Struggling how to care for yourself and ask for help as a caregiver?

Posted by jal333 @jal333, Mar 9 8:28am

Here is an excellent article with good tips. Not only to read for the ALZ or dementia caregiver, but also to share with friends and family who are strugling how to help.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/us/dementia-alzheimers-care-gene-hackman.html

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Caregivers: Dementia Support Group.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Mar 21 7:43pm

@jal333, what tip resonated the most with you?

jal333 | @jal333 | Mar 22 8:23am

In reply to @colleenyoung "@jal333, what tip resonated the most with you?" + (show)

It's essential that caregivers reach out for support to LEARN how to cope throughout the journey of Dementia and associated aging issues. Every day is different. Issues change quickly and it's difficult to be alone. Also, informing family and friends of the situation opens the door for conversation so that we can sort out those individuals who many NOT be most helpful.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Apr 2 6:34pm

In reply to @jal333 "It's essential that caregivers reach out for support to LEARN how to cope throughout the journey..." + (show)

@jal333, such a good takeaway from the article. It also sounds like you've lived that first-hand.

Have you seen this list that @IndianaScott started?
- IMNSHO: The Top Ten Things NOT to say to a Caregiver
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/imnsho-the-top-ten-things-not-to-say-to-a-caregiver/
Kind of relates to your point about sorting out your helpers and those you are not helpful.

bridgeback2 | @bridgeback2 | Nov 7 7:59am

Thanks for sharing the article; it is very helpful. It took me time to realise I need to start asking for help and that asking does not mean you are weak or incapable.

The tip I find most useful in the article is the one about using technology to help monitor your loved one. Being a caregiver to my mom, I constantly worried when I had to leave her home alone for a few hours when I had to. Then, I heard about a device that is suited for the elderly in general, and it made a huge difference in our lives.

It is a TV box, called the Jubilee TV box, that uses a camera and sensors, but it is set up in a way that feels very seamless. My mom doesn't feel like she is being watched all the time. I never wanted her to feel like she was losing control of her life and memory. There were a couple of times the sensors caught that she was out of her room for longer than normal, and I was able to rush home and check on her. One time, she fell on her way to the bathroom, and I managed to come home quickly since I had that technology. She was ok, thank God, but it is better to know there is something that will alarm you in case she wasn't.