Sick Days

When you are a diabetic sick days mean much more than calling in sick to work and crawling under the covers.

Planning is the most important part of your sick day regime.

• Talk to your physician now– about how after hours calls are handled.
• Review your health insurance. Does your provider require a notification phone call for an emergency room visit? What exactly are the parameters of your insurance coverage co-pay and deductible?
• Who is your designated emergency contact besides your health care team? Who will you call if you need a ride to the doctor’s office or you need someone to give you your insulin injections?

Illness stresses the body, making your glucose levels rise. The same hormones that fight illness will also raise your glucose and block insulin from reducing glucose. In addition, many simple over-the-counter medications (OTC), such as cough syrups, cough drops, and decongestants and can contribute to this problem. Talk to your pharmacist about which products are sugar-free or better OTC choices.

Most diabetes sources recommend some sort of sick day kit. Along with routine supplies such as a thermometer, you will want to keep extra blood test strips, ketone test strips, sick day medications, lists of emergency contacts, and carb lists. This would be a good place for back up supplies such as batteries for your glucose meter.

Ask your health care provider or a member of your diabetes team what parameters they suggest for maintaining carbohydrate intake when you are having difficulty keeping solid food down. Review this before you get sick and keep supplies on hand along with a list in your sick day kit. The University of Michigan Health System provides a list of carbs and values for sick days on their site, as does BD Diabetes . com. Print these up now and keep them in your sick day kit.

General guidelines :

Stay hydrated. If you are keeping meals down, and resting most of the time, drink 8 ounces of calorie-free, caffeine free beverages every hour when you are awake, or set the alarm clock to remind yourself. Avoid milk and milk products if you are nauseated. Stick to clear liquids (flat lemon-lime soda, or ginger ale, Popsicles) and graduate slowly to fluids with higher nutritional value (Gatorade, Pedialyte, clear soups). Avoid caffeinated products which will increase dehydration.

Don’t stop taking your routine diabetes medication unless you absolutely are unable to or your physician instructs you otherwise. Do keep a closer eye on your glucose levels.

If you don’t have a glucose monitor, get one for sick days. The Mayo Clinic suggests this plan for checking your glucose levels on sick days:

• Type 1 diabetes. Check your blood sugar and urine ketone levels every four hours.
• Type 2 diabetes. Check your blood sugar levels four times a day. If your blood sugar level is higher than 300 mg/dL, check your urine for ketones. Make sure your test strips haven’t expired.

The American Diabetes Association recommends you call your health care provider or team when:

• you’ve been sick or have had a fever for a couple of days and aren’t getting better
• you’ve been vomiting or having diarrhea for more than 6 hours
• you have moderate to large amounts of ketones in your urine
• your glucose levels are higher than 240 even though you’ve taken the extra insulin your sick-day plan calls for
• you take pills for your diabetes and your blood sugar level climbs to more than 240 before meals and stays there for more than 24 hours
• you have symptoms that might signal ketoacidosis or dehydration or some other serious condition (for example, your chest hurts, you are having trouble breathing, your breath smells fruity, or your lips or tongue are dry and cracked)
• you aren’t certain what to do to take care of yourself

Again, planning ahead is critical. Keep your freezer and pantry stocked with sick day supplies. Have that call list where you or your contacts can find it when you are sick. Plan now for inevitable sick days ahead.

               

Health Break

Time for a short break. A health care break.

This is directed to caregivers, friends, loved ones, and survivors.

Have you been in cruise control for a while, letting daily survival and the work jungle take precedence over planning your health care future, and actually proceeding with that plan?

Time to pause and evaluate your overall health, your risks and to plan your health care future. Because failing to plan is truly planning to fail.

This is a reality check. A few tests to help you prioritize and plan:

• Real Age Test : What is YOUR Real Age?
  
• Your Disease Risk: Here you can find out your risk of developing five of the most important diseases in the United States and get personalized tips for preventing them.
• Aim For a Healthy Weight: Obesity Education Initiative
• Depression Screening . org, sponsored by the National Mental Health Association. Provides a free confidential online test to determine if you need a mental health follow up.
• Diabetes Risk Calculator: from the American Diabetes Association
• Cancer Risk Assessment Tools: Available at Battling Cancer

So grab a notebook and pen and take a break to plan your health care future.

               

Things Caregivers Do to Hurt Themselves and Their Loved Ones

Refuse to ask for help–Caregivers tend to get frustrated that other family members and close friends are not chipping in as they should.  Instead of reaching out, they often adopt the attitued, “if I want it done right, I’ll have to do it myself.”  This is not good for anyone, the caregiver, the family or the one who needs the care.

Play martyr–Martyrdom is noble and had, maybe even still has its place in society.  However, your loved one needs you alive not sacrificing your own health and overall well being, in order to give care.

Grieve alone–Caregivers are people who get things done.  Taking time to share their feelings with others is rarely on the top of the ”to do” list.  However, it is very important to not only allow yourself to feel your feelings, but also to share them in a safe and non-judgemental environment.

Fail to nurture relationships–Caregiving is consuming at times, and caregivers tend to become so wraped up in the job at hand that they don’t take the time to feed and nurture relationships with other family members and good friends.

Ignore spouse/significant others–I made a distinction because those who are closest to caregivers may suffer the most.   It’s hard to think about working to keep the flames of marriage going when you are concerned about your loved one 24/7.  Yet, nurturing a relationship on one hand may give you a moment of peace on another to help you as you battle Alzheimer’s disease.

Act reactively instead of proactively–It is so important to know what’s coming in terms of the disease.  Not just to know, but to know and understand how those stages will impact your level of care. Please see my series of posts on the Stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The role of the caregiver changes significantly as the illness progresses.

Fail to plan–I’ve said it before, “If yo fail to plan, then you plan to fail.”  Alzheimer’s care facility, standard long term care facility, in home care provided by family and friends, in home care supplemented by an agency, these are all options that should be carefully considered and not at the last minute when waiting lists and ease of admission may come to bear more heavily on the decision than they should.

Take life too seriously–Caregiving is very serious (and sometimes depressing) business.  But, it takes much more energy to frown than it does to smile.  So, laugh, read something funny or watch something funny.  You are still alive and you can ENJOY life.

What do you think? What did you do wrong? What’s your blunder?  Maybe you got something right. Tell us about it, leave a comment

               

Future Planning for a Loved One With Alzheimer’s Disease

By J. Trevey

If you have a loved one who has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, you may initially be filled with questions about what the diagnosis means for your family. If you have spoken with the doctor and performed your own research about Alzheimer’s disease, you have likely realized that the diagnosis will undoubtedly bring about some changes in the lifestyle of your loved one. Your loved one will need more care and support as time goes on, not to mention the financial implications of medical visits and eventual fulltime care. Though you may be faced with a barrage of emotions at first, it is important to remember that you are in the company of millions of other people in the same situation, as made evident by the plethora of organizations, support groups and associations that exist to help people like you understand and respond to the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Besides educating yourself about Alzheimer’s disease, it may also be beneficial to begin planning for the future now, while your loved one is the most independent and able to provide input about decisions affecting his or her future. Creating a plan for your loved one’s medical and other care expenses and establishing how decisions will be made on his or her behalf in the future can help ensure that your loved one has access to proper care and prevent you from encountering a gray area that leaves your hands tied in the future.

Arranging for healthcare is an important stage of planning for your loved one’s future. Establishing a situation in which long term medical care is available and affordable can benefit anyone, but is especially important for people with a long term illness such as Alzheimer’s disease. If your loved one currently has a long term care insurance policy, carefully read over the policy as it relates to progressive or long term illnesses. Clarify with the provider any portion of the policy about which you or your loved one have questions. If your loved one is uninsured, you may consider the possibility of obtaining the best policy that is affordable, paying particular attention to the coverage of medical care for long term illness outlined by the policy.

If your loved one is over the age of 65, he or she should qualify for Medicare, a federal health insurance program that covers some hospital, medical and prescription expenses. You may want to investigate your loved one’s eligibility for Social Security and Medicaid benefits as well to ensure that he or she receives the maximum assistance for which he or she qualifies.

The progressive nature of Alzheimer’s disease results in a decreasing decision-making ability over time. For this reason, it is important to discuss financial planning with your loved one as early as possible, and establish how and by whom he or she would like financial decisions to be handled. The procedure through which future financial, medical and other decisions will be made on behalf of the patient can be officially established by a document called a power of attorney. A power of attorney, often a component of a person’s estate plan, gives an appointed person or organization the authority to make decisions on behalf of your loved one when he or she is no longer able to do so. Talk to a trusted lawyer about the type of power of attorney that is appropriate for your individual situation.

Planning for the future is an important step in caring for your loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking the initiative now to plan for future financial, medical and decision making needs will provide numerous benefits to yourself and your loved one moving forward.

About the Author: John Trevey is the manager of The Breckinridge, a Kentucky assisted living home specializing in Alzheimer’s care. For more information, please visit www.thebreckinridge.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=J._Trevey