerebral SVD for yourself or an older loved one.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles Tagged With: alzheimer's, brain health, dementia, memory

How to Manage Sleep Problems in Dementia

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Sleep problems are common in Alzheimer’s and other dementias. They also commonly drive family caregivers crazy, because when your spouse or parent with Alzheimer’s doesn’t sleep well, this often means that you don’t sleep well.

To make matters even worse, not getting enough sleep can worsen the thinking or behavior of someone with dementia. Of course, this is true for those of us who don’t have Alzheimer’s as well: we all become more prone to irritation and emotional instability when we’re tired. Studies have also shown that even younger healthy people perform worse on cognitive tests when they are sleep-deprived.

Hence getting enough sleep is important, for people diagnosed with dementia, and for their hard-working caregivers. Now, sleep problems do often take a little effort to evaluate and improve. But as I explain below, research has found that it is often possible to improve sleep problems in dementia.

The key is to know what common causes to look for, and then come prepared to provide useful information to the doctor. In this article, I’ll cover:

  • Common causes of sleep problems in Alzheimer’s and other dementias,
  • How sleep issues should be evaluated
  • Proven approaches that help improve sleep in dementia
  • What to know about commonly tried medications for this problem

Common Causes of Sleep Changes and Problems in People with Dementia

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Aging health, Announcements, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles Tagged With: alzheimer's, dementia, sleep

Vitamin D: the Healthy Aging Dose
(Plus Answers to 7 FAQs)

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Vitamin D

 Confused by all the back and forth in the media about vitamin D?

Don’t be. There’s actually a pretty easy and straightforward approach that most older adults can take.

In this post, I’ll explain what I recommend to most of my older patients, and why.

I’ll also address the following frequently asked questions:

  • Which type of Vitamin D should I take?
  • Do I need to have my vitamin D blood level checked?
  • What should one’s vitamin D level be?
  • Will vitamin D really prevent falls or fractures?
  • Will vitamin D prevent dementia, cancer, and/or premature death?
  • I am outside a lot. Do I need a vitamin D supplement?
  • I heard that a higher level of vitamin D is better for you. How much is too much?

Now when I first wrote this article in 2015, vitamin D supplementation for older adults was recommended by experts — to help reduce the risk of falls and fractures, among other things — although most geriatrics experts did not think the high doses (e.g. 2000 IU daily or more) that many people take are indicated.

(For years now, many people have had unrealistic expectations of what vitamin D can do for them. Sometimes this is because they think it will improve their health. In other cases, it seems to be because their doctors never got around to reducing a higher dose which should’ve only been used for a limited time period. Either way, it’s concerning because taking high doses of vitamin D has been linked to health problems.)

Today, experts in geriatrics are reassessing what to recommend for vitamin D supplementation.

This reassessment is in large part driven by the publication of a large randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation in older adults, the VITAL study.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles Tagged With: healthy aging, vitamin d

5 Top Causes of Sleep Problems in Aging, & Proven Ways to Treat Insomnia

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Older woman sleeping outside.

What should you do if an older person complains of not sleeping well at night?

Experts do believe that “normal aging” brings on some changes to sleep. (See this post for more on how sleep changes with aging.) Basically, older adults tend to get sleepy earlier in the evening, and tend to sleep less deeply than when they were younger.

So it’s probably not realistic to expect that as you get older, you’ll sleep as long or as soundly as when you were younger.

That said, although aging by itself does change sleep, it’s also quite common for older adults to develop health problems that can cause sleep disturbances. So when your older relatives say they aren’t sleeping well, you’ll want to help them check for these. Figuring out what’s going on is always the first step in being able to improve things.

And remember, getting enough good quality sleep helps maintain brain health, physical health, and mood.

In this article, I’ll cover the top causes of sleep problems in older adults. I’ll also tell you about what approaches have been proven to work, to help treat insomnia and sleep problems in older adults.

Last but not least, if you (or your older relative) have experienced the very common combination of waking up to pee at night and difficulty sleeping, I highly recommend listening to this podcast episode, which features a geriatrician who is an expert on this: 092- Interview: Addressing Nighttime Urination & Insomnia in Aging.

5 Common Causes of Sleep Problems in Older Adults

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles Tagged With: brain health, sleep

Leg Swelling in Aging: What to Know & What to Do

by Nicole Didyk, MD

Swelling in the lower legs – known as “lower extremity edema” in medical terms – is a problem that often affects older adults.

The good news is that most of the time, it’s annoying, but not terribly dangerous. However, in other cases, swelling in the feet, ankles, or lower legs can be the sign of a new health problem, or a worsening chronic condition.

And, even if it’s “benign” and not related to a dangerous health condition, edema can be a major risk factor for skin breakdown and reduced mobility in aging adults.

Since leg swelling becomes so common as people get older, in this article we’ll demystify leg edema and cover the most important things that older adults and families should know about this condition. In particular, we’ll  cover:

  • How does edema happen?
  • Common causes of swollen ankles or legs in aging adults
  • Medications that can cause leg swelling as a side-effect
  • How leg swelling should be medically evaluated
  • How to prevent and treat leg swelling
  • What to know BEFORE going on a “water pill”
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles

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