As our loved one’s health challenges progress you may find you find you are having caregiver struggles This could stem from them needing higher skilled care. As our other responsibilities and commitments have turned our caregiver responsibility into seeming like a burden. We may not realize it, but when we are burning out, our care to our loved ones may suffer. There are multiple priorities we are trying to juggle and we may feel that we are the doing the best we can. This also affects our own wellbeing as we may experience depression, anxiety, stress, and constant fatigue. However, unknowingly, our actions may lead to elder abuse and neglect. If we forget to figure our loved ones, medicine, then our elders will endure elder neglect. If we become frustrated and yell, then our loved one will withstand elderly abuse. It is important to know when to seek senior care support, so consider your answers to these questions:
1. Has caregiving become harder?
Were you once happier but the weight of caregiving has become too much? Your loved one may now feel like a burden. When you realize that you are currently feeling unhappy emotions, you should analyze and seek to understand the causes. You cannot solve a problem if you do not know why you feel the way that you do. We may also unknowingly blame our loved ones for work stressors or concerns. As you seek to understand why you feel the way you do, practice your healthy coping strategies, such as deep breathing.
2. Do you forget some of your caregiver responsibilities?
When we are constantly pressed with multiple responsibilities, we may skip or postpone some of our caregiver responsibilities. We may feel overwhelmed with caregiver struggles and creating a balance. However, having a team that supports to work together can help ease these multiple responsibilities.
For example, you are no longer able to socialize with your loved one as you used to. Your loved one may even start to feel neglected and lonely, which can then lead to depression. If you neglect your caregiver responsibilities, then they may not take their medication on time. They remain dirty, and their house may remain untidy. Skipping duties and responsibilities is hard because you are caring for a delicate person. If you are tired or occupied elsewhere, you should get someone else to help you.
When you observe these signs, you may consider seeking Alaskan senior care services at an assisted senior living community. Rather than your loved receiving in-home care or living at home alone, they can instead spend time socializing with other seniors.
3. Are you still a vibrant caregiver?
A caregiver should be vibrant and jovial to be effective and do their job properly. However, when you start feeling some symptoms in your body like pains and exhaustion, they indicate burnout. Just like any other job, you should have enough time to rest and recover. However, if we do not take time to rest, then we may continue to feel stressed or frustrated. It could be because of financial constraints, family issues, falling out with people, lack of sleep, or a variety of other concerns. Instead of your loved one feeling cared for, they will not receive the care they need.
Sometimes, taking a break and seeking respite senior care for your loved one can help you replenish your energy. It is also essential to know when in-home care services may no longer be right as your loved one may require higher-level memory care services or high acuity care.
4. You mistreat and neglect your elderly loved one
Instead of making their lives better and enjoyable, you start bringing sorrow. The reason why elders are taken care of by other people is because of the challenges that come with their advanced age. They weaken and need support with daily living. The right care for seniors should be offered to them. However, when you start neglecting them and not doing your best, you start doing the contrary of what is needed from you. When you reach this point, you would instead seek senior care services that can take the stress off from the care-giving responsibility. This allows you the freedom to enjoy the happy moments without the daily care responsibilities.
5. You have feelings of being overwhelmed
You could also be feeling overwhelmed. You lose interest in what you used to enjoy. If you feel overwhelmed by your senior care responsibilities, then you will no longer be able to find peace. If their condition has deteriorated, you will be affected because of the emotional connection you have with them. After establishing what is bringing you that uneasiness, you will be able to solve it accordingly. Such feelings distract the caregiver from staying dedicated to their cause. You may also find that seeking senior care support will help you reclaim your balance and your relationships.
What to Do If You Experience Caregiver Struggles?
If you have been taking care of the senior citizen on your own and then you reach a certain point where you feel that it has become too much, it should be the right time to reexamine the living situation. That is a sign of struggling. With time, you will also start feeling unable and totally exhausted. Avoiding discouragement and exhaustion can significantly alleviate these feelings. Knowing you have support and help can help you reclaim your connection.
Whether you are seeking temporary respite care services or long-term assisted living, memory care or high acuity care for your loved one you will have to be the one to make that decision. You can know that you are not alone and have support with your loved ones by reaching out to Baxter Senior Living advisors to find their new home away from home.
Our Baxter Senior Living caregivers are empathetic as we embrace kindness, patience, endurance, understanding, mercy, care, love, and gentleness. Having a supportive team allows for us all to work cooperatively in the areas each of our team members have strengths.
We also prioritize engaging our residents in social activities to avoid senior loneliness and isolation that they may have felt at home, even with in-home care services. We pride our seniors on being able to live as independently as possible under the care of experienced senior caregivers.
