Senior Health - Time to Check Up on Your Parents

By Anna Hazard

With all of this season's visiting, traveling, and holiday gatherings, this makes a good time of year to check up on your parents and other elderly loved ones' health for any indications that a greater level of care may now be required. Your loved ones may be trying to hide any health concerns out of a sense of embarrassment or a wish to not trouble their friends and family. In such cases, keep in mind the following tell tale small signs & symptoms...

Increased Forgetfulness

• General confusion,
  
• Forgetting the steps in a common task they've performed many times before
  
• Getting lost in familiar places
  
• Losing track of their normal prescription medicine & other routines
  

Changes in Mobility

• Growing trouble with getting up from a prone or seated position
  
• Difficulty walking
  
• Decreasing ability to stand for an extended period of time on level ground
  
• Strained movement when climbing up or down stairs
  
• Trouble with maintaining balance
  
• Propensity for falling
  

Changes in Appearance

• Degradation in their normal appearance & grooming habits
• Unexplained weight loss
• Abnormally disheveled or messy clothes
• Unkempt hair
• Uncut fingernails
• Bad oral hygiene
  
• Increased body odor which may indicate trouble when it comes to bathing
• Unexplained bruising which can be a symptom of falling & other physical problems

Changes in Home & Surroundings

• Noticeable increase in the messiness/disorder of your loved ones home
  
• Finding their belongings in strange places (ie TV remotes left in the fridge etc)
  
• Presence of spoiled food or an empty fridge,
  
• Mail, trash, or dirty laundry piling up
  
• Unknown dents in their vehicles
  
• Yard care issues such the lawn going unmowed, snow remaining unshoveled, exterior paint peeling etc.
  

Changes in Punctuality

• Increase in late & missed appointments
  
• Late payments
  
• Calls from collectors for overdue bills
  
• Prescriptions going unfilled
  

Changes in Mood/Personality

• Loss of interest in their normal hobbies & activities
  
• Noticeable mood swings
  
• Reluctance to leave their home
  
• Sleeping for overly long periods of time
  
• General low energy