The Diary of An Alzheimer's Caregiver
Appreciate the good, laugh at the crazy, and deal with the rest!
As someone who lived and cared for my mom who had Alzheimer’s, I learned very quickly that guilt would be my closest companion. It’s inevitable that those emotions become intertwined with sadness and sometimes even anger. The guilt comes from the feelings of: Not doing enough Not doing things correctly Dreaming about an afterlife Anger…
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Thank you SEIU for sponsoring this post! Most caregivers have a similar experience as me. My moment was walking into my mom’s house and finding piles of pills all over the place. She had gotten her meds out but had forgotten them somewhere along the way. The next epiphany I had was, “I…
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That guilt can make you crazy or deteriorate your health like a room full of cigarette smoke and a bottle of whiskey while eating the greasiest hamburger you can find.
Caregiving is hard no matter what. Alzheimer’s caregivers, however, have an especially difficult job. Not only do people with Alzheimer’s disease have high care needs, they can also be combative, moody, and forget who you are. Giving your all to a loved one’s care only to feel unappreciated for everything you do is frustrating at…
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*This post was originally written in May of 2014 but has been updated. Alzheimer’s is a disease that not only destroys the life of the patient, but it also tries to rob them of the relationships in their lives on the way out. The patient’s personality changes so drastically that sometimes you can’t recognize someone…
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I’ve been my mom’s caregiver for a long, long time. Even before she moved in with us every decision I made had to take her well-being into account. It’s always been momma & I since the day I was born. Being the only other girl in a house full of boys meant that we…
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When mom was diagnosed in 2011 with Alzheimer’s Disease I thought then that was the worst thing that could ever happen. I grieved for all that I was losing, I grieved for all of the things that momma would forget and that list grew longer and longer each and every day. As days went by,…
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You may remember last month’s post-Preserving Memories With a Loved One—Questions to Ask Before it’s Too Late a guest post written by Stacy Monson. Well, this month I’m back with a review of her latest book Open Circle. Open Circle is a lovely story. Here is the Amazon description here: Determined not to lose the only…
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It is often said that the greatest loss faced by a person with Alzheimer’s, is that of their precious memories: the moments that marked their life, for good and bad. It can be just as painful, however, to lose the memory of one’s beliefs: the value systems and sense of spirituality that gave rise to…
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If you are a caregiver to an Alzheimer patient then you know how stressful it can be. When you are with that person every day you see the constant changes in their personality and in their moods. Sometimes this happens not only daily, but hourly even minutes. You can start off having a great…
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