Common Health Issues of the Bedridden Patient – At the point when a parent becomes bedridden, it can hit you hard. It can take an emotional toll on you. To Care for bedridden seniors can be a challenge for many families; all things considered, there are people everywhere who take on the challenge to avoid having to put their loved one in a nursing home.
Bedridden patients face numerous complications due to lack of activity for long periods of time. Blood circulation to certain parts of the body reduces due to the limited activity which may lead to stagnation and ulcer formation.
The commonest worries are infections urinary, chest and bed sores or pressure ulcers. Lack of activity can lead to muscle breakdown producing weakness of muscles and poor grip, especially in arms and legs.
7 Common Health Issues of the Bedridden Patient | Caring for Bedridden Patient
1. Pay Attention to the Back –
Because a bedridden patient is mostly lying on the back, it is vital to give extra attention to that area. Massage improves blood circulation in the body. Use of plain coconut oil or a moisturizer during a massage is advisable.
You should try to change the patient’s position from left to right and right to left every alternate hour, or at a gap of 2 hours. Make sure you take the doctor’s permission to do so.
2. Depression –
You know, a bedridden patient can easily get depressed with a sense of incapacitation due to illness and disability. Or then if limited to four divides, with a fixed view, dull lighting, and minimal interaction.
It is essential to give sufficient routine to enhance comfort and relief from pain. Different treatments such as massage, hot water bath just prior to bedtime, relaxation with aromatherapy, can have a deep impact in managing depression.
3. Need of Emotional Support –
Encourage communication, positive thinking, and interactions that will enable them to ventilate their feelings. This will help us in setting up their day by day routine – whether that is a visit from the clergy, a friend, a video chat, a Skype session, an uplifting social meet, and playing memorable videos.
4. Feed the Right Way –
Started the mealtime, make sure to prop up the patient’s head and give very small bites or sips. When the patient can sit up for a quite while provides complete assistance at the back by placing a few pillows and make sure there is a rail at the sides of the bed or something that will keep the patient from falling over.
Regularly, when a patient gets up after lying down for hours, it could result in dizziness and fall.
5. Basic Hygiene –
A bedridden person may or may not be able to keep with their own hygiene tasks. If they can’t, you or another caregiver will need to help them. Whether they can, you need to give them with reminders and the tools to take care of their hygiene.
Showering, dental care, nail care, hair care, and changing clothes are all tasks your parent may require help with.
6. Constipation –
Offer regular food and fluids if not contraindicated as tolerated. Regular toilet routine, Use of fruits such as figs, prunes in a diet.
7. Bones –
The worst impact is seen on the bones. Under normal circumstances, our bones undergo constant breakdown as well as building up. However, in bedridden patients, the rate of building up remains the same, but the rate of breakdown increases giving rise to weak bones. The fragile bones have low calcium content and are prone to easy fractures.