By Keith Gamboa

THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

You are exhausted, yet you can’t sleep. You are a caring, loving person, but you are starting to snap at your family. Your appetite is suffering, and you are feeling hopeless and depressed.

If this sounds like you and you have been taking care of a loved one at home  for some time, you could be suffering from caregiver burnout. You are not alone in your problem.

The National Family Caregivers Association estimates more than 50 million people provide care for a chronically ill, disabled, or aged family member or friend during any given year.

Caregiver burnout describes the point when you are simply  overwhelmed by the accumulated toll of taking care of someone, while not really taking care of yourself. It is what can happen when providing care is added on to all the other daily responsibilities  you have—working a fulltime job, caring for your immediate family, handling all the tasks necessary to keep a household running smoothly. Plus, there’s the added strain of wondering how to take care of new financial obligations that can arise when you are providing care.

It can all reach the point of physical, mental, and emotional overload.  The website www.elderhope.com points out, “The redeeming aspect of caregiving, which may be hard to feel at times, is that you are helping another person cope with a very difficult time. The process of giving this care can be an  immeasurably great learning experience for you and the one for whom you are caring.”

Caregivers Are Individuals
“There is no ‘typical family’ dealing with caregiving. Each one is affected differently,” says Judah Ronch, Ph.D., vice president of resident life, mental health, and wellness at Erickson Communities.

It used to be believed there wasn’t any real way to involve Alzheimer’s patients in their own treatment, so for years the accepted rule  was, “Make the diagnosis and treat the family.”