What Is Shingles and How Can It Impact Your Parent?

By Andy Niska | August 16, 2018 |

In the course of your journey as a family caregiver, one issue you are likely to hear about on a regular basis, particularly as cold and flu season approaches, is shingles. This is a potentially serious health issue that can have lingering impacts for your senior. Understanding what this disease is, why your parent may be at risk of developing it, and how it can impact your parent can help you to better determine your senior’s risk, and modify your care routine to protect your parent as much as possible.

Elderly Care in Liberty Lake WA: What is Shingles?

Shingles is also referred to as herpes zoster. This is an infection caused by the varicella zoster virus, which is the same virus that causes chickenpox. Even when a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus remains dormant inside their body. At any point, the virus can become active again, and surface as shingles. This is why even though chicken pox generally occurs only once in a lifetime, it should still be considered a dangerous health issue, and may have long-term health effects.

Shingles itself leads to a painful, itchy rash, and can result in complications and lasting consequences, including:

Postherpetic neuralgia, a condition causing severe pain that can linger for a long period even after shingles comes to an end.
Infections in areas of the skin affected by the rash if it is not well managed, or opens.
Eye infections if the rash occurs on the face or eyes, which can result in vision loss.
Inflammation of the brain that can lead to neurological problems.

If your aging parent has been ill, has been recovering from an illness or infection, or has recently undergone a medical procedure, elderly care can be a valuable addition to their care routine. An elderly home care services provider can offer a wide range of services designed to not only help your parent cope with the specific health issue they are facing, including giving reminders for their medications, but also to support an overall healthier lifestyle. Through services such as doing dishes, laundry, running errands, and meal preparation, this care provider can help your parent conserve energy, get the rest they need to heal, and focus on making healthy changes for a more fulfilling and enjoyable life as they age in place.

If you or an aging loved one are considering elderly care in Liberty Lake, WA, please contact the friendly staff at Love at Home Senior Care, today. Call (509) 204-4088

Sources

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/shingles/symptoms-causes/syc-20353054

https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/index.html

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Andy Niska

Owner at Love In Home Senior Care

Andy has over 20+ years experience in the medical community and has a true compassion for seniors. With a degree in Health Care Administration, he developed a background in a variety of health care services that only comes from first hand experience. While working as a manager of a large clinic and as an account executive for medical suppliers. Andy has built valuable relationships with the medical community.

His role in Love In Home Senior Care is to educate people on what care choice is the best fit for the senior and their family while attempting to make this decision as stress-free as possible for everyone involved.

This decision making process should be smooth and stress free for everyone, including all family members and their loved ones. Having access to people with experience (like the team at Love In Home Senior Care) to assist you along the way can help this process. With an extensive background in health care, Andy has the experience needed to guide and direct your loved one to the choice that is the best fit.