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Posted by Wnijavelly

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From learning previous strategies on correct right here , I'm now not retaining my breath on getting a...

Posted by searnsjuriya

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Posted by searnsjuriya

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Posted by Nilinvelly

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Posted by tenotjuriya

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Posted by nglejuriya

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Posted by nglejuriya

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Posted by nglejuriya

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Posted by niraajibond

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Posted by niraajibond

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Posted by wartzjuri

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These fleeting supplement creators dread free surveys, in light of the fact that once the word gets out,...

Posted by kettjuriyam

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Posted by easejuriy

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Posted by easejuriy

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Posted by sbinderjuri

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Reply: Asthma

Hi Hope2be, Have you spoken to a doctor about the difficulty that you've been experiencing to breathe? ...

Posted by editor_morgan

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Reply: Starving

Hi there and thanks for posting, I can't imagine what your father-in-law is going through. I remember...

Posted by editor_morgan

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Reply: High Risk Pregnancy

While I have not been in this position, you may find people who have and who can offer support and advice...

Posted by atti_editor

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Reply: support group for Parkinson's Disease

I feel your pain - your description of the situation really hit home with me. The main thing I see is that...

Posted by Dave Balch

I feel your pain - your description of the situation really hit home with me.

The main thing I see is that you need to take better care of yourself in order to deal with this very difficult situation. If you have the nervous breakdown that you fear, that won't be good for anyone. Who would take care of YOU? Who would take care of your kids? Who would take care of your mother?? I would offer the following suggestions:

1. Try to find online support groups. I know there are such groups for cancer-related caregiving; I can't imagine that there aren't any for PD.

2. See a therapist. Some people feel that this is shameful for some reason, but that is a big mistake. Your insurance may pay for it or at least part of it. It did wonders to help me deal with the stressors and feel better and calmer about my situation. It will help you stand up for yourself which is very hard, I know, and it will also help with your feelings of guilt and annoyance with your mother.

3. It's great that you take time to drive around a while by yourself - congratulations on doing this! Go one step further and set up a regular schedule for "you-time." Make arrangements for someone to cover for you while you're gone. Can your teens do it? Take your cell phone so you'll still be available in an emergency, but lay down the law that it can only be used "if something is bleeding or burning." These times are not negotiable... if anyone doesn't like it that has to be their problem, not yours. Knowing these times are coming will give you energy by having something to look forward to. You can't be a good caregiver if you don't take time for yourself... "Put on your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs."

4. Schedule some exercise for yourself, even if it's a walk every morning at, say, 7:00am. 30-minutes (about a mile and a half) should do the trick. I am lucky enough to have a group to walk with which helps me keep on schedule. I guess you could say this is part of your "you-time" but should be IN ADDITION to the scheduled "you-time" that I suggested in item 3 above.

5. Treat yourself to something (or things) that will soothe you. A mani-pedi? A massage? A movie? Use your "you-time" and enjoy yourself. Just the feeling that you treated yourself to something that is just for you will be calming.

6. Can you have lunch with some friends once a week? Once a month?

I wish you the best - look up in the stands and you'll see me rooting for you!View Thread

Posted by Dave Balch

1 Reply | Share this:support group for Parkinson's Disease I feel your pain - your description of the situation really hit home with me. The main thing I see is that...

Who's right? Family thinks I'm not, automatically

I am in the (awkward) position of being a disabled person (non-physical) stuck with the job of being a...

Posted by An_267220

I am in the (awkward) position of being a disabled person (non-physical) stuck with the job of being a caregiver to an elderly father with a LOT of problems, who may or may not be ready for hospice, except that his (less-than-informed?) doctor (female, late 60s) won't consider it unless dad brings it up first, which he won't... like a lot of other things in his life, dad would rather do it himself. All other members of my immediate family (we lost mother about a year ago) work in different fields and at varying hours.

Dad needs to at the very least take a cough medicine similar to RobitussinÂ®, to stop the annoying, raspy, thick-mucus-producing cough he has EVERY DAY. (He could, as well, have something wrong with his lungs, which would require seeing another specialist about which he may not be really crazy... but the doctor apparently does not yet consider that necessary) He seems to think that his cough will ONLY respond to a medicine that, as far as I have ever found, is only available as a pill on which, given another symptom he has had, he could choke, something I have been told by others in my family I am to prevent, even at, apparently, the risk of my own life... Dad can be a quite violent person, and was known to have severely injured others while fighting when he served in the Army in the 1950s, and that mindset has never completely left him...

All I want to do is call his doctor, and leave her a message that this cough has never gone away, even if for whatever reason it does not occur when he is physically at her office. Other members of the family, however, insist on keeping from me the right to decide whether even to contact the doctor, contending it is the result of some decision dad reportedly made over 20 years ago to "protect his privacy." I do not and never have understood the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, among other laws that reportedly apply to situations like this, and don't have (access to) adequate resources that would enable me to (effectively) challenge what my family have said.

I understand from other sources that it's potentially against HIPAA to endeavour to convince other professionals to intervene in dad's situation even though his insurance may not require the primary doctor's referral to seek their services, but this is about directly contacting the primary doctor to relay important information she doesn't always encounter by her own observation. Nobody's ever assured me that calling his doctor directly and telling her what's happening with him outweighs the possibility that she would allegedly be required under HIPAA, or something, to notify my family and create the risk of them, for example, evicting me from the house. I'd love to be able to talk in a place like this about MY problems, except that they involve a non-conventional approach that is seen as politically incorrect here.

So, should I call the doctor directly, and risk the family's wrath, or continue to see dad cough and cough and cough and cough, day after day after day after day, without resolution apart from, say, my voluntarily leaving the household?View Thread

Posted byAn_267220

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Reply: client

I agree! I find that my role in the doctor's office is to take notes. Occasionally I will ask a reminder note so...

Posted by davmid

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Reply: Interruptions, Interruptions, Interruptions

I have one client that is so helpful, he gives instructions for the next task before I am finished with the...

Posted by davmid

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Includes Expert Content

Reply: How do you celebrate holidays when transport is di...

My mother has fibro so we didn't do much traveling when I was younger. Right now with her dealing with my...

Posted by rohvannyn

1 Reply | Share this:How do you celebrate holidays when transport is difficult? My mother has fibro so we didn't do much traveling when I was younger. Right now with her dealing with my...

Reply: Do you do TOO much for your patient?

You raise an interesting point about "habit." I hadn't considered that, but in my zeal to help just about...

Posted by Dave Balch

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Using adventures to deal with stress

Caregiving can be pretty stressful. (How's that for an understatement??) Maybe it's just me, but I find...

Posted by Dave Balch

0 Replies | Share this:Using adventures to deal with stress Caregiving can be pretty stressful. (How's that for an understatement??) Maybe it's just me, but I find...

Reply: Have you become forgetful? Do you have any tricks ...

Also a good idea: to attach what you want to remember with something that you always do. If I were to...

Posted by Dave Balch

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Reply: Seniors May Keep Falls a Secret

http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20150127/seniors-...

These are awesome suggestions! Thank you so much for sharing them!

Posted by atti_editor

2 Replies | Share this:Seniors May Keep Falls a Secret These are awesome suggestions! Thank you so much for sharing them!

Reply: What Concerns You About Aging?

http://live.webmd.com/Event/What_Concerns_You_About_Aging...

What concerns me about aging is that I am not going to have any backup to take care of my folks when it comes...

Posted by rohvannyn

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Reply: What Questions Should You Ask the Doctor?

http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/caregiving-insights-15...

Here are a few questions that may or may not fit the situation. I will post more if/when I think of them! ...

Posted by Dave Balch

1 Reply | Share this:What Questions Should You Ask the Doctor? Here are a few questions that may or may not fit the situation. I will post more if/when I think of them! ...

Keep an updated medication list

Many people we care for take a lot of medication. It is helpful, even lifesaving, to keep an updated...

Posted by rohvannyn

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