Chronic Stress a Chronic Problem for Caregivers, Part 1

January 28th, 2010 · No Comments

Welcome back!

An area caregivers should keep an eye on in their own lives is the possibility of chronic tension and stress. As caregivers are caring for others, there is a possibility their own health may suffer. As most caregivers know, caring for someone who has their own health problems is quite a challenge. Over time a caregiver can become tense, muscles tighten, headaches develop, and their heart may begin beating more rapidly than is healthy. Unfortunately, if symptoms of chronic stress or tension are not attended to a stroke or heart attack may occur.

Two types of stress

Acute Stress (short term) – Acute stress occurs when your body suddenly responds to any situation around you that causes concern or the body sees as dangerous. You may have experienced acute stress when someone startled you with a sudden appearance – even as light-hearted as someone saying “boo” and you reacted.

The level of stress you carry in your body depends on how you react to various situations. If you quickly release the tension and cope in an easy going manner, this type of stress will quickly dissapate and you will go on as usual. Most of the time your body will return to its normal state and life goes on.

However, if acute stress occurs too often or the body begins taking longer to recover, then you may begin to develop long term problems. For instance, if you already struggle with heart problems, sudden stress can cause irregular heart beat or even bring on a heart attack.

Chronic Stress (long term) - This type of stress is caused over time such as a caregiver would experience. If you are involved with caring for someone who is temperamental, abusive, seriously ill where you are spending much time caring for them and not taking time for yourself, chronic stress or tension can begin to place wear and tear on your body.

If you already have health problems and are now dealing with the long term health problems of another person, your situation can and most likely will become worse if you do not take the necessary steps to relieve stress.

Chronic stress or tension can be a life threatening situation. If you notice you are becoming more short-tempered, you are developing headaches, shoulder and neck muscles are increasingly tighter, your back aches, your breathing more rapidly, sweating more often or have sweaty palms, or have an upset stomach, nausea, or diarrhea you need to seek help.

If you become aware of any of the above symptoms, call your primary care physician immediately so that you are able to head off any serious threat to your health. The last thing a caregiver wants to experience is their own declining health. As always, caring for the caregiver is of the utmost importance. Do not let the stress of caring for another person cause you to have a heart attack, stroke., or worse.