How much do you know about arthritis? Not much, maybe, except that it is painful. As if a thousand needles are plunged into your big toe, foot, ankle, wrist, hands, or any joint in your body.

The pain may range from mild, to severe, to crippling and can last for a day or two, a week, months or years.

When arthritis attacks, you immediately blame it on the food you ate. But is food the only cause of arthritis flare-ups?

Read on and learn the basics of arthritis before you plop a tablet or two o painkillers down your throat when you will have another flair-up.

This will give you bits and pieces of useful information about the disease, and help you ward it off or how to cope with it.

What is arthritis

Arthritis is not a single disease but a common term for any disease affecting the joints. It can affect people of all ages, sex, and race.

There are more than 100 types of arthritis and related conditions but they share the same symptoms, i.e., swelling, pain, stiffness and decreased mobility. Some types of arthritis may also affect the heart, eyes, lungs, kidneys, and skin.

More than 50 million people in the U.S. have arthritis, with more than half of them are people aged 65 and above. – mostly women and elderly people. They are prone to arthritis because of stress and strain of their joints over the years.

Arthritis types among seniors and how to cope with them

If you never had any bout with arthritis before then start feeling any of its early symptoms )shown below), consult a doctor. It’s better to be sure than suffer pain and agony later.

Early symptoms of arthritis:

• Joint swelling
• Joint stiffness
• Tenderness or pain when touching a joint
• Problems moving the joint
• Warmth and redness of a joint

Seeing a doctor will let you know if you have an early onset of the disease, what type, and possible treatment options.

There are four types of arthritis common to elderly people. These are:

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis afflicting about 54 million adults in the U.S. aged 65 and above.

This type is not triggered by the food you eat but by torn and worn-out cartilage between the joints of the hands, neck, lower back knees, and hips.

Note: The author has osteoarthritis on both knees.

How to cope with it

There is no cure for osteoarthritis. Nothing can repair worn out cartilage despite claims by glucosamine food supplement suppliers. You can only minimize the pain by taking acetaminophen (Tylenol). But don’t take beyond the recommended dosage because it may cause liver damage.

Another is by having steroid injections on affected areas. This is done twice a year and is a bit expensive.

Or you may opt for surgical interventions, like a titanium implant, if the pain becomes chronic and unbearable.

There are also non-medical treatment options like:

• Exercise – to boost your energy, strengthen your muscles and bones, and keep your joints flexible.
• Eat a balanced diet – foods rich in vitamin C, Omega 3 fatty acids, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean meat are known to ease symptoms of the disease.
• Lose weight – to minimize pressure on the knees, spine, hips, ankles, and feet.
• Use hot or cold packs – to increase blood flow and ease pain and stiffness. Cold compress reduces swelling.
• Use splints, braces, and other aids – so you can move around with less pain on the joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis

RA is an autoimmune disease – meaning the body attacks the lining of the joints like it should, to protect it from diseases – even if they are healthy. This abnormality results in the swelling and inflammation of the affected joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis mostly affects the fingers, wrist, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, feet, and neck. It may also affect the heart, blood vessels, and the nervous system.

One peculiar trait of RA is that if it affects one side of the body, it will also affect the other side. And it occurs mostly among women.

People with RA gets tired easily, and sometimes run a fever.

How to cope with it:

There are several prescription drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, like Azulfidine, Aralen, Plaquenil, etc. But like any prescription drug, there may be negative side-effects. So consult your doctor before trying any of the above.

You may opt for other treatment options like a therapist (physical or occupational),  surgery, or lifestyle change.

Gout

This is triggered by the foods you eat – foods rich in uric acid like shellfish, liver, dried beans, peas, nuts, anchovies, or gravy.

Gout is caused by excessive deposits of uric acid crystals on the connective tissues or joint spaces, causing swelling, pain, and heat in the affected areas.

This is considered one of the most painful types of arthritis. It mostly affects the big toes, ankle, wrist, knee, or hand.

How to cope with it:

Mild cases of gout can be washed away after a day of urination. The more serious ones need medication.

There are several over-the-counter and prescribed drugs to ease the pain of gout but never buy any without prior consultation with your doctor. Different people react differently to drugs.

Like the other types of arthritis. there are things you can do to minimize the pain such as:

• Use ice packs to help ease the pain and inflammation
• Drink plenty of fluids to flush out excess uric acid crystals from the affected joints and prevent kidney stones (from excess uric acid crystals)
• Avoid food rich in uric acid like seafood and shellfish, sardines, anchovies, herring, liver, bacon, turkey, veal, etc.,
• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
• Avoid alcoholic beverages at all costs.

Reactive arthritis

This is type of arthritis is caused by an infection in other parts of your body. It causes joint inflammation and swelling just like true arthritis.

How to cope with it:

Treating the infection will make this go away. Hence, the importance of seeing a doctor when you detect any symptoms of a flair-up.

Arthritis is the number one medical issue faced by the elderly because it affects so many of them. It is chronic and incurable and flare-ups can cause so much pain and misery at a time when they are supposed to enjoy the best time of their lives.

But this need not be, provided you equip yourself with the knowledge of what you are up against and how to cope with it.

~oOo~

The post Easy Ways to Minimize Painful Arthritis Attacks first appeared on Age With Charm.

Since the invention of the wifi in 1997, and its introduction into our lives, things have changed forever.

Technology has changed everything, i.e, how we live, our views of life and living, our relationships, the things we use and how we use them, etc.

While we easily got by before, now they have become necessities, even for seniors.

In fact, technology has found a very live, engaging and lucrative market – the elderly. There are devices to monitor heart and blood pressure, fall sensors, vision enhancement, voice-activation and recognition, and many others in the market.

And these are just what we call a veritable “tip of the iceberg.”

Consider these:

1.  Wanganui Healthcare System:
Wanganui is a city on the west coast of North Island, New Zealand. It made the news because technology has found its way there.

A local security company, Securely, partnered with Essence to establish a technology-based healthcare management for its senior population.

The system will help elderly people remain in their homes, yet allowing their families to monitor their wellness and safety.

This is done through sensors installed in critical areas of the house that track’s an elderly’s daily activities like opening the ref door, flushing the toilet or switching on the light. Over time, the data gathered is used to predict his regular pattern of activity and sends out an alarm to the family if the pattern is broken.

The system is so user-friendly. It can be voice-activated or through a control attached to a watch’s strap and accessible by a smartphone 24/7.

2.  Smart Rollator:

A rollator is a walker or walking frame used by the disabled or elderly people for support and balance while walking or moving around.

This simple and mundane device was given a technological makeover by the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland and Orton to motivate seniors to increase their physical activity.

VTT added sensors and algorithms along the rollator that measure a range of functions covering a typical day of an elderly. These sensors gather data like distance covered in a day or week and use these as a benchmark to motivate the rollator user to do more in the coming days.

3.  Treating Faecal Incontinence and Constipation:
Faecal incontinence and constipation are two medical conditions that afflict seniors. Nursing home statistics show that roughly 50% of patients suffer from one or the other.

Faecal incontinence is the uncontrolled bowel movement, while constipation is difficulty in disposing of waste – both affect the internal anal sphincter muscle.

The sphincter is a ring of smooth muscle around the anal opening. It contracts and relaxes without conscious effect. But age weakens the muscle and if other factors such as dementia come in, bowel movement becomes uncontrollable.

Technology, however, does not want to either sit frequently or wait too long, on the toilet seat.

A high-tech procedure was developed by the Department of Medicine at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University to contract and relax the sphincter muscle using Magnetic MicroRNAs.

Before you rush to the bathroom, here’s a little beef about the procedure:

–  MicroRNA is a cellular RNA fragment that prevents the production of a particular protein by binding to and destroying the messenger RNA that would have produced that protein.

Note: RNA stands for ribonucleic acid, which is present in all living cells. Its main function is to carry instructions from the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) for controlling the body’s synthesis of proteins.

Doctors have successfully injected MicroRNA near the anal opening. But by itself, it will dissipate throughout the body. To keep it in place, they put in little metal fragments into it, then injected a small magnet around the solution.

Presto! It stayed in place and was able to regulate the sphincter muscle’s contractions.

The above are just teeny bits of technology applications that have redefined old age. Currently, there are “smart” homes and “smart” devices specifically designed to make the lives of seniors an easy, happy and enjoyable experience.

Image: https://www.amazon.com/Echo-Plus-built-Hub-included/dp/B075RWFCHB

~oOo~

The post How Technology is Redefining the Lives of Seniors first appeared on Age With Charm.

Can the life of a senior be described?

No! Objects can be described, but seniors are people and people cannot be described – especially seniors.

You have to live and experience it to know how it is to be one. So if you are not, be patient. You will soon find out.

Suffice it is to say that seniors are a diverse lot and how they live and experience their lives is highly individual-oriented.

But they are all driven by the same desire – to be happy.

These 20 adorable will augment that desire:

1.  The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools.

2.  lt is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.

3.  By the time you are 80-yrs-old you have learned everything. You just have to remember it.

4.  In order to be old and wise, it is necessary to be young and stupid

5.  At my age, I’ve seen it all, I’ve heard it all and I’ve done it before. I just can’t remember it all.

6.  I live in that solitude that is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

7.  The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.

8.  Wrinkles were not one of the things I wanted to have when I grew up.

9.  It’s frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you questions.

10.  I  have a photographic memory. Unfortunately, it no longer offers same day service.

11.  Young at heart, slightly older in other places.

12.  I’m not aging. I’m marinating.

13.  You know you are getting old when your pacemaker opens the garage door when you see a pretty girl.

14.  You know you are getting old when everything hurts and what doesn’t doesn’t work.

16.  Old age takes away what we’ve inherited, and gives us what we’re earned.

17.  Age isn’t important unless you’re wine.

18.  Aging is not “lost youth” but a new stage of opportunity and strength.

19.  Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.

20.  Sex after 60 is like shooting pool with a rope.

And to inspire you all, be like George…

When asked by friends what he was doing now that he’s retired, his usual answer is:

“Well…I’m fortunate to have a chemical engineering background and one of the things I enjoy most is converting beer, wine, and whiskey into urine. It’s rewarding, uplifting, satisfying, and fulfilling. I do it every day and I really enjoy it.”

Groucho Marx said, “Anyone can get old, all you have to do is to live long enough.”

If you are reading this, you have lived long enough.

Please share these quotes with other seniors who need cheering up.

~oOo~

The post Twenty Adorable Quotes for Seniors first appeared on Age With Charm.

What are apps?

Read on.

I find people like Steve Jobs (may his soul rest in peace), astonishing Why Because people like him seem to dictate the pace of technology.

For example, in 1983, Matt Strain predicted the evolution of a “new digital distribution system.” Ten years later, in 1993, the first PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), the forerunner of the smartphone, came into the market ten years later.

But before they gained maturity, in 1999 NTT DoCoMo, of Japan, introduced the first smartphones which immediately gained nationwide popularity.

Then in 2007, Apple introduced the first iPhone which Steve Jobs called “the revolutionary and magical products,” and the first 500 Apps started appearing in the Apple App Store, the following year.

Isn’t it awesome?

Originally targeting teenaged kids and young adults, the first Apps were mostly games and organizers. They soon evolved into other functions necessary to get by with one’s daily activities.

And when the first boomers retired, they started serving the peculiar needs of an aging segment of society. Now they have become essential in a world that is getting old.

The apps have evolved so much since then, and each year sees an update of existing ones or new ones coming in.

This year, these are ten of the most essential for seniors.

10 Apps seniors must have:

Note: Some of these are free while others have affordable subscription fees. And they are designed for the iPhone or iPad.

1.  WebMD:

This features doctor-reviewed health content and constantly updated information about maintaining a nutritious lifestyle.

It has a “Healthy Target” section that lets you establish exciting eating and exercise habits and suggests actionable insights at the end of the week.

You can also encode your symptoms and find possible causes, as well as treatments.

This should not replace a regular visit to your physician, but it can help you keep a close watch over your health.

2.  Pillboxie:

For seniors taking multiple daily medications, this extraordinary app provides an effortless way of managing them you so won’t forget taking any one of them.

Assign a specific medication to a sectioned pillbox graphic then put a schedule of taking them, and you’re all set.

The app will beep you when it is time to take a specific pill.

There is a subscription fee of $ 0.99/mo.

3.  Silver Surf:

Are you having problems with the small fonts of your smartphone?

No problem, Silver Surf is going to help you.

This incredible app zooms in, sets a higher contrast,  and displays larger buttons so you can use your mobile device with ease.

4. Lumosity:

If your memory starts failing you, this app is essential for you.

Designed by neuroscientists, this app contains hundreds of games and puzzles to improve memory recall and information retention.

And what makes this app even more exciting is that there is no subscription fee provided you subscribe to Lumosity.

5.  Park ‘n’ Forget:

A parking lot can often be like a huge haystack relative to where you parked your small car at. I often have to spend a few precious minutes figuring out where I parked my car.

This app solves that problem.

When leaving your car all you have to do is encode the color of the parking bay or the parking level and the app will remember it for you for easy retrieval.is would be.

This has a subscription fee of $ 0.99/mo, which is very minimal vis-a-vis its benefits.

6.  Blood Pressure Monitor:

This extraordinary app could spell the difference between life or death especially for live-alone seniors suffering from hypertension.

Not only does it track your blood pressure and weight over a period of time, it also provides statistical information on your health and gives out periodic reminders so you can manage your health properly. And you can export the data to your physician, saving you time and money.

7.  Voice Reading:

Amazing is an understatement in describing this app.

It audibly reads text from the Internet, emails, messages and even text files. It even comes in several languages.

This app is perfect if for seniors with reading or hearing problems, and it can be used even while driving.

8.  Easy Facebook for Seniors:

You want to stay connected with the outside world but find Facebook too complicated or cluttered for comfort This is what you need.

This app is specifically designed for seniors – cleaner, less-cluttered, and easy to learn.

It is a perfect antidote to loneliness and isolation for live-alone seniors.

9.  Epicurious: 

I am not a good cook. In fact, my meals are inherited from my late wife, while some are borrowed from friends then tempered with my own trial-and-error culinary curiosity.

If you are like me, but want to have a little organization, variety and flare with your meals, this app is what you need.

It contains an incredible 30,000 recipes carefully selected from quality cooking sites, and it offers reviews, tips, and pictures from other users.

And to make it easy the second time around, it organizes your favorite recipes and synchronizes your shopping list for easy and quick retrieval at the grocery store.

With this app, your meals in any given day are already taken care of.

10.  NPR:

National Public Radio (NPR) is an American privately and publicly funded non-profit media organization syndicating over 900 public radio station in the U.S.

With this app, you can surf 900 radio stations for your favorite music, latest news, the weather and many other interesting things to perk up your day.

You can also go through its archives for important and interesting events in the past.

Since the arrival of the smartphones and apps, life has taken a drastic change never seen before. They have become indispensable tools for daily living and given a different face and meaning to aging.

~oOo~

The post 10 Essential Apps for Seniors first appeared on Age With Charm.

Can you imagine what a senior’s life would be like if not for the latest in technology?

It would certainly be like my father’s when he was in his 50s.

My father was with the mass media and I can still remember his banging away at his Olivetti portable typewriter until late at night for his newspaper column, or a speech for others.somebody else.

Or Orlando Estrada, 70+ from Los Angeles, would still be moving around in his wheelchair.

Orlando was a design engineer of Hewlett-Packard. After retirement, he had to undergo two knee-replacement surgeries which put him in a wheelchair.

For a while, Orlando thought it was the end of his world. Then he joined an online health club in his senior center that uses two Microsoft products intended to help seniors get in shape, increase their social interaction, and manage their health information online.

It helped improve his overall fitness, lowered his blood pressure, and made him get off his wheelchair and walk again.

Of course, technology has always been with us since the dawn of man. But it was primitive, at best, during my father’s time.

Technology grew by leaps and bounds in 1981 when IBM released its first personal computers and, in 1990, the Internet went global.

Then, something happened in 2000 which caught the world totally by surprise – the first batch of baby boomers retired.

They created legions of people in their 60s with different needs. While they all want to enjoy their retirement, a lot of them have to cope with loneliness and medical issues.

Seeing the large business potential of this group, technology cranked its gears up and the rest is history.

Today, there is no aspect of an elderly’s life that is not touched or controlled by technology.

The following are the five major areas where seniors are benefitting tremendously from technology:

1.  Easier social interaction:

Numerous surveys have shown that getting connected is beneficial to the elderly’s health. In fact, it is even more important to a senior’s health and well-being than genetics and maintaining a good weight.

It lowers depression cases by 20% and enhances elderly people’s cognitive function.

Although online communication could never replace person-to-person contact, in situations where it is impossible or impractical, an email, a video, or an audio chat is good enough.

And technology has made all this easier, faster, and cheaper.

2.  Personal and home safety:

Various surveys have consistently shown that 80 to 90 of seniors want to age at home.

While this may seem an excellent idea, it is not without risks. Elderly people, being frail, forgetful, and can hardly see, hear or smell, are prone to home accidents.

In 2009 in Wales, England, 7, 475 people aged 65 above died from home accidents, 49% of them due to falls.

To minimize these risks, technology has come up with several products, i.e., fall and smoke detectors, home invasion systems, blood pressure, and heartbeat monitors, that send an alarm at the press of a button in case of emergencies.

3.  Physical and Mental Fitness:

Like wheelchair-bound Estrada, you can check into your local seniors center to see if they have activities to help keep you in shape physically and mentally.

The NCOA (National Council on Aging) has several downloadable online programs intended to promote senior fitness. The value of making use of these programs is immeasurable.

If this doesn’t appeal to you, you can play computer games. They keep the loneliness away and keep you mentally sharp.

4.  Medication Management:

I am taking a prescription drug a day for my hypertension – my only one – yet there are days when I forget to take it.

How much more if you take almost half-a-dozen a day?

In a 2009 survey done by Medco Health Solutions among seniors, more than half of the respondents are taking more than five prescription drugs a day while 20% were between 10 to 19. How could you manage that?

You can use the good old-fashioned way – the pillbox. It can help to a certain extent. But pillboxes tell you what medication to take, not when.

To remove this burden, technology has come up with smartphone apps that beep you when and what meds to take.

5. Health Tracking:

Last year I bought a wearable pedometer that tracks distance and calories consumed given a particular activity. I bought them so I can track my daily morning exercise.

It was a simple thing, very basic and it did not last long, by the way. But the point is to show how far technology has covered the bases where health and wellness are concerned.

There are more sophisticated products, apps, and cloud-based computing, that monitor your overall health and well-being.

The benefits of these products are invaluable. They provide the basis for your health management. Without them, you may be flying towards a storm without you knowing it.

These days there is no shortage of technology products to help seniors live a comfortable, trouble-free life.

The downside is that most of these require a learning curve to use and be of help – something a lot of seniors do not want to go through.

A reader of one of my articles wrote that her 90+ Mom is skeptical about the latest technologies for seniors. But she added that her Mom’s life has been saved several times by the personal emergency warning device she wears around her neck.

At the end of the day, technology is useless unless you embrace it. The stakes, however, are great if you don’t.

Please share with other seniors to help them decide.

~oOo~

The post Technology Benefits Among Seniors first appeared on Age With Charm.

Is there a member of your family who has had a bypass operation A friend, or you, maybe?

Then you must know it is something they (or you), don’t want to go through again, right?

The entire process, from pre-op preparation to post-op rehabilitation, is a series of tests, of prepping you up before you go under the knife, to making a new life of dos and don’ts after.

How do I know these My best friend had a bypass operation last December. Oh, he survived. But now I am left to drink and smoke alone – two vices that bound us together.

However, no matter how intricate or delicate the operation is, no matter how uncertain the results or expensive it may be, it is something you cannot say “No,” to without the risk of a death from a heart attack.

A heart attack (or myocardial infarction) refers to the death of a heart muscle due to loss of blood supply.

Lay people often call it cardiac arrest, which it’s not. Cardiac arrest happens when the heart’s electrical system malfunctions.

Though different, each can trigger the happening of the other. A heart attack results from a heart disease while cardiac arrest results from a blocked artery – chiefly the reason for a bypass –  one of the many heart anomalies that fall under the generic term “heart diseases.”

Heart Disease and Seniors:

Heart disease is the second most common medical issue among seniors (next to arthritis). But it is the top serial killer among people aged 65+, killing 489,722 U.S. seniors in 2014.

Of the various heart diseases, cardiovascular disease (CVD) holds the top spot among seniors.

A 2013 report by the American Heart Association showed that there were approximately 42 million Americans in their 60s suffering from CVD. The percentage was higher in people in their 70s.

The silver lining (LOL!) is that 66% of CVD deaths occur in people 75 above.

At any rate, if you have a heart disease, regardless of age, worrying is not going to help you in any way. Most of the causes of a heart disease are modifiable by changing your lifestyle.

If you manage your heart problems well, you can enjoy old age even beyond age of 75.

Here are a few tips how to:

1.  Develop good habits:

Developing good habits is always difficult. But there is no truth that old dogs can’t be taught new tricks. You can and you must:

–  Quit smoking;
–  Get enough sleep;
–  Avoid stressful situations;
–  Limit your alcohol intake;
–  Develop a positive attitude.

2.  Adopt a heart-healthy diet:

You are what you eat and when you get old, what you eat can spell the difference between enjoying old age or frequent visits to your doctor.

To achieve better heart health:

–  Eat more vegetables, fruits whole grains and legumes;

–  Limit your intake of saturated (animal) fats and dairy products like whole milk, cream, butter, cheese, and ice cream;

–  Minimize eating baked foods like doughnuts, cookies, crackers, pies, and cakes that use hydrogenated vegetable oil;

–  When cooking or baking, use monounsaturated fats like canola, olive, and peanut oils;

–  Fill your diet with protein-rich foods like lean meat, fish, and vegetables. Eat foods that help bring your cholesterol down;

–  Eat the right kinds of carbohydrates such as those in quinoa, brown rice, sweet potatoes, and other high-fiber foods, and minimize your salt intake;

–  Don’t overeat. It stresses the heart. Drink lots of water to avoid dehydration and, above all, eat regularly to control your blood sugar, burn fat efficiently and regulate your cholesterol level.

3. Exercise: 

Several studies have shown that people who regularly exercise have less chance to develop coronary heart disease (CHD) than those who don’t. Even if they do at a later age, it will be less severe than sedentary people.

Exercise can reduce “bad” cholesterol and can raise the “good” kind.

Not only is it good for the heart, but also good for your overall feeling of wellness – a necessary ingredient to heart health.

4.  Socialize:

Studies have shown that socializing and social support lowers mortality risks and cardiovascular disease, especially if coupled with moderate drinking.

While heavy drinking is associated with greater risk of a stroke, light to moderate drinking does the opposite. People who imbibe lightly are less prone to strokes and coronary heart disease.

Every day more than 1,300 seniors die of heart attack (2014 figures). But your chances of being one of them is very slim considering that there were 46.2 million people aged 65 and above in the same year.

While this may sound consoling, but having a heart disease is like having a cocked pistol pointed at your temple. And it can go off anytime if you don’t manage it well.

Please share so other seniors will know that having a heart disease is not the end of the world. 

Image: www.steadyhealth.com

~oOo~

The post Cheatsheet for Seniors with Heart Disease first appeared on Age With Charm.