Helping Your Elderly Loved One Handle Allergy Season

Unfortunately, allergy season is upon us. If you are caring for your elderly loved one and they experience allergy symptoms in spring, you’ll want to take steps to help them deal with it. There are numerous tips that can help you to do this.

Going to Doctor’s Appointments

If your elderly loved one experiences moderate to severe allergy symptoms each spring, you or an in-home care provider should take them to their doctor’s office before spring fully sets in. The sooner you can get them in for this allergy assessment appointment, the more under control their symptoms can be as soon as spring begins and throughout the season, too. The doctor can prescribe medications and/or recommend lifestyle changes that reduce allergy symptoms. You and home care providers can remind your elderly loved one to follow all the doctor’s orders.

Taking Medications

If your elderly loved one’s doctor did prescribe medications, an in-home care provider can take your loved one to the pharmacy to pick up their prescriptions. If your elderly loved one is like many other senior citizens, they are likely going to forget to take their medications which will only make their allergy symptoms worse. It might be necessary to remind your elderly loved one to take their medications. These medications might consist of nasal sprays or oral medications.

If your elderly loved one happens to have severe allergy symptoms that affect their breathing, be sure you take them to the emergency room immediately. There are other medications that can be given to reduce these symptoms.

Improved Air Quality

Do you know if your elderly loved one’s home aggravates their allergy symptoms? This might be the case if they have animals, a lot of dust building up in the home, or a lot of dirt is dragged into their house. Sometimes, it is a matter of humidity levels that cause allergy symptoms to worsen, as well. No matter what the case might be, you can help your elderly loved one to feel better by improving the air quality in their home. The first way to do this is by getting an air purifier, or two, and placing it in a central area of the home. The best places for the air purifier are likely going to be your elderly loved one’s bedroom, kitchen, or the living room.

Conclusion

Does your elderly loved one experience moderate to severe allergy symptoms at the end of winter and beginning of spring? Do their symptoms tend to get worse as spring moves forward? If either of these answers is yes, you should start implementing the tips above with the help of in-home care providers. By doing so, you can, hopefully, help your elderly loved one to have less severe allergy symptoms this season.

If, at any point in time, your elderly loved one has severe allergy symptoms, be sure to take them to the emergency room immediately.

Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5362176/

If you are considering in-home care in Lambertville, NJ, for an elderly loved one, call the caring staff at Comfort Keepers of Flemington at (908) 806-2220.