Try: Care giving can be very stressful and consuming this is especially true if the Care recipient (cr) has alzheimer alzheimer’s disease and related dementia sometimes you get unexpectedly thrown into a caregiver role and before you know it you are in over your head and drowning caregiver stress can sneak up on you rather quickly when you are in a crisis situation and there is a flurry of activity as a caregiver it is very important that you become familiar with the warning signs of stress so that you can be pro-active rather than reactive in dealing with it the bottom line is if you don’t take care of yourself you will be of little or no use to the care recipient with dementia when you are consumed by your care giving responsibilities you may not be aware of the adverse impact that it has on your physical and emotional well being so it is important to be honest with yourself about the stress and get the help and support you need to deal with it warning signs of caregiver stress when the care recipient has alzheimer alzheimer’s disease denial you are in denial about alzheimer alzheimer’s disease and its effects on the cr for example i know that my dad will be ok and get better anger you are angry at the diseases the cause memory loss upset that no effective treatments or cures exist and complain that people don’t understand what is going on for example if he asks me that question one more time i’ll scream social withdrawal you withdraw from friends and activities that you used to enjoy for example i don’t care about getting together with my friends anymore anxiety you are anxious about facing another day and what the future holds for example what happens when i just can’t handle this anymore depression depression is having a negative effect on your ability to cope for example i don’t care anymore exhaustion you are so exhausted that you have considerable difficulty completing daily tasks for example i am too tired to deal with this sleeplessness you have difficulty sleeping due to a never-ending list of things to do and care giving concerns for example what happens if my dad starts wandering around and gets lost or injured irritability you are irritable moody and respond or react to people or situations in a negative manner for example leave me alone lack of concentration you can’t concentrate focus and perform familiar tasks for example i was so busy that i forgot we had an appointment health problems you develop your own physical or mental health problems due to the stress of care giving for example i can’t remember the last time that i felt good information references adapted from www alz org alzheimer alzheimer’s association
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Categories: Caregiver Needs&Support, Cognitive Intellectual, Emotional Psychological, Medical Physical, Social
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Keywords: Caregiver burnout caregiver stress caregiver challenges alzheimer alzheimer’s disease dementia memory loss cognitive impairment mentally challenged mentally incapacitated losing it
*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed