There’s nothing worse than seeing a loved one in pain, especially when you feel as though there is nothing you can do to help them. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to assist your loved ones and it just takes either a little bit of research or reaching out for help. Most people will assume that physical pain is the only problem someone may encounter but it’s important to remember emotional pain too. Many suffer in silence for far too long when there are things that can be done to help.
Extreme Cases
There are always going to be situations where you as a loved one aren’t going to be able to cope with the task at hand, so it’s important to know that’s ok. When a relative or loved one is going through a traumatic process when related to a life-affecting illness, you aren’t expected to know everything. In this situation, the best thing you can do for your loved one is to look into palliative care services who are there to make anyone suffering as comfortable as they possibly can. The interdisciplinary medical approach is designed to optimize the quality of life and mitigate any suffering caused by a serious illness, there are many ways this can be implemented by professions such as doctors, physicians, and psychologists and will help not only your loved one but you as well. Palliative care will also help you be safe in the knowledge that your loved one is receiving the best care they can for this stage in their life, your stress levels will hopefully be reduced which will help you in getting back to a normal routine.
Understand
When it comes to a loved one experiencing pain that’s not necessarily coming from a life-threatening illness that requires care beyond your ability, (that will still require an attempt to understand but not as much) then it’s best that you try and understand their situation. What’s going on in their life that has become difficult and what can you do to help them? If it’s a physical pain then getting to the bottom of it and sourcing a medical professional is the best way you can help them, and if it’s emotional pain then there are many ways you can attempt to help. Finding psychological care for those seriously struggling will be a brilliant thing for your loved one to utilize, but also being there for them and sitting and listening to what’s going on in their head will be more helpful than you realize. Sometimes people just want to have a conversation.
Listen
Amongst being able to sit and listen to your family when they need to talk about things that are causing them emotional grief, you should be able to listen to all aspects and be able to process the information you’re given. Toward the latter stages of life, people tend to ignore the wants and needs of an elderly relative as they believe they know what’s best for them, realistically this can’t possibly be true as we aren’t in their situation. It’s imperative to listen to what they are asking for and what their needs might be so we can act accordingly, in some situations what they want might seem silly but if that’s what’s going to make them happy then who are we to question desire? Listening is a skill we all need to work on, so why not start with visiting your grandparents and listening to them?
Help Them
This may seem obvious as all we are doing is attempting to help in the best way possible, but that can sometimes mean helping in ways that aren’t asked. If you’re visiting a loved one’s house and you see that some washing up needs to be done, just do it. Get on with menial house tasks that will take you 5 minutes to complete but 35 minutes for your grandfather to do. This will help them more than they can tell you, heading to the kitchen to discover that the washing up has been done will be a lovely surprise that will allow them to cook dinner and get back to watching tv or reading their book. Time is something we can’t recover throughout our entire life and we are blessed when we are younger with the ability to complete tasks quickly, the elderly don’t have that luxury.
Whilst it’s traumatic seeing a loved one go through any type of illness or pain it remains that we have to stay strong for the benefit of them, being unable to cope in this instance will end in causing more stress for everyone involved. Remember to listen and understand what your loved one is going through, visit them regularly, and do whatever you can to ensure they are as comfortable as possible.
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