Food Allergies Could Be the Cause of Some of Your Senior’s Discomfort

Food allergies are a huge concern for children and young adults, but you might not know that your senior family member can develop food allergies later in her life, too. Some of those food allergies can be quite severe and limit what your elderly family member can eat.

Home Care Services in Arlington VA: Food Allergies

What Causes the Allergic Reaction?

Figuring out what foods are causing an allergic reaction for your senior can feel more complicated than it really is. The easiest answer is to follow an elimination diet for a period of time. This means reducing her food choices to a bland diet at first and making sure that is tolerated well. Then you can slowly start to add other foods and types of foods back into her daily diet. When she has a reaction, that’s a clue.

Work out a Plan with Her Doctor

Elimination diets are something that you’ll work closely with your senior’s doctor with as you try to figure out her allergic triggers. There might be some symptoms that narrow down the allergic trigger quickly for your senior’s doctor, which can save a lot of time and effort on your part. Her doctor can give you a plan of action for helping your senior to recover and to avoid future issues.

You May Need Emergency Medications

Depending on the type and the severity of the allergic reaction, your senior may need emergency medications. These medications are often injectables that get into your senior’s system quickly if she starts to experience an adverse reaction. If your elderly family member does need these types of medications on hand, make sure that everyone knows where to find them.

Depending on the Allergy, More People May Need to Know

Allergy identification jewelry can be a vital tool for your senior when she’s out and about. If your senior wanders due to dementia, you definitely want to make sure that you’ve got an identifying piece of jewelry somewhere on her person that is obvious. That way if something happens, the people around her will have that information.

It can be so difficult to adjust to having a food allergy suddenly, especially if your senior has been able to eat whatever she wants for her entire life. Elderly care providers can help her to get used to eating different types of foods or make sure that they’re preparing meals for her that don’t include any of her allergy triggers.

Are you or a loved-one considering hiring Home Care Services in Arlington, VA?  Please call the caring staff at Medical Professionals On Call today. Contact: 703-273-8818

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Michelle DeFilippis

I graduated with a BS degree and had been selling medical equipment to hospitals, clinics and technicians. More recently, a family member was diagnosed with dementia and we, as a family, realized we were not prepared t care for her. We were thrown into that whirlpool of hospital stays, 24/7 live-in care, skilled care, caring for mom ourselves and finally, now daily home care. This was such a stressful time that I started thinking there had to be other people, other families as overwhelmed and unprepared as we were.

Medical Professionals On Call has such a caring, professional staff who are available to step in with whatever level of care necessary for loved ones and to relieve you of that stress.

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