3 Suggestions A Caregiver Can Use

Being a full time at-home caregiver can bring on a lot of stress, which can lead to early burnouts, or just being frustrated.

When I first started caring for my father who has Alzheimer's a few years ago, I was full steam ahead.Nothing became as important as doing for him. Alone the way I lost myself. I became so engrossed in caring for him until I totally forgot about myself, and it lead to a slight depression and burnout.

About a year ago I began to change all of that by changing a few things. Here are my 3 suggestions if you are a caregiver experience frustration and burnout.

1. Don't be distant with your friends: Continuing to be social with friends is very key to maintaining a balance life when you are a at-home caregiver. Being a caregiver does not mean you can't have a life outside of it.This was one of the problems I had when I first started. Everytime a friend called and wanted to come by or maybe go grab something to eat, I always had an excuse not to go.Friends can really be emotional support you will find yourself needing one day.If you are this person, change that and start re-establishing your friendships.

2. Don't try to do everything in 1 day: This journey of caregiving requires endurance.I mean you could be doing this for 10-20 years ofyour life. Trying to get everything done before the day end can lead to getting stressed out. So what if you didn't fold the clothes up before the day was up. So what if you left 3 glasses in the sink overnight. We get into a routine that is so full of work that it becomes overwhelming and leads to anxiety.If you are this person, don't stress yourself about small stuff.

3.Getting Proper Sleep: Nothing is worse than getting up before the sun and not getting proper sleep. I'm not talking about getting rest. Getting rest and getting sleep is totally different. This was another one of my problems. When it was time to lie down for the night, my mind was always on something I should have done.Because of that ,my mind was not shutting down, and caused me to get inadequate sleep. If you are this person, try reading a book before bed to just take your mind off the day.It really can help your mind relax.

I have applied these 3 steps and more to maintain over the past year while taking care of my disabled father.I couldn't be more upbeat and less stressful than I am today.

If you are a caregiver please share a few of the thing you do to maintain this journey.

Alzheimer's Book Review And Why I Recommend It

Over the past few years, I have been a caregiver for my father who has Alzheimer's. He has had this disease for over 15 years now. Looking back over my journey and learning how to cope with the different things that comes along with this, the one thing I could say is that I wish I had was someone to tell me what and how to care for him.

Looking over the internet, you can find all kinds of medical advice on this disease, which is great, but what if you just need advice on how to care for your love one. Each person is different when it comes to this disease. Some scream a lot, refuse to take their medicine, wander off, and some are even combative. We as caregivers, especially if it is a parent and  you have always considered your mother/father as this strong individual that can't be touched, needs to understand how to really deal with the emotional and physical side of caregiving.

I have read several books on Alzheimer's and some gave me great insight, while others were not a help to me at all.

 This e-book that I am about to introduce to you now is from a gentlemen name John Dupree, who has Alzheimer's and decided to share his pain and suffering to encourage those who are about to deal with the same issues. He is the author of 3 books dealing with Alzheimer's Dementia.I came across this book while searching for information from people who had Alzheimer's and gave their personal experience, so I could better understand what goes on in the mind of a person who had just been diagnosed with the disease.

At first I was very skeptical purchasing the book because of all the fraud that goes on online. Eventually I purchased and downloaded the e-book.Wow, was I amazed at how detailed this book was! John gives you details of the battle that goes on in the mind when a person is first diagnosed with the disease and the things caregivers need to know when handling someone with the disease.Most of the things mentioned in the book I saw in my father during his early stages.

Mr. Dupree is donating 60% of the income received from his book to help further research for this terrible disease.If you wish to view and purchased a copy of this amazing book, just Click Here.I highly recommend it if you in the first stages of Alzheimer's/Dementia

Difference Between Alzheimers And Dementia

For years I have always viewed Alzheimer's Disease the same as Dementia.Come to find out even though they are similar they are not the same.

I have been taking care of my father now for the past couple years, and I'm still learning new things each week.He has had this disease for over 15 years and we as a family had no guide as to how to properly care for him.That is what encouraged me to start a blog on things I have learned so it may help someone else who needs information. Most of the information I come across is medical, but we as caregivers need something on how to cope with different things when taking care of someone with this disease.

So, exactly what is Dementia and Alzheimer's. After using the word Dementia for many weeks to the doctor that visits my father each week, he explained to me that he believed it was Alzheimer's that my father had and which is the leading cause of Dementia. Doctors can't be 100% sure a person has A.D. until a person pass away and a autopsy is done on the brain.

Dementia is not a disease, but  symptoms of a condition, while Alzheimer's is the cause of the symptom. Dementia is a collection of symptoms like behavior problems, forgetting how to solve problems,and memory loss, but the most prominent is Alzheimer's.Dementia lets you know that there is something wrong with the brain, but it does not tell you what it is that is causing it.There are many things that can cause this.For example,a person could be taking medicine and having a bad reaction to the medicine which can cause them to have memory loss(symptom), or lose the mind-set to do daily functions that they have been doing for years.We as family members began to think that they are just losing their mind when that may not be the case.If diagnosed properly and in time, a doctor can find out what the symptom  that is causing the patient to have this  memory loss.If it is determined that it's the medicine that is causing the symptom, it could be reversible if taken off the medication.So, medicine can be a symptom of why a person is acting differently or having memory loss.If taken off the medicine in time a person could go back to functioning their daily activities. But if this continues for a long period of time and the brain is damaged it could be irreversible.

Alzheimer's, on the other hand, is the cause of the symptoms you are having. Cells can clutter and cause (Amyloids)plaques in the brain tissue.A brain will not lose its function with one or two of these (Amyloid) plaques, but if you have a lot of plaques it can cause Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is an actual disease that targets your brain and causes brain damage. The damage to the brain over a period of time causes memory loss, speech problems, and the ability to function everyday activities.Alzheimer's over time spreads throughout the brain which will lead to being disabled all together. There are treatments to slow the rate of the disease, but there is no cure for it.

Caringe For Alzheimer's Patient

Alzheimer's is a disease that has been running in my family since the early 80's. It has continued to be this way, even until today. My grandfather (father side) had this disease in the 80's. My father and I was his primary caregiver.Throughout the years, 4 out of 7 of my fathers brothers developed this disease, and now for the past 15 years my father has had this disease.

Now, for the past few years I have been taking care of my father.My mother refused to place him in a nursing home.She figured no person could care for him like his own family. He is in the later stage of the disease and has lost all communication and mobility.Everything must be done for him. After taking on this responsibilty I found out I didn't have a clue as to how much a person needed to know before doing this.


After knowing that this disease has been running in my family, I knew it was time that I did research on the chances of me or my other 4 brothers getting Alzheimer's later in life.There was no kind of hard proof that either my brothers or myself would developed this disease through genes.Still, I just wanted to know how to identify the symptoms of Alzheimers, and how to take better care for someone, especially in the early stages, since I don't know if I would have to do this again for one of my brothers.


When we found out about this disease affecting my father, we tried our best to find information on how to care for him.What we received was a lot of medical advise, which we had a family doctor for that.I needed to know more on how to care for him (changing,feeding,etc..).The only thing I could think of was call our local Elderly Care Facility and see if I could get hands on training on how to properly do the day to day tasks that needed to be done.Wow did I learn a lot.


For those who read this article and is a  newly at-home caregiver of a love one, you need to find out the proper ways of doing things because you can easily get burned out doing things the wrong way.



I hope this blog, which is a personal blog about my father's Alzheimer's, help someone who is caring for a love one. I offer no medical advise because I'm not a doctor. This is just a great way for me to share my journey.Thanks for reading!

Prevent Bedsores

Taking care of a person with Alzheimer's or who is disable is not an easy job at all.When a person is disabled or has a late stage of Alzheimer's Dementia, one of the functions that they lose is being able to care for themselves.

Alzheimer's Disease is really on the rise over the last two decade, but we as a people are not fully aware of how we need to properly care for them.The first thing we normally look for is a facility to put them in to care for them. That is great and all, but I just feel that noone will care for your love one like you.

You may wonder what do I know about this topic. Well, my father has had this terrible disease for over 15 years. Over the past few years, I have been his caregiver. After losing all mobility and functions of his limbs he was no longer able to care for himself.

With caregiving being so new to me or my family, we had no idea what to expect. Research on the computer only gave us clinical advise, which we consulted our doctor on that issue. What we needed was someone who had been through what we were about to be involved in. Taking my father to a nursing home was out of the question. My Mother would not have it.I came across a book. The book was by John Dupree, who was a researcher of Alzheimer's and wind up getting the disease himself.The information in his book was the best information I could have ever received.He gave insights on what possibly goes on in the mind of a person after finding out they have this disease.

One of the first things you would learn if you have a love one who has lost all mobility and confined to a bed is how quickly bedsores can develop.Through research, I learned how infection can easily set in through bedsores and depend on the age of a person, the infection can be very bad.You hear about a lot of bedsores on patients in nursing homes.

One of the things I do each and everyday is turn my father  every 4 hours during the day. After breakfast, he is turned on his left side and two hours later he is turned on his right side, then I place him on his back for two hours . Even though this is a lot of work it has prevented any bed sores from occuring.This not only prevents bedsores, but it keeps a person from hurting laying in one spot for so long. This procedure above is mainly for bedridden people that has lost all mobility and speech.

The second thing I do is make sure he is changed throughout the day.That is very, very, important because being wet or just not changed  for a long period of time and just lying in the bed is the quickest way to get bedsores.Even if have changed them, always check periodically to make sure they don't need changing again.

These are 2 ways to prevent bedsores from occuring. Hope this information was useful. If you can think of anything that may help someone, feel free to add it in the comment section.

Caregiver Needs Emotional And Physical Support

If you have never taken care of someone with Alzheimer's Dementia then you have no idea the amount of work that goes with it. First of all, I would like to commend those who instead of taking the easy road and putting their love one in a facility, has taken on the responsibility themselves.I myself have taken on this role.

My father has had this terrible disease for over 15 years, and for the past couple years I have been his caregiver.I'm still pretty young so I figured it shouldn't be a problem.Man was I wrong! Taking care of an elder with this disease is very stressful and without support can become very frustrating. Now don't get me wrong, it isn't like you don't love them just because you get frustrated, it just mean you need more support.

My first few months was going good. I was learning things that I needed to learn in order to care for his needs better thanks to a book I read, by John Dupree,which I will place a link to the book at the bottom of the page.I didn't ask for help from family members because I didn't think I needed help from them.That was what I thought!

After over a year, fatigue followed by frustration began to set in on me and I was standing alone trying to carry this huge responsibility.Keep in mind, this is not a 5 day a week job from 9-5, but this is 24/7 because they depend on you for everything. It is you who has to know when they are thirsty and hungry. It is you who has to know when they need changing.All of their needs are placed on you. Now all this applys when your love one just can't do for themselves and lacks communication.So this pertain to a later stage of Alzheimer's.

Whatever stage  your love one is in, you must find some support. Now whether this support is emotional or physical, it is important that you have it.

Emotional support you will find to be the second most important support you can have.Having a place to share your concerns and frustrations is very important, because it allows you to  free yourself of pinned-up emotions. When you have frustration building up inside and have no outlet, it could lead to anger or depression.If you have noone to talk too, I have found that a great place to vent out is finding a forum for Alzheimer's caregivers. There are lots of forums with people who have the same concerns that you share.Find one and share your concerns as well as maybe help someone else that has the same problems.

Physical support to me is the number one support that one needs in order to maintain taking care of a love one year after year. Being able to have a day to yourself, or at least a couple of hours where you can just have some me-time is very important.In order to care for someone that has this disease, especially if it's at a later stage, you must take care of yourself.Having some time away can refresh you to continue on.If you don't have a relative or close friend to give you a break once a week, there are facilities where you can take them for a couple of hours. Find one in your area for the disable and do some research and if you feel comfortable leaving your love one there, it can be a big help.

These are 2 supports that you will definitely need if you are going to care for someone with Alzheimer's or a disabled person.

If you are interested in the e-book, which I definetely encourage you to get, by John Dupree, just

Click Here