What is the one thing that bothers you the most about caregiving?

“3) my favorite . When you would run into another daughter who was also with her Mom and you give each other the nod.”

:)

Actually I didn’t mean any envy. I meant I understood how it’s possible they’re laughing, so cheerful. It’s only possible because they have no elderly parents they’re caregiving for. You see it clearly on their faces.

Venting ,

Ah yes, envying other’s lives. Some of my friends totally escaped any caregiving and are enjoying life . I also happen to be younger than most of my friends and they are retired . They have time to do whatever they want . I don’t have time to join them. Meanwhile DH and I work and have been caregiving on and off for many years . First my parents and now his .

You know what’s weird?
I’m at the mall right now. I see all these happy, laughing people. And I’m thinking, “Yeah…they don’t have elderly parents. No wonder they’re so cheerful. They have zero stress.”

Venting , I believe you . (((Hugs)))

You’ll never believe me, but today is an “ugh day”, too.

Drum roll…!
Will tomorrow also be an “ugh day”? The suspense is killing me.

I want to confirm that what Msblcb confirms is correct.

Another “ugh day” strikes again.

I can confirm that you have so many “ugh days” that you start trying to count the infrequent “good days”!

I can confirm it’s possible to have a long streak of “ugh days”.

(Again just venting; not looking for feedback).

In a bad mood. Already feel better just having typed that. Ugh. It´s an "ugh day". It´s been a while since I had a good day. I wonder how many "ugh days" one can have in a row. I can tell you, I´m a pro.

What bothers me the most, is that my life’s a mess right now. (I’m just venting; not looking for feedback). I helped my mom a lot. My work is chaos: I don’t know when it’ll be OK again. I really don’t like chaos. I’m one of these orderly, organized people.

My husband was diagnosed at 40 with young on-set Parkinson’s Disease. He passed at 64. We were married 39 years but the last 10 years were very hard. The final 5 years were extremely rough. I often felt that my life was only about pee and poop. He also had psychosis with delusions and hallucinations. I mourned the loss of my husband when he was still there. But it wasn’t him. I worked hard to meet his needs until the end.

I feel very similar. My husband is relatively young, 74. He is hydrocephalic. His dementia comes and goes, along with some anger issues. I have been taking care of absolutely everything! Him, the house, the yard, the bills, the taxes, etc. etc. I have a very bad back, so some things become difficult for me. But, if he wants help, or sees a dirty dish, or is hungry, etc., he can't understand why I haven't taken care of it. This frustrates me to no end!!!

I hate when there are compound crises and everything just snowballs. Today was that day. The smoke situation in NYC is beyond awful. My mother woke up short of breath this morning and needed to use oxygen for the first time. That was upsetting for her and for me.

Then I tried to put her air conditioner on to filter the air only to find it wasn't turning on. It was working just fine the last time it was used but of course today, when the air quality in NYC was the worst in recorded history, was the day that the circuit breaker gave up the ghost. Why do things break down at the worst possible time?

I am thankful that it is fixed but I'm still so stressed and upset about all of it. I wish I can calm down but I can't.

I provide total care for my husband. He has stage 4 Emphysema, diabetes with severe neuropathy in his feet/legs. He is alert but mobility is an issue. With assistance he uses a walker to move from bed to lift chair or bedside commode. I finally with encouragement from his MD put him on long term Hospice care. Yes, I have a lot of anger issues. He is a retired RN but refused to take care of his medical issues when he could and should have and now I have to give up my life to care for him. (I have extreme GOOD health.). Oh I forgot to mention his alcohol and gambling issues. (No gambling now) So now I keep him on a strict diabetic diet, do not allow drinking and we argue about my bitchy ways. My elder years are being used up caring for him and my anger is because he did this to himself. I get mad at myself as well for not being more forgiving. 57 years and I can’t seem to get past my anger.

I am sick and tired of home health companies. They don't pay their staff well enough to attract high quality candidates, they don't train them enough, they don't educate them and how to comfort and upset or angry elder, they don't do anything if a caregiver doesn't show up, the turnover rate is impossibly high.... I could go on and on and on.

The one thing that bothers most is that I'm an only child and I do not have anyone to share in the care giving. Everything is on me. I'm taking care of my needs ( which often go undone) and my dads.

My Mom does not even have Alzheimer's disease. She is nearly 87 years old and every conversation leads back to subjects about herself. Over and over again. I ignore it and change the subject. I am a retired RN yet she dismisses and argues with every suggestion that I give regarding mobility or the importance of taking her medications. She won't use a walker, wear shoes or get rid of her throw rugs. She turns a wheelchair backwards to help her walk. Yesterday she got up without using any assistive device, she fell (again) and hit her head on the floor this time, she broke her pelvis two years ago. My sister was present and the event terrified her. Because she is on blood thinners she went to a Trauma center in the city. Big problem for her kids, we are all in our 60s now. Thankfully she just ended up with a few sutures. Today another sister and I are going over to my Mom's house. We are hiding the wheelchair, getting out her walkers and moving furniture and rugs. I am not being accommodating anymore. She will ACCEPT my expertise and experience now and do as I say. I raised 4 children and taking care of my Mother is harder and more frustrating than taking care of toddlers and teens.

Dear Maria,
You truly hit the nail on the head. There is no “ You” in their world, only “ Me”.
And it invalidates you as a person.
In a very long career of caregiving I have been worked like a rented mule.
I try to remind myself that a drowning person is just trying to get the next breath.
They can’t think about me. But, bless you for what you do. You are storing up your treasures in heaven. The world needs more people like you, selfless and caring.
But right now, I have the opposite issue. My client, who is also a dear friend, is profoundly disabled. He is totally dependent. Because of this, he is extremely aware of his caregivers needs and what he can do to assist us. This may sound like a beautiful thing, but in fact it is heartbreaking. If I am tired or not feeling well, he will refuse certain things to make it easier on me. He does the same with other caregivers, including his family.
Frankly, I have never seen this conduct before. But he was disabled as a child almost 50 years ago, and is an exceptionally intelligent person.
When the one who needs help is concerned about the helper, well, it’s just too much on them.
Better that they stay in the stratosphere of “ help me” rather than take on even more issues.
Does anyone else out there know what I mean?

My mother has been confused for a couple of days. She seems better today. This came out of nowhere. Brought her to her PCP today to rule out a uti. Will get results tomorrow. Also asked Dr if she now needed oxygen because she was complaining of shortness of breath. Her EKG was good. Her bp is 120/59 way better than mine, and her blood oxygen is 100%! I now don’t know if her complaining is manufactured attention seeking drama or not.

@ Hothouse.
My DH would agree with you about watching the decline . We’ve noticed a significant step like decline in physical condition of his father . He was walking much better 6 weeks ago after rehab . I encouraged DH to take this weekend off from seeing his Dad . So we took FIL out last night to a diner . He was having a lot of trouble walking with his walker especially up the outside ramp to the door to the diner . No more . From now on we take him out in the wheelchair until we can’t get him in or out of the car anymore.

Just sad witnessing my parents’ declines and very depressing. I wonder how long their bodies can continue on like this. It’s amazing and horrifying that they their bodies haven’t given up yet.

And I’m horrified because I am looking at how it will be for me in 27 short years and I don’t want it. I decided to start smoking again and up my drinking and hope for a massive heart attack.

A new problem has appeared, just as I was relaxing. It must be solved. I’ll help my elderly sister again.

I'm really relating to the ALL ABOUT HER in the headline today. My mom has this image in her head of the attitude she thinks I should have toward her, namely the old 'sainted mother' routine. I guess *she* thought that about *her* mother, who was a homemaker, but I certainly don't think that about her. When I was a little kid mom went back to school, got a professional degree when I was 11 or 12. I mean, fine, more power to her, have a career, but the fact is that plus her extremely busy schedule of volunteer work meant I spent a lot of time alone. I don't really remember much time with her at all. I have one lots older half sibling who bullied me while Mom did nothing. Again, it seems like a lot but I've gone to therapy and dealt with some of it, and I'm willing to help Mom but as the saying goes I'm not willing to set myself on fire to keep her warm. According to her I should fix everything for her including stupid mistakes she made on her finances, such as very early retirement, selling all her stock at the bottom of the market in 2008 - now she can't afford to keep her hoarded house and is looking to me to help clear it since she's in her mid 80s and disabled.

I should note that Mom lifted not one finger for her own parents (since she was in another state busy with her career), and when my dad got sick from a terminal illness she left him and shunted his care off on me. I had to leave my own career and move back to our family's hometown to take care of him, luckily it all worked out b/c I met a guy here and got married, but I really would have chosen differently had I known how all of this would play out.

Mom is medically fragile with a couple of lung conditions and recently lied to me about going out to a gathering of people while unmasked, before she knew I could see her on Zoom, long story. Honestly I was so upset since I'm high risk covid myself that I told her I would need a little break from her and honestly it has been wonderful. I'm sure she's sitting over there stewing that I'm not waiting on her and jumping to her every beck and call, but y'all - I just can't. I don't think I had realized how depressed I've been dealing with both her and her sister to whom she's inordinately close, the same sister SCREAMED at me a couple of days ago for saying I was upset over Mom being reckless with her health and mine. How selfish I am, it's not all about me and on and on. I mean, what the heck? I know this sister doesn't think I'm doing enough for Mom, but she also didn't live through being ignored and bullied.

I just don't know how much more of this I can take. Mom won't call my half brother she wouldn't protect me from because she "doesn't like him" - well, what would she do if I died, or more likely moved as far away from here as I can get? She'd make do and frankly I think I'm going to stay away a while longer and make her find some other resources. I just can't carry this load any longer by myself, thank heaven for my cousin who takes care of my aunt or truly I would be in the loony bin. Thanks so much for this place and a space to vent y'all. I'm going to need it I have the feeling.

For me it was missing my mom as she was and watching her wither away slowly. This is the worst disease so heartbreaking

What bothers me the most is that my mother always argues with me about every single thing and never believes me. When she told relatives about her porch falling down I said, "No, it's not." Then she screamed at me, "Shut up!" Should we not correct people with Alzheimers? Just let it go? Just let them tell their stories?

My most frustrating example is when she gets in her mind that she still has little children and why won't they come home then there is the where is my husband and why won't he call or let me know when he is coming home. this can go on from about 3PM till 3AM and nothing I can say or do will get her to move on. Then there used to be 4-5 times when I was not watching and out of the clear blue she would leave the house and go knocking on the neighbors doors until someone answered. I pretty much solved this by making sure she was always locked in our bedroom when I had to use the facility or some other small task

Siblings are the biggest problem. They harass my mother and upset her, and I have to keep picking up the pieces. She is physically and mentally well, but this won't last forever and I dread to think of the effect they will have on her if she becomes ill. I am in limbo at the moment, not quite a "carer" but acting as her unofficial PA, personal companion and bodyguard (if I wasn't living with my mother they would force their way into the house). On top of this she is so nervous that she panics when I go out with friends because she thinks I'm "leaving her" or "moving out". My siblings are younger and are living their lives, while I am living my mother's life. Venting here helps a bit but what I really want to do is just leave and never come back. I can't abandon her.

What bothers me most is the repetitive questions. Mom will start getting hungry and will ask me what are we doing for dinner. I will tell her I am starting to prepare it. Ten minutes later she will ask me again, and then again and again. I don't much enjoy cooking and preparing meals in the first place and being continually questioned about it drives me up a wall.