Caregiving, especially to an aging loved one going through various phases of dementia, is a truly daunting task, and harrowing experience to ask your immediate loved ones, not to mention yourself, to go through. You’re essentially watching a person you spent your whole life knowing and loving, actively degrade in real time. So it should be obvious to say that this leaves a lasting psychological impact on the caregiver. And not a good one. If you are wary of home care service in Monterey County CA, here are the psychological effects that are caring for an aging loved one can have on you in the long term to help you see otherwise.
#1. Hyper vigilance
The kind of alertness exhibited by people caring for loved ones with dementia isn’t the kind that goes away after the loved one either is sent to a home or passes on. Your brain has likely spent so long constantly at the ready for potential danger, that it can’t turn it off anymore. This can easily become mentally exhausting for those who aren’t trained for this exact purpose. When the brain is constantly on alert, everything else, including personal health, suffers. Speaking of which…
#2. Disrupted eating and sleeping habits
Caring for an aging loved one can best be attributed to caring for an infant, only this time the infant is much bigger, heavier, and even more fragile and accident prone. And if you already have a very hectic job or home life besides that, taking care of an aging loved one is going to wreak havoc on your eating and sleeping schedules. You won’t get in as many meals or hours of sleep as you should in order to remain healthy. And ultimately you may end up in worse health than the person you’re caring for to begin with.
#3. Extreme emotional strain
Finally, the biggest strain of them all is the emotional strain you are going to be put under taking care of your loved one. This is the most definitive point of them all that you need to relent your loved one to home care service or assisted living. You’ll end up more agitated, more on-edge, and much more irritable and prone to anger than you were before. And this emotional strain can last for years after the whole affair is over and done with.
Some professional liken the long term mental and emotional effects of caring for a rapidly degrading loved one to that of post traumatic stress disorder. So if you feel like any of the above is happening to you, it’s probably time to contact a professional to bear the weight. And there are few places more qualified to do so than Pacific Angels Home Care.
