If you are a family caregiver for one of the approximately 3 million people throughout the United States who has been diagnosed with glaucoma, it is important to take control of their health by managing this condition in the best way possible.
One of the most important steps you can take to do this is to talk to their eye doctor about their condition. Talking openly and honestly with their eye doctor about their glaucoma helps your parent to understand their condition, make good decisions about their treatment and management, and even modify their daily lifestyle to cope with the issues of the disease. As a family caregiver, you can help your parent to make the most of these conversations to ensure they get all the information they need.
Some of the ways your senior can affect the outcome out of talking to their eye doctor about their glaucoma include:
-Encourage your senior to ask questions until they truly understand what they need to know about their condition. Make sure they realize it is well within their right to ask as many questions as they need to and to feel as if they are fully informed about any condition they have, and any treatments their doctor recommends.
-Go with your senior when they talk to the doctor. Take notes about the conversation, including writing down any questions your senior asked and the answers the doctor provided so you can reference them later.
-If your senior has difficulties with memory or seems that they have not fully absorbed the instructions given to them by their doctor, ask the doctor to write down or print out instructions for your senior. Include copies of this written material in your care notebook so it can be easily referenced later.
-Encourage your senior to ask the doctor for recommendations for other sources of information so they can learn more if they need to.
If your senior has been struggling with new challenges and symptoms recently, now may be the ideal time to start elder care for them.
An elderly home care services provider can help your senior to manage the health issues they are facing on a regular basis. Through a set of highly personalized services, this care provider can encourage your parent to stay independent, maintain more autonomy and control over their own life, stay active and engaged in the world around them, and remain compliant with medications and treatments recommended by their doctor. Through medication reminders, this care provider can help your parent to take their medications when and how they are supposed to come over to follow through with treatments as instructed so they can get the maximum benefit.