Caregiver Support : Stress Relief & Inspiration

Is Stress Causing Your Sleep Problems?
If you are not getting enough sleep, it can have adverse affects on your overall health. For example, it may cause unwanted weight gain, or a constant feeling of sluggishness throughout the day.

Caring for Caregivers: Learning to Listen to Your Body
Psychologist Dr. Rick Wirtz describes the "red flags" caregivers should look for as they monitor their own health.

Celebrities are Caregivers, Too
Television personality Leeza Gibbons shares her family’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Is It Right to Convince Mom and Dad to Move Close to the Kids?
What happens when Mom and Dad live far away from their children, and then one of the elders gets ill or one dies and the other is left alone? Should they move closer to family? The decision is never easy.

Getting Your Siblings to Help With Caregiving
One adult child generally becomes the primary caregiver for an ill parent. While this may work well for a time, it can cause resentment and anger against other siblings.

I am caring for my 81-year-old mother who lives with me. She is very controlling, wants to rule my life, and treats me like I’m still a teenager. Pointing this out to her doesn’t seem to do any good. What can I do?
You need the "Jacqueline Marcell emotional shield." Put it on every day, and then don't let anything she says bother you; all negativity has to bounce right off.

My normally loving but now slightly demented father is suddenly using the worst possible profanity. How should I handle it?
When I was taking care of my elderly parents (both with early Alzheimer’s not properly diagnosed for over a year), no one warned me that inhibitions gradually fade and that profanity can often occur. Click to read Jacqueline's full answer.

How do I handle friends who are not supportive of my caregiving journey?
They want to be supportive, but they just can't for long periods of time, because they realize what you are describing is all ahead of them. For now, they aren't there yet, don't want to be, prefer denial--and it is just too unpleasant to listen to horror stories they can't fix. Click to read Jaqueline's full answer.