One of the issues your elderly family member might face at the end of her life could be delirium. Delirium might come on suddenly for your senior, which can make this a shocking situation to try to help her manage. There may be more than one cause, which can make pinpointing a solution much more difficult. It’s better if you’re not trying to solve these issues completely on your own.
Delirium Is Common
Delirium is something that many aging adults go through when they near the end of their lives. It’s a complicated issue and it can be difficult to understand and to witness. Delirium can be brief and infrequent, or it may be longer lasting for your senior. There’s no real way for you to be able to predict delirium before you see the effects.
Symptoms of Delirium
Delirium varies from one senior to another. Your elderly family member might start to hallucinate situations or she might be disoriented about where she is and even about time. She may not be conscious, and when she is, she may experience mood swings, loud talking, or no talking at all. She may have trouble sleeping, especially in terms of insomnia or a completely flipped sleep schedule.
Causes of Delirium
It’s difficult to fully know what causes or leads to delirium. That’s especially true if your elderly family member isn’t able to communicate with you in a way that you are able to understand. Some medications can contribute to delirium, for example. Lower oxygen levels, fevers, infections, and even simple fear and anxiety can also contribute. Often there is more than one contributing factor, so that makes it even more challenging to find a solution.
What Can You Do?
So, what can you do for delirium, especially if you’re not sure what’s causing it? Relying on the experience of hospice elder care providers to help figure this out can be a huge step in the right direction. Often solving small issues, such as dehydration or adjusting medication dosages can start to help. You may not be able to completely reverse delirium, however.
Because delirium can occur near the very end of your senior’s life, there may not be much that you can do other than simply be there for your senior and let her know you care about her. Having help from hospice elder care providers can be invaluable because of the experience they can share with you.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering hospice care in Flower Mound, TX please contact the caring staff at Arcy Healthcare today. 469-293-1515
My name is Jimmie Stapleton. I am the founder and CEO of Arcy Healthcare. Arcy Healthcare includes Arcy Hospice, Arcy Supportive Care, MaximaCare Home Health and Arcy at Home.
Arcy Hospice was opened in 2007 to provide care and support for individuals and families facing a life limiting illness. It was established after my wife Ellen, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, had completed her chemo and radiation therapies. At that time, things were looking positive, and we wanted to do something for our community that had been so supportive of our family during her treatments. Unfortunately, the cancer returned a few years later, and she subsequently passed away under our care in 2010.
In the years that followed, I began to see the need to provide the same level of excellent care to patients across the continuum of care. Therefore, we have added a home health division (MaximaCare Home Health), a palliative care division (Arcy Supportive Care), and a home care division, (Arcy at Home). With the addition of these divisions, we can meet most of the post-acute care needs for you and your family in your home.
I started Arcy Hospice with my wife as my motivation to provide exceptional care and support in the patient’s home, where they are surrounded by family and where they feel most comfortable. I’m proud to say that our staff provides some of the best in home care in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
Please let us know if we can enrich the quality of life for you or a loved one.
Sincerely,
Jimmie Stapleton – Founder and CEO
Arcy Healthcare
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