50 Sanity Saving Tips for Caregivers: You Don't Have to Kill Yourself to Keep Them Alive

By Carol Core

50 Sanity Saving Tips for Caregivers delivers valuable tips that help non-paid family caregivers reduce stress, save time and money and brings hope, all while offering practical ideas for more effective care of elderly loved ones.

Caring for an elderly family member is a daunting task, no matter what level of care is needed. The impact on a caregiver’s life is staggering. Caregiving takes a huge toll on their health, finances, mental well-being, job and other relationships.

50 Sanity Saving Tips for Caregivers is jam-packed with great content, wonderful advice, resources and support empowering non-paid family caregivers, in a simple, no-nonsense format. A champion for caregivers, author, Carol Core, arms them with information, time-savers and personal stories that not only help in surviving the perils of eldercare, but offer quality of life after caregiving.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9780996199810

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 Carol Core

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover Design and Interior Book Design:

Jane Doe Consulting

Cover Photo: Veer Stock Images, Photographer IKO

Interior Art: Art Explosion

Editing: Amy Guettler, The Perfect Page

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by organizations, associations and corporations. For details, please contact CarolCARE, LLC:

Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone];

www.CarolCARE.net

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2015

ISBN 978-0-9961998-1-0, E-Book

CarolCARE, LLC

www.CarolCARE.net

50 Sanity Saving

Tips for Caregivers

You Don’t Have

to Kill Yourself

to Keep Them Alive

Carol Core

Contents

Introduction

1. Care for yourself first.

2. Connect directly with your loved one’s doctor(s).

3. Keep a current list of your loved one’s medications.

4. Create a boundary around yourself.

5. Work your elderly loved one into your day — not the other way around.

6. Knowledge is power.

7. Have a plan.

8. One positive thing a day.

9. Drink more water.

10. Keep important documents related to your elderly loved one close at hand.

11. Take control of important documents (or at least make copies).

12. Work with a coach.

13. Engage all of the players… or at least know where they are on the field.

14. Pace yourself.

15. Remember to laugh!

16. Exercise for you.

17. Do not resuscitate.

18. Power of attorney versus personal representative.

19. Schedule some YOU time in your calendar.

20. Doctor appointments become social events?

21. Seek support — remember others are also going through this caregiving journey, too.

22. You are going to feel guilty.

23. Don’t lose your own identity in the role of caregiver.

24. Pharmaceutical companies and doctors are not necessarily a caregiver’s friend.

25. Protect all assets — both your loved one’s and your own.

26. Who will pay for this care for your elderly loved one.

27. Get a pedicure.

28. Watch one hour of mindless television.

29. Remember that resentment is natural.

30. Keep your loved one’s toenails clipped.

31. Get plenty of hugs (mentally and physically).

32. Give hugs to your elderly loved one.

33. Remember your annual exams.

34. Remember to see your dentist.

35. Your loved one needs purpose…we all do!

36. Discuss end-of-life issues with your loved one.

37. Pick your battles.

38. Get a monthly massage.

39. Having your elderly loved one live with you may not be the answer.

40. Connecting with a loved one suffering from memory loss.

41. All in-home care is not created equal.

42. Call a friend and don’t talk about your loved one.

43. Use hospice to get a break from caregiving.

44. Last-minute travel deals can make for a great escape from caregiving.

45. The Mirror Image™

46. Doing chores for a loved one is not a visit.

47. After a loved one passes, it still won’t be over.

48. Schedule something just for YOU.

49. Say yes to offers for help.

50. Take yourself to brunch.

Disclaimer

references

Introduction

Are you the nonpaid family caregiver of an elderly loved one? I’m betting you are, or you wouldn’t have picked up this book.

As a nonpaid family caregiver, you’ve most likely become exhausted, overwhelmed and perhaps a bit overweight. On a good day, you’re seething with resentment and ready to pull out your hair. But I want you to know this: You are not alone.

Currently, there are more than 65 million nonpaid family caregivers in the United States, and with the aging of the Baby Boomers, that number is only growing. Approximately 66 percent of family caregivers today are women older than age 50, and more than half of all caregivers also have minor children or grandchildren living with them at home. Clearly, the emotional and physical toll on those who provide care for others is absolutely enormous. It’s no wonder you feel overwhelmed, and the potential impact on your health as a caregiver is staggering.

In fact, stress has been shown to impact caregivers’ immune systems for as many as