Family caregivers face situations they never expected. Many are thrown into caregiving and have no experience to draw from. These caregivers learn as they go.
Without any experience, it’s easy for family caregivers to become stressed and deal with caregiver fatigue. It’s important to identify caregiver fatigue and take steps to address it before it leads to mental or physical health issues. Here are five identifiers that indicate caregiver fatigue.
#1 – Anger and irritability
Anger is a big indicator. Family caregivers may be angry at the disease or the situation they find themselves in. That anger may spill out into relationships, work, and daily life. Some caregivers become angry at the senior they’re caring for.
People experiencing caregiver fatigue may blame their parents. They blame their parent for not trying hard enough to do things independently. They blame their parents for not doing as they request without argument.
#2 – Anxiety
Family caregivers often spend hours each day worrying about the future. They worry about not being able to keep this level of care up weeks, months, or years from now. They become anxious thinking about the financial burden or emotional burden of providing care.
#3 – Depression
After weeks or months of anxiety and other stressors, people with caregiver fatigue can become depressed. They start to say it would just be easier if they walked away and no longer cared about anybody or themselves. Some may start to comment that it would be easier if they died and no longer had to deal with it.
#4 – Lack of Sleep
As fears and frustrations mount, family caregivers often find they cannot sleep. If they do fall asleep successfully, they wake up and start worrying about something and end up unable to sleep. They worry that their parent might have gotten out of the home and is lost. They worry that their parent is scared or unhappy.
#5 – Withdrawal and Isolation
Caregiver fatigue will have many caregivers spending so much time providing care or worrying that they stop going out with friends. They have excuses as to why they can’t go out. They let long-time friendships slip away and act like it’s perfectly okay.
If you expect caregiver fatigue is a problem, you must start to take time away. Caregivers offer respite care services to allow you to have a break without having to leave your parent alone. Call a home care agency now to discuss setting up respite care.
For more information about hiring a Caregiver in Coronado, CA, call the friendly caregivers at La Jolla Nurses Homecare who can help your aging parents remain in their own homes, at 858-454-9339. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable senior care in La Jolla, CA, and the surrounding communities.
Today we are the oldest and most experienced private duty agency in San Diego County.She saw a need for quality private duty home health care and she worked diligently to build an agency that filled that need.I am proud to say, her vision is carried on today with our dedicated staff.
I believe our tenure in the community speaks well for us.We have had the opportunity to be of service to countless interesting individuals, including local and worldwide celebrities.It is the people we care for that makes this a fascinating industry.Whether high profile or a more ordinary citizen, we are proud that thousands have entrusted us with their care or the care of their loved ones.Our Mission is to provide high quality, very secure and the most compassionate home health care.We believe that patients heal faster and are happiest when they can stay in their homes.”
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