Chronic Stress a Chronic Problem for Caregivers, Part 2

January 29th, 2010 · No Comments

Welcome back!

Most caregivers find out soon enough the stress caring for someone else can bring into their lives. What they may not realize is the toll that stress and chronic tension can take upon their body and mind. We discussed the two types of stress, acute and chronic, and what role they can physically in a caregivers life in the previous post. This post will highlight how stress effects thoughts and emotions and how stress may affect you as an individual.

We know that long term stress can affect the immune system and cause increasing susceptibility to illnesses such as colds and flu or more serious conditions like strokes or heart attacks. But what affect does stress play on our emotions and thoughts?

Stress can affect your emotions and thought process

Anger or frustration- N0 matter what temperament you brought into your caregiving lifestyle, over time you can develop a frustration with the one you are caring for or the situation you in which you find yourself. Whether they are temperamaental, ornery, kind-hearted and sweet, just the daily stress of having to make decisions for someone else, physically caring for their wants and needs, and letting your needs slide by can cause an increasing amount of frustration.

Ask anyone who is caring for someone with any form of dementia and you will know what I mean. It is tough enough to see a loved one become more dependent over the years, but the stress of caring for them down to giving them a bath, feeding them, and the myriad other duties many caregivers give, and the stress mounts.

Chronic fatigue or trouble staying focused – Many caregivers experience an inner fatigue that sleep does not remove. In fact, many caregivers are not able to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time due to worry and heaviness of mind. Caregivers can develop a feeling of jumpiness where they startle easily, or they have trouble focusing on whatever task they undertake.

Chronic worry – There are many reasons for people to worry about such as finances, health, other family members, the weather, their own future, the world in general. Just reading the daily news about what is going on in your region or state can cause a certain amount of anxiety, especially in this day and age. At some point, people begin to worry about every little thing that can happen or that has happened. That chronic worry can cause serious health problems over time.

Chronic fear – Caregivers have numerous opportunities to fear for the person they are caring for or fear for themselves. There is a fear of the unknown, fear that they will not respond quickly enough to their loved one’s needs, fear that something bad is going to happen. Some caregivers fear their loved one will need them during the night and they won’t be aware of that need and death will result. Chronic fear brings additional tension to their thoughts and emotions.

How stress affects your mind, body and emotions

How stress affects you greatly depends on how you handle stress. Your personality plays a large role in how stress will affect your life, as does the coping skills you use to handle difficult situations. If you are able to let go of tension quite easily, your body, mind and emotions will not be affected as much as if you hold in anger and tension. People who have learned to use tools in their emotional arsenal such as exercise, meditation, prayer, journaling, and other coping mechanisms are more likely to live a more stress-free life.

If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms, talk to your primary care physician or a trusted counselor to see what you can do to relieve those symptoms. Although caring for your loved one or patient is of concern to you, your mental, physical, and emotional health is more important. As always, ask yourself who is caring for the caregiver. It is not selfish in any way to care about yourself. You cannot take care of someone else if you are in a health crisis of your own. Hopefully this information will help you understand what you are going through and why. Then you can take the next necessary step to get the help you need.