Pain Control in the Elderly
Regardless of whether or not you are finally reaching the twilight stage of your life and need to manage your own paying for our a caregiver for responsible party that has been charged with the pain management of an elder in your life, you need to make sure that you understand all of the critical differences that pain management for the elderly brings to the table.
Believe it or not, pain management for elderly people has a number of marked differences from pain management for a younger folks. There are a handful of key considerations that you’ll need to keep in mind and a number of very specific directions you cannot afford to ignore.
Hopefully this quick guide helps you moving forward!
The overwhelming majority of elderly adults will deal with two types of pain on a daily basis
As Father Time continues to march along, we have to become comfortable with the understanding that our elderly years are going to be spent battling pain in a number of different forms.
Chronic pain (consistent pain that continues or even becomes worse over time) is going to be a mainstay in most of our lives, and will need to make sure that we are taking advantage of pain control strategies that eliminate or alleviate as much of that chronic pain as possible.
Acute pain, the kind of pain that you get from an injury, the kind of pain that suddenly hits you like a ton of bricks or a lightning double almost out of nowhere, also needs to be properly addressed in your twilight years – and it is (usually) going to require different painkillers and a different pain control management solution than chronic pain.
How to recognize pain in elderly people
Even though we just detailed the overwhelming majority of people in their later years are going to be dealing with chronic pain and acute pain on a regular basis, it’s also true that many of them will try to actively hide or refuse to acknowledge that they are dealing with these issues. Whether it’s because of a stubborn sense of pride or a refusal to give into the fact that their bodies have begun to betray them makes absolutely no difference. It’s important that you can immediately recognize pain and take the necessary steps to get rid of it just as quickly as efficiently as you can.
A couple of things to look for include (but certainly aren’t limited to):
Major mood swings
A tendency to favor one side or part of the body over another
Sadness, moaning, heavy breathing, or shuffling around
A poor appetite and lack of eating
Major changes to a sleeping pattern
A resistance or aversion physical contact
Those aren’t the only things that you should be on the lookout for, but they are certainly signals that will tell you that something isn’t right and some things need to be addressed.
How to treat acute or chronic pain in elders
Though you will always want to get the help of a trusted and highly trained medical professional when it comes to pain management for those in their elder years, you’ll also want to try and provide your input along the way as well.
Painkillers and pain control solutions like Co-Codamol (a dual action painkiller that has been proven to perform very well in elderly people) can be recommended to your doctors, and they will provide you with the feedback you need to decide whether or not that’s the kind of direction you’ll want to go in.
At the end of the day, you’ll want to follow their advice when they recommend to buy Co-Codamol or not – and you’ll always want to follow the pain control system that they have outlined for you and the elderly person in your care!