Gluten-free Diet Awareness Month every November is a good time to re-evaluate whether your senior is experiencing any symptoms related to gluten sensitivity or other illnesses related to gluten issues. Addressing any health issues through diet often means making big changes, and that’s when home care services can really make a difference for your elderly family member.
Celiac Disease Is a Common Reason to Ditch Gluten
One of the most common reasons for someone to adopt a gluten-free diet is celiac disease. This is a disease that causes an immune response to eating gluten. The illness causes damage to the lining of the small intestine, along with fatigue, anemia, bloating, and digestive issues. Celiac disease is often extremely painful and debilitating. Avoiding gluten can allow the body to heal.
Crohn’s Disease Is Another Possibility
Chron’s disease is a bowel disease that causes inflammation throughout the digestive system. That inflammation is often extremely painful and if left untreated can lead to some serious complications. Right now there isn’t a cure for Crohn’s disease, but dealing with the triggers and contributing factors can help to reduce symptoms. Along with medications, your senior’s doctor is likely to recommend dietary changes, including possibly removing gluten from her diet.
Gluten Sensitivity Is Also a Problem
It might sound surprising, but it’s not unusual at all for people to develop all sorts of food sensitivities as they age. Your elderly family member might have had no trouble at all with wheat, gluten, or other foods for most of her life. But it’s possible that suddenly she’s experiencing symptoms like skin rashes, abdominal discomfort, and nausea that turn out to be related to gluten sensitivity.
Your Senior Should Talk with Her Doctor
Any time that your elderly family member is noticing symptoms that are different than what she normally experiences, she should talk with her doctor. It’s common to want to believe that some of these symptoms are just from eating something that disagrees with her, but there could be more going on. One way you might convince your senior to talk with her doctor is to help her keep a food log. Listing what she eats along with how she feels can help her to spot patterns.
Dietary Changes Are Usually the Best Solution and Home Care Aides can Help
Other treatment methods might be necessary for your senior, but the first step is almost always to switch your elderly family member to a gluten-free diet. This type of diet can feel incredibly complicated for her to navigate on her own, so having home care providers there with her to ensure that she’s keeping as much gluten out of her meals and snacks as possible is really important. Having that help ensures that your senior can focus on feeling better and not worrying about whether she’s eating the wrong foods.
Keeping up with the care plan recommended by your senior’s doctor and avoiding gluten as much as possible can do so much to help your senior recover from these illnesses.
If you or an aging loved one is considering Home Care Services in Southbury CT, please contact the caring staff at Elderly Caregivers LLC. today. (203) 628-7438
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