Adeste In-Home Care - Colorado

In-Home Care in Colorado

5 Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore As A Caregiver

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As a caregiver, you’ve probably become hyper-conscious about the person you are caring for. You can read mood swings, physical and mental changes quickly and fairly accurately. When something is wrong, you take action and get the help you need immediately.

What about your own health?

Caregivers assume they are the healthy one in the relationship. Nothing can happen to them; they have too much dependent on their actions every day. Which makes the situation ripe for problems.

Most aches and pains aren’t signs of something serious. But there are certain symptoms that you should have checked out immediately.

Weakness in Arms and Legs

If you feel a sudden weakness in your arm, leg, or face, especially if it’s on one side of your body, it can be a sign of a stroke. You may also notice a sudden imbalance, feel dizzy, or have trouble walking. Some also notice a sudden onset of a headache, have problems speaking, or feel confused. If a stroke is caught early and clot-buster drugs are used within 4 ½ hours of your first symptom, you can lower your risk of a long term disability. [Read more…]

Help! I’m a First Time Caregiver

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Caregiving isn’t something you plan. It isn’t something you wake up one day and decide to bring into your life.

Instead, it’s thrust upon you, usually at the most inopportune time. You have a life. You’re busy. And you don’t want this job too.

There’s never a right time to take on the caregiving role. But there are ways to integrate it into your life with less stress. Here’s how.

Start The Conversation Immediately

Caregiving doesn’t just impact you; it impacts the one you’re caring for, and the friends and family around you too. Who is close to this situation? Who will have a part in the process?

Bring them together and start a conversation as early as possible. Listen and respect everyone’s desires. Try and include as much as you can while realizing that not every wish will be possible as you travel down this new path. Above all, keep trying. Every day will be different and bring to light new issues. There will be conflict; talking it out and bringing in help right from the beginning will ensure less stress down the line. [Read more…]

Ask These Questions When You Want To Quit Caregiving

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Caregiving is a job you’ll often find yourself hating. Yet it’s also a job that very few feel they can just up and quit. The very nature of the role is it’s not something you choose, but instead, is thrust upon you.

The work isn’t fun. The stress is unrelenting. It’s difficult being at the top of your game night and day. It can be a tremendous sacrifice.

But it’s also a job that no matter how much we wish, we either can’t or don’t really want to stop. Ever find yourself in this situation? If so, maybe it’s time to ask these questions.

How can I change my expectations?

How often do you set yourself up for failure? Do you rise with a to-do list that rarely is accomplished? Burnout is inevitable when it comes to caregiving. But in many cases, it might be because you are enslaving yourself to a picture that can never be. The larger the gap is between what is possible and what you plan, the greater the pressure you’ll feel. This zaps your energy. Letting go of expectations is difficult and is something you may have to work towards. Take it one step at a time, accepting what is even if it’s for one moment of time per day. [Read more…]

Caregiving Positively Instead Of Negatively

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We’ve all had days where the negative self-talk starts from the moment we rise. Ever had your alarm fail? Then you know what I’m talking about. You suddenly realize your alarm didn’t go off when you planned, and the thoughts begin. “How could I forget to set that? How could I have been so stupid? Now my day is ruined. I’ll be late for everything. I’ll be in trouble at work.” It goes on and on.

Negative self-talk is something we all do. We have it at every juncture of our lives.

But when we move into a caregiving role, the negativity often rolls in equally as fast.

The internal negative thoughts begin. “Why is this happening?”

And unfortunately, they can grow and change every day. Depending on the results of your personal caregiving situation, you can become susceptible to unhelpful patterns of negative thinking. Let’s say you are caring for someone with memory issues. Repeating questions become a part of your daily routine. For you, that means negative thinking is always in the back of your mind. “When is this going to stop? No one understands how difficult my life is.” [Read more…]

What You’re In For As A Caregiver

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Diagnosis changes everything.

All of a sudden everything is about the one who needs care. Doctors focus on them. Friends and family focus on them.

But what about you?

A doctor may ask your loved one “how are you feeling?” But when do they turn to you and ask about you?

Caregiving is difficult; you’ll find everyone tells you it’s true.

But very few will tell you what to expect from the inside out. The nitty gritty details of what you’re life will be like from this point forward. And in some ways it’s to be expected; just like no two people are the same, no two caregiving situations will be the same. [Read more…]

Creating A Caregiving Plan: Why It’s Important For The Sandwich Generation

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Do you wake up every morning tired and filled with dread? Do your days seem to get longer, always filled with the unexpected? Have you ever wished you could simply walk away from it all?

While we’ve all wished for that occasionally, to have that experience again and again is a sign of something deeper. And unfortunately, many of us in the sandwich generation feel that consistently in our lives. The constant demands of raising kids and taking care of our parents are stressful at best. How do you fit all of their demands in, and still have time to live your life too? Working a forty hour a week job and trying to have a relationship with your spouse should never feel like backburner activities, yet sometimes they do.

Have you ever set up a daily plan? Not just a calendar to keep track of meetings, but an actual 24 hour of the day guide to help you get through your days a little more smoothly? You may find it helps to put a few more stress-free hours into your day.

Organizing Your Day

Start by writing down all of the things that have to be accomplished each day. Skip the things that aren’t mandatory, and only include the things that top the list. Your work schedule is mandatory. Getting kids to and from school is mandatory. What else is compulsory in your life? [Read more…]

Caregiver Stress: When Worry Gets To Be Too Much For The Sandwich Generation

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caregiver stress

According to AARP, approximately 34.2 million Americans have provided unpaid care to an adult age 50 or older within this past year.

Caregiving comes at all levels. It may start with occasionally stopping by your parent’s place to check in on them. It may escalate to routine visits for more personal intervention. It may intensify to where you spend hours each day, or even consolidate homes and move in together. For some, it worsens, and they move into another level of care with assisted or skilled nursing care.

Have you witnessed first hand any of these levels with your own parents?

Life wasn’t supposed to go this way. You got married, had a family, started a career, were raising your own kids when the unthinkable happened. All of a sudden you found yourself in the middle of running after your kids and attending to your parents’ needs all at the same time.

Every level of care adds stress to your life. Whether it’s stopping by once a week to “check in” on things, or having them in full time care, the stress builds. And as many people have found out, from the moment the caregiving role is introduced into your life, it’s always there. You think about it while you’re at work. The visits continue no matter how able they claim to be. And even for those in day programs or full-time nursing care, constant attention may be part of the cycle to attend care planning meetings, going to doctor appointments, making medical decisions, and interacting with daily routines that may seem to change on a daily basis. [Read more…]

What To Do When You’ve Reached Your Breaking Point As A Caregiver

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Being thrust into the caregiving role is never easy. In the best of times, it’s difficult. In the worst of times, it’s all that and more.

Caregivers muddle through every day, taking things as they happen. They start with a plan and adjust as new things come their way. They take the unpredictable and attempt to put some order to it. They treat each day as something brand new. Because in so many ways it is; you can never fully anticipate all that will happen in the day and life of a caregiver.

Sometimes those moments can leave you with a smile on your face. Knowing you’ll remember that moment in time forever.

Still, at other times, you wish with all your heart it would just go away. You think you’ll break. You wonder how you’ll ever take another moment of it.

Yet you have to because there is no one else. It’s what you do. And you have to move forward, get through it, and see each new day.

There is no right way to move past your breaking point. Each person can handle it in different ways. It’s not something that a monumental task will carry you through. You don’t need special training, extra help, or even a lot of resources to move forward.

Sometimes it may be just the little things.

What To Do When You’ve Reached Your Breaking Point As A Caregiver

Find solitude, if only for a few moments. No phone. To television. Just you and peace and quiet. Reflect on the good aspects of doing what you do.

Find someone who cares and will listen. Other caregivers are even better at support. They’ve been there, done that. They understand when you simply need to sound off. And you can be there for them too.

List the good things in your life. Write it down in a journal or check them off in your mind. Even tiny things can help bring in a breath of fresh air.

Cry if you need to. Scream if you need to. Let the emotions flow out.

Don’t live in the past. You can’t change the past; today will always be a new and different day. Accept every day for what it has to offer.

Caregiving won’t last forever. There will come a day when it’s no longer required. You, right now, are making a difference.

Breathe. Meditate. Take a chance to sit and relax.

Create your own space. A space for just you. It can be a corner, a room, or even a place outside. Use that to retreat to when you need a moment all to yourself.

Eat the piece of chocolate cake with a large glass of mild sometimes.

Talk to the people closest to you. Admit when you need a change. The more you express your daily living arrangements, the more others will understand what you’re truly going through. People can’t help if they don’t understand.

Never say no to a resource. If someone wants to offer help or provide something new, listen and accept.

Elder Care Planning: Start With A Family Meeting

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Elder Care Planning

Wherever you work, chances are you attend a lot of meetings throughout the year.

Startups have meetings with investors, looking for ways to finance their dreams.

Marketing departments have meetings to find new ways of increasing sales.

A business in trouble has meetings to discuss new courses of action.

For every organization, meetings are something that is simply a part of the process. We accept it as a way of life.

Yet on a personal level, meetings are more difficult. Often, family members from a big family are widely dispersed across the country. Lives are busy enough without having to take the time of adding another commitment.

But in some cases, meetings are the best way to go. Bringing the family and support network together to discuss a loved one’s changing situation is a crucial step in making appropriate choices. It’s also important to bring everyone on board. [Read more…]

How To Care For Difficult Parents

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How To Care For Difficult Parents

Janet moved in with her mom because she knew it was the right thing to do. They’d never been particularly close. She’d never been the “touchy feely” mom she’d seen with her friends. Still, when the diagnosis came, moving in was the easiest thing to do.

Slowly, her mom’s condition began deteriorating. And she got more agitated, meaner. And as weeks turned into months, Janet found herself filled with dread. She was exhausted all the time. She spent every day caring for her mother’s needs, living her life solely for what was best for her mom. Yet with no appreciation, she struggled with every task she worked on, waiting for her mom to yell or complain. She’d wake up wondering how she was going to get through each day. She wonders when it all will end.

When you’re a child of an abusive, neglectful or unappreciative parent, changing the patterns of behavior that have settled in for years, even decades takes a lot of mental and emotional effort. Living in a situation growing up takes its toll; when you move back in and subject yourself to it once again as an adult, it takes on completely new power.

To move forward really requires three things. [Read more…]