The Diary of An Alzheimer's Caregiver
Appreciate the good, laugh at the crazy, and deal with the rest!
Have you recently become the caregiver for someone you love? Taking care of a loved one can give you a sense of fulfillment, but it can also give you some extra stress. Depression and anxiety are common issues for caregivers, so it is important for people who are new to the role to use self-care…
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Being responsible for the health and well-being of a loved one can make you forget to take care of yourself. But when your health is at risk, so is the health of your loved one. What is caregiver burnout? Caregiver burnout is the experience of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion from caring for someone. The…
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10 EMOTIONS…ONE DAY, THE LIFE OF AN ALZHEIMERS CAREGIVER As an Alzheimer’s Caregiver, I go through a lot of different emotions! Some days are better than others. I made a list of 10 emotions that I usually hit in one single day! It’s no wonder I sometimes feel as if I am going crazy….
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A CAREGIVER’S EPIPHANY I became my mom’s caregiver when I realized my mother could no longer live on her own. She is almost 79 years old and suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. I have to admit that it was something that hadn’t often crossed my mind. I mean, I knew it would happen “SOMEDAY”, but “SOMEDAY” was…
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Most caregiver’s do not become caregivers on purpose. They only become caregivers after some often traumatic or dangerous situation has occurred with their parents or loved one. With my mother, it was a comment made by her neighbor that first got me thinking about Alzheimer’s Disease. I knew my mom was forgetting things, she had…
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PT. 8 CAREGIVER SERIES “How We Got Here” The night of January 10, 2014, ended on a fairly even note, but I knew things had to change. I could not go through another day like the one I had just survived. It was my 44th birthday and it had been awful. One I would never…
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LEARNING ALZHEIMER’S ONE DAY AT A TIME PT. 4 CAREGIVER SERIES HOW WE GOT HERE We moved into our new house in October of last year. Wow, I can’t believe that we’ve been here for almost a year and this will be our 3rd in SC! I assumed after our move that things would get…
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CAREGIVING IS MORE THAN JUST A TITLE PART 2 OF THE CAREGIVER SERIES “HOW WE GOT HERE” A CONTINUATION OF “THE BIRTH OF A CAREGIVER” My last post I explained how I came to become my mom’s “caregiver”. Just because you take over the title of caregiver doesn’t mean you really are one. This is…
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Most caregivers are not experienced. They are not born as caregivers. They become caregivers after a family emergency or in my case a wake-up call. I had no idea what Alzheimer’s Disease really was. Like most people, I just assumed that she was just forgetting things no big deal. At first it was just forgetting…
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Lately, I have been sharing stories of my wonderful mother. Since becoming her caregiver, I have learned so much about the woman who is my mother. In January 2014, I wrote a story about her trip to Minneapolis to live with my father and oldest brother. Here is the link to that story that was…
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