How to Recognize if You are Suffering a Stroke
According to Everyday Health in an article entitled “Am I Having a Stroke?,” “The window of opportunity to successfully treat a stroke is short – about three hours – so awareness of stroke symptoms is important. Maybe you think you can spot stroke symptoms in someone else, but would you know if a stroke was happening to you?”
In this Everyday Health article, Mark Alberts, MD (Professor of Neurology at Northwestern University) lists the following as signs you may be having a stroke:
- Having difficulty speaking (e.g., finding words, slurring your speech, being unable to speak.
- Having trouble understanding what others are saying to you
- Feeling weak or numb on one side of your body (inability to move your body, expecially if it strikes suddenly)
- Having difficulty with coordination
- Seeing double
- Experiencing a severe headache
Hoarding: Keeping the Clutter at Bay
Hoarding is an issue that we have addressed before on our blog (See our February 3, 2009 post, entitled, “Hoarding and the Elderly.)” This post stresses the importance of ensuring that seniors have a safe, clutter free environment to get around.
I recently read an online Psychology Today article on hoarding that some of you may find of interest. The article entitled, “Everyday Junk: The Clean Sweep” explains that “we use the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in decision-making, information processing and behavioral organization, to determine just what ’supplies’ are worth hoarding. In a small percentage of cases, hoarding may be the result of damage, such as a stroke, to the prefrontal cortex.
For most, however, hoarding is the reflection of anxiety, sometimes raised to the Nth degree of obsession and compulsion. In such instances, it vastly pathologically, overcapitalizes on the virtue of saving.”
Please visit the online article for their detailed list (complete with explanations) for keeping your home clutter free. The high-level list is as follows:
- Let go of nastalgia
- Share the wealth
- Uncover the real problem
- Adopt the in-out rule
- Avoid the “I will fix it someday” trap
- Avoid the “I will use it someday” trap
- Streamline your space
- Make a priority list
How to Start a Walking Program
As most of us already know, we should be exercising on a regular basis. Walking is a great, low-impact way to get such exercise.
Health professionals have recently been encouraging Americans to walk 10,000 steps a day.
The American Heart Association provides a great online pamphlet with tips on starting your own walking program. The pdf pamphlet provides information on:
- How to get started
- Basic stretches
- What to wear
- When to Walk
- What to eat (including a fantastic recipe for an edamam and penne salad with feta)
- Heat safety tips
Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the YOU docs, provide walkers with a fantastic walking tool on their Real Age website. the tool allows walkers to set a goal and then to track their progress on an interactive calendar. Users are even able to invite friends to use the tool via the Real You website.
Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz’s site also has a great area dedicated to fitness with fitness videos showing you how to get started walking, the best pedometers to help you track your mileage and the best walking shoes.
An Easier Way to Keep Family & Friends Up-to-Date on a Loved One’s Condition
As most of our readers/followers know, a little good always comes from adversity.
A neighbor and dear friend of my Mother’s suddenly fell ill a few weeks ago and passed away last week. She was a leader in her community and loved by many. Her illness and passing has hit her community hard.
Her children turned many of us on to a fantastic site called Care Pages (www.carepages.com). Her children would update the site regularly with their mother’s condition. Each of us that subscribed to the site received email notices when her children posted new information. We could then log-in to the site to see how she was doing.
As someone who cares; yet, did not want to disturb the family, I found the site to be incredibly valuable. Not only was I able to see how she was doing but it allowed me to:
- send the patient a message from me and my mother
- see all of the kind sentiments others were sending her way
- invite others to the patient’s page(s)
- send compliments to caretakers (e.g., hospital staff, physician, etc.)
The site is free of charge and allows subscribers to offer emotional support to ailing loved ones 24/7.
Put Your Favorite Senior’s Cell Phone on ICE
Take a few seconds this weekend to put your favorite senior’s cell phone on ICE. Ice stands for “in case of emergency.” Emergency room physicians are frequently faced with being asked to treat critically ill or hurt patients but have no idea who the patient is or his/her medical history.
They typically look for the patient’s contact and medical information in two places:
- Their wallet
- Their cell phones
“The ICE program was originally rolled-out in the UK and has made its way to the U.S. in recent years. The programe encourages cell phone users to put their emergency contact numbers into their cell phone under ICE. Emergency room physicians have been trained to look under ICE in a patient’s cell phone if the patient arrives and is unable to communicate coherently with the physician.
WebMD reports that “most people don’t have ICE on their cell phones, but they’ll plug those letters into their cell phones once they learn why it’s important, a new study shows.”
The study was presented “in New Orleans, at the 37th annual scientific assembly of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).”
The researchers included Dennis McKenna, MD, or New York’s Albany Medical Center.
“‘We are often struggling to reach family members when a patient cannot speak to us, and the first place we might look is a cell phone,’ McKenna Says, in an ACEP news release.
‘ A family member or friend is one of our best resources for learning about the patient’s medical history,’ he explains.
‘Our study shows that people are very willing to program their phones as long as someone tells them why and how to do it, or even does it for them,’ McKenna says.”
How to Recognize & Treat Heat Stroke
Flikr via jalalspages
The elderly are particularly at risk for heat related conditions such as heat stroke due to a number of age related factors: poor circulation, heart/lung/kidney conditions, high blood pressure, side effects from medications such as diuretics, etc.
Now that temperatures are rising, it is important to know the signs of heatstroke and to know how to prevent it.
According to WebMd, not all cases of heat stroke are the same. However, the most common symptoms are as follows:
- high body temperature
- absence of sweating (red or flushed dry skin)
- rapid pulse
- difficulty breathing
- strange behavior
- hallucinations
- confusion
- agitation
- disorientation
- seizure
- coma
If you suspect someone is suffering from a heat related illness seek medical help immediately!!
A July 21, 2009 online article from the Instutute on Aging also recommends:
- getting the person out of the sun and into an air conditioned place
- offering the person fluids (e.g., water, fruit and vegetable juices, etc.)
- encourage the person to take a bath or shower with cool water
- apply the person with a cold cloth to the wrists, neck, armpits and/or groin (e.g., places where blood passes close to the surface and the cool clothes can cool the blood.)
AARP Fall Driver’s Safety Courses
Flickr Image via Burning Image
In a March 30, 2009 post (AARP Driver Safety Program), we wrote about the AARP Driver’s Safety Program. For those of you who are interested in taking a fall course, many locations have opened up registration.
Since writing our previous post, it has come to our attention that many insurance carriers throughout the United States offer a multi-year discount to AARP graduates.
For our metro Detroit readers, the Birmingham Community House in Birmingham, Michigan is offering the course on Tuesday, October 6 and Wednesday, October 7 from 12:30 – 4:30. There is a $12 materials fee for AARP members and a $14 fee for non-members. Click here to link to their registration area.
Our out of state readers can find a class near them on the AARP site.
How to Find Your Local First Aid or CPR Class
All Americans should be well versed in basic first aid, CPR, and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC) skills. If you are caring for a senior, your chances of needing such skills increase dramatically. The good news is that training classes are readily available throughout the United States.
The American Heart Association dedicated the first week of June of this year to “National CPR & AED Awareness Week.” Although June has since passed, they have continued their efforts to get as many Americans trained in CPR and AED, as possible.
Click here for a CPR, First Aid, AED, or ECC training class near you.
How to Recognize Vascular Dementia
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Vascular dementia is an umbrella term that describes impairments in cognitive function caused by problems in blood vessels that feed the brain.”
In some cases, a blood vessel may be completely blocked, causing a stroke. Not all strokes cause vascular dementia. It depends on the severity of the stroke, where the stroke occurred and the portion of the brain that’s affected. Vascular dementia also can occur when blood vessels in the brain narrow, reducing the amount of blood flow to those sections of the brain.
The prevalence of vascular dementia ranges from 1 to 4 percent in people over the age of 65. Because few treatments are available for vascular dementia, prevention is crucial.”
Helpguide.org outlines the physical signs and symptoms as:
- Memory problems
- Dizziness
- Leg or arm weakness
- Lack of concentration
- Moving with rapid, shuffling steps
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
Helpguide.org also lists behavioral signs and symptoms to be aware of:
- Slurred speech
- Language problems
- Abnormal behavior
- Wandering or getting lost in familiar surroundings
- Laughing or crying inappropriately
- Difficulty following instructions
- Problems handling money
Great CPR and First Aid Guides for the iPhone/iPod Touch
I am thrilled to report that the American Heart Association has some fantastic new CPR and First Aid guides for the iPhone and iPod touch that make it easy to keep their hints/instructions with you at all times.
The iPhone application provides users with illustrations, videos, information storage, recent information updates and American Heart Association guidelines. Topics include: choking, CPR, bites, bruises, burns, seizures, diabetic emergencies.
The information is stored on your iPhone or iPod touch so that you will have access to the information even when you are out of cell phone range.
Please click here for detailed information on the application. You will be impressed!!