If you as a family caregiver are striving to provide quality senior care for a loved one who is living with Alzheimer’s disease, you may at times feel isolated in your efforts. But you are not alone. In 2022, more than 11 million family members and other unpaid caregivers provided an estimated 18 billion hours of care to people with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.
These caregivers are all meeting the unique challenges that come with caring for someone with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Five Challenges for Alzheimer’s Caregivers
1. LEARNING ABOUT THE DISEASE
As a caregiver, it’s important to learn about the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, which include:
- Difficulty remembering newly learned information
- Disorientation
- Mood and behavior changes
- Deepening confusion about events, time, and place
- Unfounded suspicions
- Increased memory loss
- Difficulty speaking or swallowing
A person with Alzheimer’s may wander away from home, be unable to perform personal care tasks, or become verbally and physically abusive.
2. TAKING ON THE ROLES AND DUTIES
Talk with your senior’s physician about what to expect. Understand that you will be taking on several roles:
Providing physical care. This could include bathing, grooming, assistance with dressing and toileting, and helping with mobility.
Ensuring safety and security. Part of providing quality senior care is ensuring the safety of your loved one. The Alzheimer’s Association provides a Home Safety Checklist that caregivers can use to make sure there are no risks to their loved one’s safety at home.
Housekeeping and home maintenance. As your senior becomes more dependent on you, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and yardwork will be required of you or others who may assist you.
Medical management. As the ability to remember tasks fades, medication management will be necessary, as well as taking the senior to doctor’s appointments plus addressing other care needs.
Financial management. Keeping financial papers in order, paying bills, and other financial responsibilities will become necessary for the caregiver or someone who has been designated with financial power of attorney.
Emotional support. People with Alzheimer’s experience additional stress, anxiety, and frustration. They will look to the caregiver for calming reassurance and patient understanding. This is not an easy role to play, as the senior’s paranoia, suspicion, and unexpected emotions may take their toll on a caregiver.
3. LEARNING TO ACCOMMODATE CHANGE
As the disease progresses, things will change. What happens today may not have happened yesterday and may not happen tomorrow. What happened this morning will change in the evening if your senior experiences “sundown syndrome” and exhibits increased mood swings, anxiety, sadness, and a host of other emotions. You will need to learn to adapt to the unexpected; change the subject of a conversation not connected to reality and redirect some misdirected thoughts and emotions with patience, love, and, sometimes, a little humor.
4. TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF
Devoting so much time and energy to your senior can lead you to neglect your own physical and emotional wellbeing. You have to maintain some balance, which includes taking time to relax when possible. Find opportunities to exercise, even if it is for 10 minutes two or three times a day. Take your medications. Ask a friend or relative to watch Mom or Dad while you go on a walk, and after you get back from the walk, talk to that friend or relative about what you are thinking and feeling. Sharing your experience will help you cope.
More than half (53 percent) of caregivers indicate that a decline in their health compromises their ability to provide care. Furthermore, caregivers and their families often experience economic hardships through lost wages and additional medical expenses, which also adds to stress.
Understand the warning signs of burnout. The CDC suggests that caregivers may have their own set of symptoms, which may include:
- Elevated levels of depression and anxiety
- Higher use of psychoactive medications
- Worsening physical health
- Compromised immune function
- Increased risk of early death
5. KNOW WHEN YOU ARE BEYOND YOUR LIMIT
When your senior’s needs have progressed to requiring increased physical demands or managing the senior’s health has become more complex than you can coordinate, it is time to either seek home health services or a senior living community that can support the needs of people with Alzheimer’s.
As a family caregiver, you can become so locked into your role that you may believe you are the only one who can take care of Mom or Dad. Or you know that you have reached your limits, but guilt pushes you to keep going. As Alzheimer’s progresses, the care needs can become a 24/7 situation.
If you feel that giving up is a failure or even a betrayal, think about all the wonderful things you have done in support of your loved one. Then remember that it should always be about what is best for him or her and, ultimately, yourself.
If you are looking for quality senior care for your loved one, explore Bethesda’s Memory Support communities, which can be found in some of our Assisted Living or Skilled Nursing communities. Contact us to learn more or schedule a tour.
