Five Tips for a Loved One with COPD Who Experiences Pain
People living with COPD can often experience pain that is difficult for them to manage. Much of that pain is located in their chest, but your senior may experience pain in other areas, too.
Talk to His Doctor
As common as pain is with COPD, that doesn’t mean that it’s something to ignore. If your senior’s pain changes or worsens, then it’s important to talk to his doctor. Depending on the type and location of the pain, there may be something that can change in your elderly family member’s care plan. Medications or activity levels may need to be adjusted.
Take it Easy
Your elderly family member needs to be active to a certain extent, but if he’s doing too much, then he likely doesn’t have the energy he needs to be appropriately active. Hiring elderly care providers to help with meal preparation, light housekeeping, and other tasks can give your senior the extra boost he needs to be able to be active when he needs to.
Do Breathing Exercises
If your senior has been to pulmonary rehab, the therapist may have shown him some specific exercises that he can try in order to strengthen his lungs. Pulmonary rehabilitation isn’t always recommended, but your elderly family member may want to attend sessions to learn what else he can do in order to help his lungs to be as healthy as possible, even with COPD.
Try the Pain Medication
Many people with COPD receive a prescription for pain medication to help them to manage the pain that they experience as a result. It’s understandable that pain medication is scary, but with a prescription and if taken according to that prescription, pain medication may be helpful. If your senior doesn’t like the side effects or it doesn’t manage his pain, at least he knows that he tried it.
Put the Right Fuel in His Body
With pain due to COPD, it’s even more crucial that your elderly family member is eating the right foods for him. Any food that creates bloating, excess gas, or that causes him to retain fluids is going to contribute to pain rather than help it. If you’re in doubt, talk to a nutritionist about foods that are helpful for people with COPD.
Pain may be a common problem when it comes to managing COPD, but that doesn’t mean that it has to completely sideline your elderly family member. Learning to deal with the pain in appropriate ways can help your senior to stay as active as possible and to live a full life.