RespiteMatch.com Health Blog

Receive respectful and honest treatment from health care providers.

Be assertive in making sure the person I assist receives the care they need.

Share my concerns, fears, hopes, and grief with others.

Honor the wishes of the person for whom I care.

Ask for and accept help.

Take care of myself so that I can continue to provide assistance.
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Journaling is one way to express your thoughts, feelings, and experiences through writing or audiotaping. Journaling is a safe, personal and private activity that may help you release stress and clear your mind.

How To Journal

You do not have to be a writer to journal, and there are no right or wrong ways to journal. Journaling is for you alone, so it is whatever you want it to be. Some suggestions for keeping a journal include:
Keep paper and pen nearby. You can write in your journal everyday or whenever you feel the need to express yourself. Do not pressure yourself to write. The words will come to you when you are ready to release your feelings and clear your mind. Read the rest of this entry »

Grief is a normal response to the loss of a loved one. Reactions from grief can affect the whole person. These reactions may include physical, emotional, psychological and behavioral changes. The most important thing for you to remember is that these reactions are a normal response to loss.

Signs and Symptoms of Grief Reactions

As you grieve, you may experience none, some, or all of the following physical, emotional, psychological, or behavioral grief reactions:
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Feelings of nervousness, also known as anxiety, are normal responses when things feel uncertain or beyond your control. Because of the many physical and emotional changes associated with illness, feelings of nervousness may occur. Although anxiety is a natural response, being nervous is uncomfortable and can affect the quality of your life.
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Depression is a feeling of sadness. This feeling of sadness sometimes feels like it will never end. With illnesses there are many emotional changes. Your ability to talk, move or take care of yourself may have changed. The way you live your life as a patient or caregiver may also change during the course of an illness. Depression is a normal reaction to these changes and feeling of loss. The loss experienced may be the loss of a significant person or thing, loss of ability to do things you like to do, loss of self worth, or loss of hope.
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Caring for Yourself as You Care for Someone Else

Providing care for a friend or family member can be very exhausting at times. There are physical care needs along with the emotions you feel as you adjust to changes in your friend or family member’s life. With each change, you may experience feelings of loss. Coping with these feelings while you provide care for your friend or family member can be a challenge. Here are some of the feelings you may experience:
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Some helpful tips:

Take Care of Yourself You won’t be able to provide the best care if you are always tired, sick or have frazzled nerves. Take time each day to do something for you. Even a five minute “time out” can do much to improve your outlook.

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Following a death, there are many things that must be done by family members or representatives of the deceased. These can be difficult times for all concerned, and many issues may be more easily dealt with before death occurs. These issues may include decisions about:
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Nearing death awareness is a special communication of the dying. It usually occurs when patients are approaching or are in the dying process. Most patients who have signs of nearing death awareness are more peaceful after the experience.

Signs of Nearing Death Awareness

People who are experiencing signs of nearing death awareness may:
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Dying is a process, a natural slowing down of the body’s systems. This process is different for each and every individual and the duration may vary from hours to days.

You may have already noticed such changes as decreased appetite, increased weakness, withdrawal from family and friends, and increased sleepiness. As death approaches, body functions will continue to change.
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As a person approaches the dying process, a natural slowing down of the body’s physical and mental systems occur. This process is different for each individual and may vary from hours to days, weeks, and even months.

There are some signs and symptoms that may indicate that the dying process is approaching. These changes may help you recognize the approach of the dying process:
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“Mom was only driving locally. Then she got lost in town. Was lost for several hours. Even ran out of gas. Somehow she called my sister. We sat on it (the problem) for 3 months. Then we went for help.”

The good news is a surprising variety of help is available from genuinely caring people. Some of the folks who can help will have gone through similar situations with an aging parent or relative. You will find them to be very understanding and helpful.
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Spiritual Assessment Tool

An acronym which can be used to remember what to ask in a spiritual history is:

F: Faith or Beliefs
I: Importance and influence
C: Community
A: Address
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Help For The Caregiver

Whatever your age, you are a caregiver if you provide care that helps a frail elderly or disabled person live at home. In fact, 80% of all our Nation’s health care is provided by informal caregivers such as you.

Caring for a relative or friend may be something you never expected or wanted. It can develop slowly or happen suddenly. Few are trained to be caregivers, and there is much to learn to make caring easier.

This brochure will help you understand what caring for an older person may require and how to find help when you need it.
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Everyone knows that caregiving is stressful, but is the amount of stress determined by the type of care they provide? Researchers at the University of Arkansas, recently concluded that the type of caregiving you deliver may determine the amount of stress with which you have to cope.

The stress level for caregivers who provide more assistance with managing money and medications, for example, can be higher than for those who assist with physical needs. The researchers attribute this to the caregivers’ inability to accept their loved ones’ - particularly parents’ - difficulty in performing “thinking” tasks that once were second nature. Respondents noted that it was much harder for them to deal with the cognitive and emotional impairment than with physical challenges. Read the rest of this entry »