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Compassion Fatigue

Posted by judimahoney @judimahoney, 2 days ago

Before I retired I was a supervisor at a non-profit. We worked with families. Part of our training to work with these low-income families (all who were struggling), was recognizing when we as staff experienced Compassion Fatigue. This is when your tank is empty and you have nothing left to give. What's to be done? We all know we need breaks, probably won't happen as often as we'd like due to reality. Experts say to prioritize self-care, exercise, practice mindfulness and have a healthy diet, etc.
It's all such good advice, then the real world comes crashing down.
Any other compassion fatiguers out there?
Take care, all y'all. 🫂

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celia16 | @celia16 | 1 day ago

I thought I had caregiver fatigue. Might still have it. My years of caregiving has been severe. I’m still doing some caregiving. It’s less than with my dad, but still significant. You know it’s bad when you fantasize about only having a day of work at your job. Lol.

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laura1970 | @laura1970 | 1 day ago

My good friend has a husband with late stage ALS. He is on a ventilator and uses eye gaze technology to communicate. After 2 1/2 years she relented and did 2 weeks of respite and had him in an institution. Wow p, the difference it made in her well being was just miraculous

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pml | @pml | 17 hours ago

You are so right. It is definitely hard on those of us giving the care. The last few months of my husband's fight with lung cancer we were getting up 3 times a night because he would get so breathless that he'd need help to use his nebulizer which he had to use in the living room with the oxygen. We both got so tired and there was all the other stuff to do such as getting breakfast, lunch and dinner etc. My husband couldn't do much of that but he tried to help. This routine went on for almost a year when he finally went home to Heaven. I have to admit it was nice to finally get a good night's sleep but I'd give anything to be doing it all again just to have him near me and be able to hold him again. However, I wouldn't want to have him to be in such uncomfortableness again. I admire all of you who are the caregivers out there. It's much appreciated by your loved ones even if they don't or can't communicate it to you. I know my husband really appreciated me. He said so many times. The best part of all of that time was that we prayed together and God was there for us.
PML

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judimahoney | @judimahoney | 16 hours ago
In reply to @pml "You are so right. It is definitely hard on those of us giving the care. The..." + (show)
Profile picture for pml @pml

You are so right. It is definitely hard on those of us giving the care. The last few months of my husband's fight with lung cancer we were getting up 3 times a night because he would get so breathless that he'd need help to use his nebulizer which he had to use in the living room with the oxygen. We both got so tired and there was all the other stuff to do such as getting breakfast, lunch and dinner etc. My husband couldn't do much of that but he tried to help. This routine went on for almost a year when he finally went home to Heaven. I have to admit it was nice to finally get a good night's sleep but I'd give anything to be doing it all again just to have him near me and be able to hold him again. However, I wouldn't want to have him to be in such uncomfortableness again. I admire all of you who are the caregivers out there. It's much appreciated by your loved ones even if they don't or can't communicate it to you. I know my husband really appreciated me. He said so many times. The best part of all of that time was that we prayed together and God was there for us.
PML

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@pml
So very sorry you had to go through that ordeal for so long.

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