Mental Health Can Be Impacted by Other Illnesses

When someone suffers from a disease or serious health condition, it is not uncommon for that person to also face other difficulties, especially when it comes to mental health. For example, a recent study focused on heart failure, and found that depression and chronic fatigue were common issues that went along with heart failure. There are about 5.8 million people in the U.S. that deal with heart failure, and a good portion of them suffer from these other health conditions. Unfortunately, a decline in health can bring these things about, but that isn’t necessarily the way that it must be.

 

Researchers from the Eastern Colorado Health Care System for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs found that a care intervention that focused on things like mental health, energy, and other similar topics saw improvement when it came to mood. This is a big deal because depression and fatigue are notoriously hard to diagnose and treat–especially in seniors that have suffered from heart failure. The fact that a more hands on approach to care was successful when it came to addressing these issues is a good advertisement for senior care. Although patients in the study did not show any signs of improvement when it came to their heart failure symptoms, the mental health side showed considerable leaps forward. This helped patients to be happier and better able to cope with their health concerns.

 

Mental health issues can become a major issue for those suffering from other health conditions.

 

Heart failure is certainly not the only disease that can increase someone’s susceptibility to fatigue or mental illness. Many health issues can, including cancer, diabetes, stroke, and more. As people age, illnesses and disability can become more likely to manifest themselves, and the mental and physical issues that come along with the main disease are often unexpected. However, they can have quite a negative impact on an individual’s quality of life.

 

The bigger issue is that many people who have these supplementary problems do not ever receive treatment for them. In the study mentioned above, only about half of the individuals were getting some sort of help. Those that did receive assistance were not always getting a high quality of help. In many cases though, this type of issue is easily avoid with the right care. Senior care especially plays an important role when it comes to mental health. Just having a caregiver around who is active in your mom or dad’s life can do a lot toward helping them be happier. Engaging them in conversation, being interested in their lives, helping them, and just spending time with them are all easy things to do, but play a huge role when it comes to happiness and quality of life.

 

Having a loved one that has suffered from something like heart failure can be a trying experience for the whole family. However, you might be able to help improve the quality of their life by ensuring that they have a caregiver working with them that truly cares about their wellbeing. It might seem like a small thing, but it can make a big difference.

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