Category: #dementia

Caregivers: Do You Know Your Limitations?

Posted on July 13, 2022 by - #alzheimers, #caregiver, #caregivers, #dementia, Caregiver Information

“A man’s got to know his limitations,” Dirty Harry in Magnum Force

I really like that quote. We all need to know our limitations or the scope of our knowledge base. I get it, most of us push past our limitations before we realize what we are doing. Can we get better at finding our limitations before we blow past them? Let’s explore a little and see…

Do you know your limitations or do you just keep on pushing? You know when you keep pushing your limits, the stress piles up or you leave collateral damage in your wake.

July 13, 2022

As a caregiver or helper, you are tasked with many different challenges every day and some will push you past your limits. Most of us know our limitations. However, we do not always heed the warning signs that we are getting close to them. A few folks do not know their limits and get into trouble before they realize, “Oops, I messed up.”

Other words for limitations include – Constraint, Control, Obstruction, Impediment, or Qualification

Realizing and Recognizing Your Limits Can Actually Benefit You

What if realizing and accepting your limits could benefit you? What if knowing your limits and your boundaries allow you to take care of yourself in body, mind, and spirit? Learning what to give and share as well as knowing what you need from your relationships Boundaries are important too.

Knowing your limits can help you to assess the areas that you can improve on. Knowing your limits also allows you to use your strengths. Another way to look at knowing your limits is to prevent burnout and decrease your stress.

Definitaion of Stress

When I think about stress, I always remember the line – “Stress: the confusion created when one’s mind overrides the body’s desire to choke the living shit out of some asshole who desperately needs it.” It always makes me smile.

I get it. We can learn new skills when we hit our limitations. Usually, that is true. It is not always true though. There are times when we have hit our limitations and we need to stop. Accepting our limitations is not the same thing as accepting failure. That is probably the crux of everything anyway, the fear of failure.

You may have all the information, but do you know how to apply that information?

No matter how well we manage our time, we only have 24 hours in a day to get things done. We are limited by what we can and cannot control. We do not have endless abilities or endless knowledge about everything. We are good at what we do. We are experts at our jobs. But, that does not translate into expertise at everything. For example, I am good at what I do with research, finding solutions, and preparing plans of action with guidance and support. Now, I have a plumbing problem at home. I am smart and I can figure a lot of things out. I can research info online and handle it. WRONG! I can have all of the information in the world, but if I don’t know how to apply that information, I am stuck, frustrated, and angry. Guess who might bear the brunt of my frustration and anger? Yep, family and friends.

Knowing and being able to do it or handle it are two different things. Find the expert you need. Save yourself a lot of stress, frustration, and anger. Stop beating your head against the wall.

Which of these responses do you recognize in your own life when dealing with frustration?

    • Anger – an angry person often reacts without thinking

    • Giving up – you quit everything and you no longer care about the goal (this is not the same thing as deciding to give up on an unreachable goal)

    • Loss of confidence – you might take a hit to your self-esteem too by giving up

    • Stress – too much stress breaks our bodies down (irritability, anger, anxiety, fatigue, headaches, depression, low back pain, stomach pains, migraines, ulcers, etc.)

    • Depression – continued stress or anxiety that causes brain chemical changes

    • Abuse and misuse – drugs, alcohol, food, shopping

    • Anxiety, Fear, Sadness, Guilt, or Shame are other responses to frustration.

I know that we have chased a few rabbits today. A lot of things are interconnected. I want you to know your limitations. I want you to prevent excess stress and burnout. Continued stress leads to burnout. You will begin to feel empty and numb. You don’t just numb the negative feelings; you numb the good ones too. Your “get up and go” has “got up and went.” You no longer have the motivation you once had. You are tired. Sometimes, you feel hopeless or stuck.

If you have thought or said, “I know that it will never get better,” you could very well be at the burnout stage.

Signs of Caregiver Burnout

    • Feeling anxious

    • Feeling irritable

    • Feeling stressed

    • Feeling resentment

    • You are neglecting your own health

    • You are missing out on important events

    • You are not eating properly

    • You are not exercising

    • Your finances are taking a hit

    • You feel lonely

    • Increased alcohol consumption

    • Overreacting

    • Impatience

Setting limits will actually help you to achieve your goals. Limit your goals to 4 or 5 per year. You cannot do everything. Pick ones that mean the most to you and focus on them. Limit your tasks to 3 per day. Only do the important and necessary things. Place a time limit on your tasks. Focus on the task at hand. Stop adding stuff to your schedule and start crossing off the things that are not a priority.

Pat

Caregivers: Do you have the skills, knowledge and expertise to be a good family caregiver?

Posted on July 6, 2022 by - #alzheimers, #caregiver, #dementia, Caregiver Information

You think you can. You said you will. But, do you have the knowledge and expertise to do it safely?

Most of the time we don’t think about all the consequences before we jump in and do what we do. Maybe it isn’t really consequences, but more the techniques and training you will need for certain tasks.  Unfortunately, some caregiving tasks are not on-the-job training. They can be dangerous to your loved one and to you if not done properly.

July 6, 2022

Know your strengths and weaknesses

Find your strengths and your “not-so-good-ats” (weaknesses). Find your helpers. Have them figure out their strengths and “not-so-good-ats” too. You will have to honestly assess your abilities, your capabilities, and your training needs.

You know that there are some things that you can do, things that you can take care of and things that others will need to handle. Knowing is always better. It helps you to make a plan, make a schedule and prepare for the future.

Sure, you can fly by the seat of your pants and find yourself in a constant state of managing by crises. Talk about exhausting, frustrating and maddening, this will do it. Planning for what you can plan for makes everyone feel more safe, secure and settled. When the unexpected arises, you can handle it easier and with less stress.

Some tasks that caregivers do, provide and handle.

    • Buy groceries, cook, clean house, do laundry, provide transportation

    • Help the care receiver get dressed, take a shower, take medicine

    • Transfer someone out of bed/chair, help with physical therapy, perform medical interventions—injections, feeding tubes, wound treatment, breathing treatments

    • Arrange medical appointments, drive to the doctor, sit in during appointments, monitor medications

    • Talk with doctors, nurses, care managers, and others to understand what needs to be done

    • Spend time handling crises and arranging for assistance—especially for someone who cannot be left alone

    • Handle finances and other legal matters

    • Be a companion

    • Be a (usually) unpaid aide, on call 24/7

    • Be some emotional support

    • Be backup care and extra care when needed

    • Take care of lawn maintenance, outside house maintenance

    • Help with wheelchair usage

    • Help with oxygen usage

    • Help with CPAP machine usage

    • Help them walk with a belt to decrease fall risks

    • Help turn them and move them in bed

    • Help with hearing aid insertion and removal

    • Help with false teeth

    • Bathe them (maintaining modesty and dignity)

    • Change sheets with them in the bed

    • Pay bills

    • Housekeeping

    • Laundry

    • Help/Monitoring physical therapy exercises at home

    • Checking blood sugar (how and when)

    • Checking blood pressure

    • Checking weight

    • Handle a crisis or an emergency

    • And much more

As you can see, some of these things you can do and handle. Others may take some training. I know that there are online training courses and probably some in-person training places in some areas. You will need to search in your area for what is available.

Online Trainings Available

Tennessee Department of Health

NFSP

Meet Caregivers Caregiver Training

Caregiver Training online course

A Place for Mom trainings and videos

APFM videos and courses

These will get you started.

What about your own physical strength?

Do you have the physical strength to transfer the care receiver? Do you have the physical strength to help someone get into and out of the shower or bath that is mostly dead weight? Toileting and bathing are intimate experiences and are very tough to handle. Not everyone can or will learn do it. It can be very unnerving and very uncomfortable. Your loved one will feel the same way. Be patient and respectful. It is going to take more time than you think for bathing.

Do you know how to help with personal hygiene appropriately and safely?

Personal hygiene is probably the hardest to do. No one likes it, but it is necessary. You will have to make the decision to do it, all of the love you feel for them will not make it any easier.  You will have to use discipline to get it done. Get yourself trained. The training will help you to feel more comfortable with doing it safely. The training will help you increase your confidence. The training will help your loved one feel more safe and secure.

You are more apt to be able to help with personal hygiene if you have been properly trained. As many family members as possible need this type of training. It is a learnable skill. Focus on the positive aspects of them being clean. Think about how you feel after a bath or shower. You do feel better. You do rest better. Teeth brushed, hair combed, lotion on body with clean clothes makes everyone feel better.

Full bathing two or three times a week is good enough. Do spot cleaning on the other days. You want to keep the skin from breaking down. You want to prevent infections from happening. A daily bath for dementia patients is better because they like routine. Lotion up after the bath. You can find your routine and rhythm.

What if you have a bad back and you need to help your loved one out of a chair or from the floor. How can you do that without hurting them or yourself? Learn the techniques. How much dead weight can you lift safely? Get yourself trained.

When you can no longer do personal hygiene or lift and transfer safely, it is time to bring in home care help or begin the transitioning to assisted living/nursing home.

Pat

Maybe, you aren’t cut out to be a caregiver.

Posted on June 22, 2022 by - #alzheimers, #caregiver, #caregivers, #dementia

Or at least, you are not cut out to be a hands-on caregiver. Maybe, you are more of the management type who makes sure that things are handled and done. Maybe, you are the visiting regularly and running errands type. Maybe, you are the do everything but the personal hygiene type. Then again, maybe you are not the caregiving type at all. Not everyone is cut out to be a primary caregiver. 

June 22, 2022

4 Common signs that you are not cut out for caregiving.

    1. You are not patient.

    1. You do not have the time.

    1. You are finding excuses not to do it.

    1. You cannot do the kind of care required.

There may be times that you have to jump in and do the caregiving due to a sudden illness, surgery, or injury. You suck it up and handle it, for a short period of time. Short period of time is the key. Now that the immediate “danger” is over, it is time to reassess the situation and the needs.

You cannot always sustain a high level of care as a caregiver

What you can do in an emergency, usually cannot be sustained over a long period of time, to me, a long period of time is anything over a month. You get worn down, everything else in your life has been put on hold. You can’t put everything on hold for very long. Relationships, jobs, careers, kids, friends, other commitments require your attention. Our lives are in flux and we do pay more attention to our jobs at times and other times we pay more attention to family and friends. Forget balance, there is no such thing. Just be fair and disciplined with your energy and time. No one likes leftovers all the time.

Every family has its own dynamics and history. Sometimes it is functional and good. Sometimes it is very dysfunctional and bad. There may be estrangement. There may have been verbal abuse, physical abuse or sexual abuse. You get to decide what you will and will not do. You may hear stupid crap from outsiders who have no clue about your experiences, if you distance yourself from your family. You do not answer to them. You do not have to acknowledge what they have said or explain any thing to them. 

Yeah, I know, we chased a couple of rabbits. We always get back on track, eventually.

It may depend on your loved ones specific needs

Depending on the needs of your loved one, you may or may not be able to be a good caregiver. What happens if they need to be lifted, transferred or dressed and you have no training in how to do that appropriately? If you don’t do it safely, you can hurt yourself , them or both of you. What if they need toileting help or other personal care help? Talk about caregiver stress…

Even if you have a good relationship, caregiving may not be right for you. Maybe conflicts have started to rear their ugly head. It would be better for everyone if there was some separation and other solutions found. Sometimes the caregiver’s own physical or emotional health prevents them from being someone else’s caregiver. Experiencing caregiver stress is a given, but we sure don’t want you to get to caregiver burnout. 

Maybe, their needs have increased

The care receiver’s needs have increased and now you find that you cannot provide the care needed. Learn to say, “No.” Have the conversation and look for alternative solutions. You will feel guilt, give your heart time to catch up with your head (what you know). Just as the word “caregiving” means different things to different people. The word, “no” means different things too.

It may mean that I can not do all that I have been doing, but, I can do _____________________. Maybe, “no” means that you are tired physically and mentally. Maybe, “no” means that we need to re-evaluate the situation and change some things.

Time to set bourndaris as a family caregiver

Caregivers will benefit from learning to set boundaries and also to express their feelings. Ideally, you will learn these things before you are an asshole to everyone else. Use “I” statements. “I” feel, “I” can, “I” cannot, “I” can no longer, etc. Thou shalt not use “You ought to,” “You should,” “You need to,” types of statements. You will be starting a fight. Get rid of the “shoulda, woulda, coulda’s. They are not helpful. They keep you stuck when you need to move forward.

Yes, caregivers often have guilt

Let’s talk more about guilt. We will all experience it. Not all guilt is bad, so pay attention to what it is trying to tell you. Is it calling to your attention that you wanted to do something, but then you didn’t? You can fix that by changing your own behavior. For example, if you were going to cook two meals and take them over, but didn’t…you can decide what to cook and when to take over with some follow through. Boom! It’s done. IF you are feeling guilty because you cannot change the unchangeable, then hold on a minute. You are not that powerful. You aren’t even responsible for other people’s feelings. Remember, thoughts are just thoughts until you put action to them. Granted, sometimes you need to let the thoughts go. Getting rid of the “shoulds” in your head will certainly help to stop the guilt cycle.

Are you feeling guilty because?

    • You aren’t spending enough time with your mom?

    • You aren’t spending enough time with your spouse and kids?

    • You aren’t taking care of yourself?

    • You aren’t focused at work due to your caregiving to-do lists?

    • You forgot  to do something that your dad needed you to do?

    • You let your mom  stay in her own home too long?

    • You moved your mom into assisted living?

    • You resent the time caregiving takes?

    • You think your life would be easier if they died?

Acknowledge that you feel guilty and then move on. Guilt won’t kill you but it will keep you stuck.

Most of the time, your feelings as a caregiver are completely normal.

    • It is normal to feel frustrated, in general.

    • It is normal to feel frustrated with the time it take your loved one to do anything.

    • It is normal to feel anger at times.

    • It is normal to want all of this to be over.

    • It is normal to hate yourself for feeling certain ways.

    • It is normal to silently scream in your head.

    • It is normal to enjoy aspects of your time together.

    • It is normal to wonder  if your marriage will make it through this.

    • It is normal to hate missing your kids’ games.

    • It is normal for you to be numb and not feel anything, just handle it.

    • It is normal to feel guilty when you take some “me” time.

    • It is normal for you to want to throat punch the next person that tells you that you should take care of yourself.

    • It is normal for you to want to run away.

    • It is normal for you to miss your job.

    • And, a bunch of other things.

Setting boundaris will keep caregivers and care receivers safe

Do you have boundaries? Boundaries keep us safe. They are our non-negotiables. Our individual or family values that we use to guide our choices. Find yours. A boundary is something that you must have or something that you cannot tolerate. It is going to get touchy here – sometimes we get our non-negotiables confused with important needs.

Examples of non-negotiables:

    • Your physical, mental and emotional well-being – What will you do to protect them?
        • What won’t you do to protect them?

    • That you speak to yourself in a kind manner.

    • A healthy relationship with yourself – Eating nutritious food, walking, running, working out, reading for pleasure

    • Keeping your word to yourself and others

    • Your core  values – honesty, love, joy, happiness, reliability, respect, openness, trust, accountability, etc.

    • I will be kind to myself, when I make mistakes

    • Having fun

    • Resting/Sleeping

Find your most important values

So, what are your governing values  as a person and a caregiver? The principles that you live your life by? The things you will and will not tolerate? Find 3 or 4 that are valuable to you and how you want to live your life. They will make it easier for you to answer questions. They will make it easier to say “yes or no.” Another name for non-negotiables for me is deal-breakers.

No one is perfect. We will all mess up, from time to time. 

Pat

What does your temperament and your traits have to do with caregiving/helping loved ones?

Posted on June 15, 2022 by - #alzheimers, #caregiver, #caregivers, #dementia, traits

Think about it, some folks can take on caregiving chores and still be happy and others are absolutely miserable. They both have frustrations. They are both exhausted. Both of them are doing the best that they can.

June 15, 2022

Are you a caregiver?

Some of you don’t know that you are a caregiver. You think you are helping them out. It could be your mom or dad. It may be your husband, wife or significant other. We are resistant to be caregivers much less be called a caregiver. We really do not want that responsibility, do we?

Maybe that is just me, but I suspect that others out there feel the same way as I do. When my mom needed help, I did not consider myself a caregiver. She just needed help and we helped her. Daddy was the primary caregiver, I tried to support both of them, in ways that I could. With daddy, it was about listening to what he was going through. The frustration, the anger and the not knowing what to do. With mama, it was about listening to her anger, frustration and the irrational thoughts. Mama did not need personal hygiene care, she could take care of that herself, with modifications to the house.

It gets hard to be a caregiver, my own experience

To hear my daddy, say that he did not know how much more he could take, was hard. To hear my mama, say that she was going to divorce my daddy, was hard. To be summoned down to the house (an hour away), many times, was hard. I was working 12 hour shifts at the pharmacy and had three boys at home. Our stress was mental and emotional, not so much physical. It took about four months to get things back to “normal.”

I was dealing with a dad that did not believe in mental health treatment such as talk therapy and that medications might help. I had a mom that had changed both physically and mentally due to MS and mini-strokes. WTF. Now, dammit, this was my area of expertise and my own daddy is not listening to me. I finally convinced them to go to the neurologist and let the neurologist see what could be done. I worked behind the scenes with a message to the neurologist. My mom got the meds she needed and a couple of talk therapy visits. Things went much smoother after that.

It was good to hear from my dad that my mom was back to her usual fun self. It was good to hear my mom laugh again and be the jokester that she was. She cheated at the Rook card game; you know. We always had to make her stand up and turn out her pockets for that damn rook card.

I wasn’t the primary caregiver, but I was still stressed out

During all of this, I was tired and frustrated. I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t miserable. I didn’t hate every minute of help that I provided my parents. I didn’t hate that I was missing things with my boys. Disappointed, sure, but I was needed elsewhere sometimes. If your family needs help, you help them.

Other folks are angry. Sometimes, they are resentful and miserable for “having” to help. Maybe, the difference is in how you look at it or feel about your loved one? Feeling like you must help instead of wanting to help may be the key, I don’t know. Did you accept your role as a helper or caregiver out of love or obligation? Most of us have had no training and very few skills in this arena. It is on-the-job training or more likely, flying by the seat of your pants. If you are providing personal hygiene care or you are having to physically move or transfer your loved one, you do need training in how to do it appropriately and safely.

Personality Traits of a Happy Caregiver

    • Patience – especially with questions, angry outbursts, length of time to do things

    • Compassion – understanding what the other person is dealing with

    • Empathy – understanding the feelings that others may be feeling or thinking

    • Humor – finding something to laugh about in these difficult situations. We know how serious things are, but we need to laugh. Not at the person, but at the situation or other things.

    • Present – be in the here and now, focusing on what they can do

    • Detail Oriented – good management skills

    • Able to Accept Help – a good caregiver lines up a team to help out

    • Able to Set Boundaries – know your own limits and say “no” when needed

    • Flexible – able to cooperate with others

    • Assertive Advocate – getting the answers needed, making sure their loved one has what they need; being firm but not being an asshole (at first)

    • Creative – some days things will work and other days you have to find something else that works

    • Good Communicator – learn to communicate with your loved one in the way that they can communicate, especially if they are non-verbal now

Which ones of the above do you need to work on?

How many of these skills do you have? Be honest. There will probably be a few that are not in your wheelhouse. That is okay, are you willing to learn? Are there some skills that you know you don’t have and are not good at? That is okay too. It is great to know what you are good at and great to know what you suck at. Use your strengths to your loved one’s advantage. Others will have different strengths to help. We can all improve.

Know this: You are perfect as you are… but you can always be better. We all have the struggle or tension between self-acceptance and self-improvement. We have talked about this before. It is progress over perfection.

Are you smart enough to know when you don’t know? Do you know how to find good and trusted information? Do you know when you are out of your area of expertise and need to hire that expertise?

Self-confidence in your caregiving abilities comes with time and patience with yourself. It comes with learning new ideas and ways to help. You may have to silence your inner critic. Your negative thoughts are not always right. They are only thoughts, so challenge them.

Confidence in your abilities is good. Over-confidence is bad. The goal is appropriate confidence. Focus on the effort. Keep learning new things. Listen to what others have to say.

A reluctant or sad caregiver has feelings of unfairness or irritation. You may even feel resentment. Resentment at the care receiver or resentment at the others who don’t or won’t help. Not everyone is cut out to be a caregiver.

Pat

Is it a psychiatric illness, psychosis, or a drug-induced problem?

Posted on May 12, 2022 by - #alzheimers, #caregiver, #caregivers, #dementia, overmedication

First, what is psychosis? Psychosis is a term used to describe when a person interprets or perceives reality in a different way than those around them. Psychosis may be a symptom of mental illness, but that is not always the case. Nobody knows exactly what causes psychosis.

May 11, 2022

Observations

Typical story of a psychosis

Suzi visited her mom, Val Thursday after work. Suzi checks in on her about twice a week. Val is 70, active with high cholesterol, high blood pressure. arthritis, and mild depression. Val takes her medication regularly and as directed. Suzi notices that her mom is not quite herself. Val cannot follow the conversation and does not seem to be able to concentrate.

The first thing Suzi thinks is, an UTI. Possible dehydration. They go to the Dr., but the urine test comes back clean. No infection and her electrolytes are all in the normal range. Hmm. Now what? Nobody seems to know what to do next, but wait and see.

It is now a week later and Val is not better and in fact she is a little worse. She cannot remember if she has taken her meds or not. She is unsure of what has happened over the last three days. Suzi is getting more and more concerned. This is not normal and her mom has never been this way before. Suzi wonders if her mom is developing dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment.

In this particular case, her physician looked at her medications and had a consult with her pharmacist. They determined that most likely it was her blood pressure medication and/or her arthritis medication. Outside chance it could be anti-depressant med, but not likely. They began a withdrawal of HBP medication and started a different one. Val was some better, but not back to normal. It was not her arthritis medication; it was her anti-depressant medication. She was slowly weaned off of that and they did a wait-and-see approach to see if she needed to be on an anti-depressant anymore. Her mind cleared and she was back to her normal self.

Too often, we fail to look for signs and symptoms of drug-induced psychosis

While this case was a success, many more are not. No one thinks to check the medications. Why? Well, their thought processes go along these lines – She has been on these meds for three years or more. It came on suddenly, it must be a UTI or dehydration or she does indeed have the beginnings of mild cognitive impairment or a dementia.

Medications are not without risks and problems over time. As we age, our metabolization and kidney function decrease. We cannot clear meds as quickly or as easily as we once did. You know when your loved one is “not right.” You may not know what it is, but you know that something is wrong. Push for answers, never accept it is “just old age,” dementia, or other assumptions. Blood tests and urine tests need to be done. Medications need to be checked. Hydration and nutrition need to be addressed. We want to rule out any fixable problems.

Psychosis can be:

    • Due to stressful life experiences or trauma

    • Part of a neurological condition such as dementia. Alzheimer’s disease, or Parkinson’s disease

    • Triggered due to a brain injury

    • Medication side effects

    • Effects of illicit or illegal drugs such as marijuana or cannabis

    • Effects of alcohol withdrawal

    • Triggered by menopause

    • Triggered during times of severe stress or anxiety

As you can see, it is not black and white. Many things can trigger a psychosis. By the way, marijuana is not the gateway drug to addiction. Trauma is the gateway to addiction. The self-medication, whether it is alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, hydrocodone, heroin, etc., becomes the problem due to another problem. We have to deal with the primary problems first! Yeah, I know, we chased a rabbit there.

We don’t think about medications as causing a psychosis or a psychotic episode, but they sure can. Too often, we assume that it is a mental health issue. Maybe it is, but, we need to find out and rule out other fixable causes.

Understand that some classes of drugs can cause psychosis.

Classes of meds that may cause psychosis:

    • Muscle relaxants

    • Antihistamines

    • Antidepressants

    • Cardiovascular medications

    • Antihypertensive medications

    • Analgesics

    • Anticonvulsants

    • Antiparkinsonian medications

    • Chemotherapy agents

    • Corticosteroids

    • Stimulants

From the list above, you can see that the possibility is real that the psychosis is from a medication and not mental illness. Alcohol abuse or misuse is another inducer of psychosis.

Drug-induced psychosis usually only lasts until the medication/drug has cleared the body. Depending on the drug, the metabolization and clearing may take from 1 day to several weeks (if it is from a stimulant medication).

A healthcare professional needs to be contacted. They can decide where the safest place to “come-off” the medication will be. Drugs can affect different people in different ways. What causes a psychotic episode in one person may not cause a psychotic episode in another person. Genetics plays a part. Life experiences play a part. Pre-disposition to mental illness plays a part. Remember, mental health disorders can cause substance use or misuse on its own. The mental health disorder can be exacerbated or intensified by medication use, abuse or misuse, but it is not caused by the meds.

We should note that schizophrenia is not caused by drug use, abuse or mis-use. It may trigger schizophrenia symptoms in those people susceptible to schizophrenia.

Common signs and symptoms of psychosis includes:

Hallucinations – when you see, hear, feel or taste things that other people don’t

    • Hearing voices or sounds that others don’t

    • Seeing things that others do not see

    • Tasting things when you haven’t had or eaten anything

    • Feeling someone touching you who is not there

    • Smelling things which other people cannot smell

Delusions – unusual beliefs that other people in your “community” do not share, even though they feel real to you

You may worry:

    • That you are being followed by secret agents or members of the public

    • People are out to get you or to kill you (may be strangers or people that you know)

    • That a chip has been implanted in your brain to monitor your thoughts

    • That your food or water is being poisoned

    • That you are a powerful person or God

Cognitive impairments – these relate to mental action (learning, remembering, functioning)

    • Problems concentrating

    • Memory problems

    • Difficulties understanding new information

    • Having a difficult time making decisions

Alcohol, amphetamines, phencyclidine (PCP), cocaine, and hallucinogens are among the most common causes of drug-induced psychosis. Symptoms of drug psychosis include:

    • Hallucinations. A person might see, smell, or hear things that aren’t there.

    • Delusions. A person may adopt demonstrably false beliefs, such as that a demon is pursuing them.

    • Dangerous behavior. A person might attempt to fly, harm themselves because a voice told them to do so, or become a danger to others. Some people who experience psychosis become aggressive.

    • Disconnection from other people or from reality. A person may appear catatonic or totally withdrawn.

Drug-related psychosis is distinct from other forms of psychosis in a few ways:

    • It appears while under the influence of or withdrawing from a drug.

    • It comes on suddenly.

    • It is typically more intense than other forms of psychosis.

Illicit/Illegal Drugs that most commonly cause substance-induced psychosis:

Methamphetamine

Cocaine

Marijuana

LSY

Peyote

Mushrooms

Ketamine (this is a Rx drug, but is used illicitly)

PCP

Ecstasy

This overview is so that you know and understand that medications can cause psychotic episodes. What signs and symptoms to look for? Contact your healthcare provider for withdrawal and monitoring needs.

Pat

If it isn’t visible, it isn’t happening and other bull$%^!

Posted on March 9, 2022 by - #alzherimers, #caregiver, #dementia, #multiplesclerosis, #parkinsons

Invisible Illness: how do you get others to “see” what is happening to you on the inside?

If it hasn’t happened to them, they have no idea what is going on. But, a lot of them have an opinion about how you are; how you should or should not feel. Even if they have experienced it, it may not be the same as how you experience it.

March 9, 2022

We are all different. Our life experiences are different. Our pain tolerance is different. Our bodies are different. Sure, they are comparable, but they are not exact. We metabolize foods and medications differently or not at all. So many variables affect our immune system. So many things affect the inflammation inside of our bodies.

Biological processes are variable. Cultural traits are different. Genetic make-ups are different. We all have special qualities. We have our own body type.

When did healthy become based on appearance?

You can be really thin and be very unhealthy. You can be overweight and be really healthy. People of all shapes, sizes, weights, can either be healthy or unhealthy. You are in your body 24/7 how do you feel and what is going on with you? Is your body nourished with the foods that it needs? I am not talking about stress eating or emotional behaviors, just plain old giving your body what it needs to function at its highest level. Food, hydration, rest, activity and sleep are all important for a healthy body.

What happens when a body has an autoimmune disorder? An autoimmune disorder is a condition when your own immune system mistakenly attacks your body. It destroys healthy body tissue by mistake.

What happens inside the body of one with an autoimmune disorder

How would you think a person might feel while all of this is going on inside their body? They have pain, tiredness, fatigue, nausea, rashes, headaches, dizziness and more depending on what disease they have. They feel these things, All-of-the-time, because they have these things all-of-the-time. It would be rare for them to not to feel bad because their body is under attack.

My hope is that these folks are working with their doctors and other health care providers to find out what works best for them and their needs. To have the best quality of life possible. I only want folks to take the medications that they need. To use other means to help manage their conditions. Nutrition, hydration, strengthening, mindfulness-based stress reduction meditation, stretching, rest and activity. It takes all of these things plus medications to improve quality of life.

I get it. It is hard to do all of these things, work full-time, have a family life, friends, etc. Don’t look at it as giving things up. Look at it as caring for yourself to improve your energy and strength so you can spend more time with those that you love and do the things that you enjoy doing. Your friends and family can do all of those things with you, except, take your medication. It is probably easier to have a work-out buddy to keep you engaged and committed to the routine. That is the key anyway. It will become a routine and then a habit. Once it is a habit, you no longer have to use a lot of brain energy to figure out all the particulars.

Chronic disease is hard on everyone

Living with a chronic disease is hard. It is hard on the person that has it and it is hard on those that love them. It sucks to make plans and then they get cancelled because of a flare-up or a bad day. Once or twice, you can usually get over it, but more than that, it begins taking a toll on all involved.

No body wants to make plans because they get cancelled. A wall begins to build up. Everybody is pissed and nobody is talking to nobody about the elephant in the room. Maybe, it is because you don’t want each other to feel bad? Maybe, it’s because, you know that sometimes shit happens and you have to adjust.

It is great to realize all of that. You must also talk with each other about it. How you see things, how it makes you feel and what you want. You aren’t really mad at each other; you are mad at the situation. If you are mad at each other, I suggest you go and get counseling now. It does not matter if it is a partner relationship or a friend relationship, you do need help in navigating these issues.

Non-medical messy side of chronic disease

Too often, only the medical side is addressed. No body wants to deal with the messy part of a chronic illness. The parts that leave families strained and sometimes broken. You have to deal with the messy parts. Once you do and you have a workable plan, it can make all the difference in your relationships. It is not easy, but the results are worth it. In my business, I deal with the medical side and most parts of the messy side. If you need a therapist, I will recommend that.

Learning and understanding what is truly going on with a person that has a chronic illness is eye opening. Being able to modify plans or activities will improve relationships. You want them at their best, so what are you going to do to help them get to their best?  Can you relate to what they are experiencing?

Pain is subjective. We all have different tolerances and what may be a 10 (the absolute worst pain you have ever had) may be a 3 or 4 (mild to moderate) to me. I am sure you have heard people state that they have had a kidney stone and it was the worst pain possible. It has to be worse than having a baby. Why? Because you “say so?”  Because the pain you experienced was the worst pain in your life does not mean that it was worse than the pain of childbirth. Some of you mom’s that have had both can speak to this. I have heard a few moms say that childbirth pain was the worst and I have heard a few moms say that the kidney stone pain was worse.

Chase the Rabbit

Here comes a rabbit chasing. No one needs to suffer from uncontrolled pain. I understand that all pain cannot be eliminated and that is not really the goal of treating chronic pain. We treat chronic pain to help those with that type of pain to live the best quality of life possible. An active life. A fulfilling life. Managing the pain to a tolerable level is the goal. Treating chronic pain takes a multi-prong approach. Medication alone will not provide the relief needed. Strength training is one way to reduce pain. Running or walking is another way to reduce pain. Eating for nutritional needs, is yet, another way to reduce pain. Hydrating every day is another way to reduce the pain. It is all connected. Yes, I know there are many different types of pain. Thus, the multi-prong approach. I don’t believe in cookie cutter approaches to treating pain. People are different, their pain is different, their tolerances are different, medications work for some, but do not work for others. It is very easy to get frustrated when every thing that you try does not work. I use a combination approach with my clients and that seems to work better for pain relief and pain control. It will take effort, some fine tuning to the plans to get the right combination that works for you, but it will be worth it. Rabbit chasing over, for now.

After a while, folks just give up. The one with the chronic illness and the one without the chronic illness, just give up. If your loved one has a chronic illness, help them to become they best they can be. Encourage them to take back control of their life. Help them to focus on the solutions and not the freaking problems. What can they do? What can they improve? What will it take to help them? You can’t make them, but you can encourage them, believe in them and help them when they ask. You can’t do it for them and they do get to decide what they will or won’t do.

To the one without the chronic illness, you need to take a look at your beliefs about the one that has the chronic illness. This may get ugly. Do you understand what they go through every day? Do you understand that they feel like they let everybody down? Do you understand your part in not being able to go and do? Are you becoming an enabler to their lack of action or lack of participating in activities? There are other things, but you get the idea.

Don’t give up! There are things to try. There are things that will make your life easier. Get ready to look forward to activities again. Yes, you have to think about getting ready. You have to reason it out in your mind. The negatives will come rushing at you. All of the “you have tried this and it didn’t work,” thoughts will flood your mind. It may not have worked then, but it is possible that it will work now by doing “x,y and z.” If you are not open to the possibility that things can get better and actually be better, then they won’t.

Who do you need on your healthcare team?

Who do you need to add to your health care team? Me? A sports psychologist? A nutritionist? A therapist/psychologist? A trainer? A workout partner? A deal with my anger and other emotions therapist?

An autoimmune disorder may cause destruction of body tissue, may cause an abnormal growth of an organ, or even cause changes in organ function. The areas most often targeted are blood vessels, connective tissue, joints, muscles, your skin, red blood cells, your thyroid or your pancreas and other endocrine glands.

Very few of these disorders can be seen. It is all happening inside the body.

Here are some of the most notable autoimmune disorders:

Next time, we will touch on other non-visible health conditions such as migraine, depression, heart disease, etc.

    • Crohn’s disease

    • Lyme disease

    • Narcolepsy (looks more and more like an autoimmune disorder)

    • Psoriatic arthritis

    • Raynaud’s syndrome

  • Ulcerative colitis

Pat

How do the 5 Senses Change in a Person with a Dementia

Posted on March 3, 2022 by - #alzheimers, #caregiver, #dementia

No, they are not just being difficult.

March 2, 2022

Your loved one is having an unexpected reaction to the food they are eating. They stop eating, declaring that it has no taste. They become very apprehensive while walking through a door into a restaurant. They are nervous and are becoming more and more irritated. They cannot seem to judge how to sit down in the seat. They seem so distracted that they cannot read the menu or decide what to order.

These things and more are due to the brain not being able to process the sensory inputs correctly or in a timely manner. Their sense of taste and smell have lessened or may even become non-existent. When areas are too dark, they are unable to differentiate the floor from the walls, tables or chairs. Their depth perception is way off and maybe they begin to sway more and even fall more. Noisy places can send them over the edge. Too much sensory information overload can cause a meltdown and unwanted lashing out behaviors. The talking, the music, the televisions may be too much for them to handle.

You probably will not be able to calm them down and so it is best to remove them from the situation. They cannot follow the conversation with all of the distractions. They will become disoriented more easily and their balance will be affected as well.

Dementia Affects Changes in Perception and Processing

Why is this sensory overload happening? It could be an auditory processing disorder. That can be tested by an audiologist. In mild cognitive impairment, any dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease too much “noise” can strain the brain and make it work harder. Our brains only have so much focused energy to use during the day and an impaired brain, has way less energy to use. If they expend all their energy on the “noise” issue they have no energy left to work on anything else. They may be able to hear well, but they cannot process/interpret the sensory input. By the way, hearing also affects balance.

Sight/Vision issues:

    • Lack of depth perception

    • Decrease in ability to detect movement in the room

    • Decrease in ability to see colors

    • Problems recognizing people, faces or things

    • Shadows and light can mess with their minds and what they think they are seeing   .

    • They may be able to see, but are unable to interpret what they are seeing.

    • Things may appear blurry.

    • They may no longer have peripheral vision.

    • They will need more light to see.

Smell issues:

    • Sense of smell decreases

    • They can no longer smell smoke, odors, foods that may be spoiled.

Taste issues:

    • Sensitivity to taste declines in dementias.

    • The last taste to go is the sweet taste.

    • They will add a lot of salt, if the salt shaker is visible.

    • It is perfectly fine to use other spices to help them “taste” their food.

    • When the sense of smell goes, taste goes too.

Touch issues:

    • They may be unable to tell when things are hot. You might want to decrease the hot water heater temperature.

    • They may not know when they have cut themselves with a knife.

    • They may not be able to tell the difference in hot water and cold water on their body.

Hearing issues:

We talked a little about that in our example above.

    • A person with dementia may have normal hearing, but they will probably be unable to process the information correctly. Remember, we hear with our brains.

    • Competing noises are very distracting. Even if it is normal to you, a person with a dementia cannot filter out the extraneous noises.

    • Are the batteries in their hearing aids good? Are their hearing aids working?

    • Do they need to be checked by an audiologist? NOT, a hearing aid specialist.

    • They need a quiet setting. Low music is usually fine. TV is not good and needs to be turned off, while they are eating and talking.

Impaired movement issues:

    • They may take shorter steps.

    • They may drift to one side.

    • They may shuffle their feet.

    • They may slow way down as they walk.

Balance issues:

    • It becomes harder to judge distances and they may bump in to things.

    • They struggle or can no longer negotiate stairs.

    • Balance and coordination may be off and so they trip or fall more easily.

Stiffness/Shaking issues:

    • The muscles can become more rigid which makes it more difficult to move.

    • The muscles can become tighter and restrict movements.

    • The muscles can waste away from inactivity and malnutrition.

Coughing/Choking issues:

    • The ability to chew and swallow may become compromised and even lost.

    • It becomes easier for them to aspirate and a pneumonia set up in their lungs.

A person with a dementia is actually having brain failure. The brain can no longer receive, process, interpret and react to sensory signals appropriately. What is so frustrating is that sometimes ou

Pat

Has your life been hijacked by responsibilities outside of your control?

Posted on February 16, 2022 by - #alzherimers, #caregiver, #dementia

How do you feel about that? Okay, now, how do you feel about how you feel? Whew! That in itself is enough to make your head explode, isn’t it?

February 16, 2022

I learned a new phrase today, as I was doing some research on dealing with feelings, and I came across “meta-emotions.” I have never heard of that term before. I was thinking about my own experiences of how I felt about the frustration and anger that I felt when my life was hijacked. I did berate myself for feeling that way. How could I feel that way? I love my mama and I will do anything that I can for her. The frustration and anger was never about her. It was about the situation.

Meta-emotions can be classified into four types: negative-negative (e.g., feeling embarrassed about feeling sad), negative-positive (e.g., feeling guilty about feeling happy), positive-positive (e.g., feeling hopeful about feeling relieved), and positive-negative (e.g., feeling pleased about feeling angry).

When you can’t make things better

I could not make things better. I could not fix this so we did not have to deal with all of this crap. I wish that I could tell you that I adapted well. I did not. I made it much harder than it had to be on myself. I sure learned the hard way, that I would have been better off if I had learned to accept things as they were & adapt to the ever-changing situation.

Nope, just stuff it all down. Deep down, inside. Soldier on. That will work for a while, but not forever. It will come out. It will come up in screwy ways. You won’t even know why you are feeling like you feel. It may years down the road. You can’t figure out why your emotions are all over the place. Maybe, if you got still and curious you could figure it out? Talk therapy is a much quicker way to figure it out.

I think everyone needs to do some talk therapy. Shoot, three or four sessions may be all that you need. Therapists will give you the tools you need to figure some of this “emotions” stuff out. You will also be taught how to deal with it in an appropriate manner. In other words, you won’t have to show your ass.

You won’t have to keep beating yourself up for feeling bad about feeling bad. If you are a helper or care giver you have probably dealt with all kinds of emotions. I use feelings and emotions interchangeably sometimes because I won’t slow down and figure out which one it is. Here is my attempt at understanding the difference. Emotions are neurological reactions to external stimuli. They are instinctive and we are not usually conscious of them. That friggin’ amygdala, again. It really is trying to keep us safe. We have to help it, by realizing when we are in danger and when we are really NOT in danger. Feelings are the reactions to the emotions.

    • Something triggers you

    • You have an automated response (your fear emotion, anger or whatever the emotion, is being sent out through your body)

    • That lasts about 90 seconds and then that part is over

    • What happens next, is up to you. Will you cling to that emotion or will you interpret the situation as not life threatening, reassess and move forward?

    • Realize that how you think and how you feel directly impacts how your body reacts. This is the point where you take a breath or three and separate yourself from the experience to observe it, be objective and be curious about how you feel. No judgement allowed.

How do you manage difficult emotions?

Can you reinterpret what you experienced? Can you look for the good in the bad? Sometimes, we have to sit with that uncomfortable emotion. We have to feel it to process it. That is not fun. The upside is that we can learn from it and we don’t have to always have the negative emotions when we are triggered. We can learn. “Whatever you resist will persist.” I have no idea who said that first, but I have heard it a lot.

Emotions may not signal danger, but they may signal that you need to make a change.

Care givers have many, if not all of these emotions at one time or another. See if you can relate?

    • Guilt

    • Resentment

    • Anger

    • Frustration

    • Worry

    • Loneliness

    • Defensiveness

    • Grief

Questions to ask yourself when you feel certain emotions arise:

    • Is what happened unexpected?

    • Is what happened enjoyable?

    • Is what happened going to make it easier or harder for me to get what I want?

    • Can I control it?

    • Will I be able to cope with what happened?

    • Does what happened match with what I think is right or wrong?

    • Is what happened my fault or someone else’s?

(I borrowed these questions, but I cannot find my cite link.)

What are the positives of negative emotions?

Sadness or grief may make you pay more attention to details?

Anxiety or stress may encourage you to find new ways to deal with situations.

Anger or frustration may make you see that it is time for help or another set of eyes on a situation or problem.

Guilt may help us to figure out what is ours to deal with and what is not ours to deal with.

Negative emotions may be what you need to motivate you to make a change.

**Any time that you deal with your emotions, you will get tired and feel drained. It is very exh

Pat