One of the tips you might see often when it comes to COPD is that avoiding triggers is a key component of your elderly family member’s care plan. The immediate reason for this may be obvious, but there are plenty of additional reasons this is a good rule of thumb. Read on to learn what triggers COPD and the importance of avoiding triggers.
Triggers Steal Her Breath
The biggest reason to avoid COPD triggers is that they steal your senior’s breath from her. This causes her to have trouble breathing and might even cause her problems for hours or days afterward. Your elderly family member might find that she’s reluctant to go out in public for fear of losing her ability to breathe easily if she encounters a triggering situation.
They’re Taxing on Her Entire Body
Dealing with COPD triggers and their resulting effects is taxing to her lungs as well as her entire body. She can feel tired and worn out after an attack. The entire episode causes your senior’s body to work much harder than it should have to work. She might find that her energy levels are down for a while after a triggering episode. She may also feel as if normal activities take more energy than they really should.
This Affects Her Immune System, Too
The more run down your senior is, the more difficult it is for her immune system to fight off even small bugs and illnesses. These can go on to become larger infections, which are even more damaging to your elderly family member’s lungs. Pneumonia can quickly become a lengthy hospital stay and that’s going to expose her to even more issues and potential triggers.
Overall Quality of Life Suffers
When your aging adult is run down, constantly tired, and always feeling sick, she’s experiencing a diminished quality of life. This means that she’s not doing the things that she enjoys most because the rest of her life is such a struggle. Avoiding triggers as much as possible helps to improve that quality of life so that your elderly family member can spend the time that she has left enjoying family, friends, and activities that she loves.
COPD triggers can change over time, too. Some of the situations and triggers that didn’t affect your elderly family member in the past can suddenly become a problem for her. It’s a good idea to keep an updated list somewhere so that you can refer to it as you need to do so. You can also try to make a few lifestyle changes to ease COPD symptoms for your elderly family member.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering Pasco home care or senior in-home care in the surrounding areas please contact the caring staff at Solutions today. We serve all of the Tri-Cities area. Call 509-627-8575
