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They even provided some more blogs for caregivers.

If you’re looking for information and just a place to get together with other caregivers, for comfort and encouragement, perhaps you’d like to check out these blogs.  Also, you may find tips on making life more enjoyable for the person with Alzheimer’s.

If you have any more resources, do share them with us.  Caregivers need all the encouragement and support they can find during their journey with their Alzheimer’s patient.

Post from: Blisstree

More Alzheimer’s Parenting Resources

We don’t think, when we’re raising our children that we may become caregivers for those who once cared for us.  We don’t make plans for this and it often hits unawares.

Auntie became my responsibility after my mom could no longer care for her.  She lived with my parents for more than a year when another relative couldn’t cope with Auntie’s Alzheimer’s forgetfulness and wandering.  Then Father died and Mother’s Alzheimer’s became more pronounced.

Because Auntie was a widow with no children, she became my responsibility.  I suppose I could have ignored the situation, but somehow it was something I couldn’t do.  During most of the time she was my responsibility, she was in a nursing home, so I didn’t have the “hands on” care I did with Mother.  But making decisions when she was ill or in the hospital, keeping in touch with nurses (I lived 275 miles away), and visiting whenever I could did become my role.

I cared for Mother in her home, in our home, and was responsible for overseeing her care in a nursing home for 8 years.  During this time I was helping my children with grandchildren.

However, all of them, no matter what age or generation, brought rewards to my life midst any frustrations.  Realizing that parenting encompasses more than caring for children will help you as you assume parent and elder relative care.

Post from: Blisstree

Parenting More Than Our Children

Then our roles were reversed, and I cared for Mother as she developed Alzheimer’s.  I remember sitting beside her bed in the nursing home after she broke her hip.  Mother seemed to become very depressed at that time and was confused about many things . As I sat there, I’d get the sense she didn’t want to make the effort to go on.  So I’d read and talk to her, write letters and nap, too.  I maintained this vigil almost daily for a couple of weeks.

Gradually Mother began to take an interest in her surroundings again as her hip healed. There’s a good chance she was in pain in the early days but couldn’t tell us. She never walked again, but lived eight more years to give us joy and love and be a part of our lives.

Post from: Blisstree

Parenting Takes on Many Meanings

It’s something we don’t talk about often here, but our pets can get diabetes just like us. As someone that gives myself multiple shots a day, I can’t imagine having to do that with my dog as well. But it does happen. As this article states, many pet owners are diabetics themselves and understand about the disease when it comes to treating their pet.

I think I would probably have much more sympathy for a dog that has diabetes now that I’m diabetic too, wouldn’t you?

The same article says, “If left untreated (diabetes) can cause our four-legged friends to lose weight, vomit, become weak and lethargic, or even go blind – and in extreme cases, die.”

Who would want that for our pet?

Sometimes, however, I think we take better care of our pets than we do ourselves. We don’t want our beloved dog who relies on us for care to suffer. We’d make sure they get their shots, eat right, and exercise so they could have a better quality of life. But do we always do this for ourselves?

We should. But it’s human nature to care about others, including animals, first . We diabetics have to imagine ourselves as a being that needs care, and we have to be the one that provides that care. It’s natural to care about others, including our pets, but let’s give ourselves the same amount of love and concern.

Post from: Blisstree

Pets and Diabetes

By Guest Blogger Mary Emma Allen

It’s difficult enough when you family member has no health problems other than Alzheimer’s, but when there are other issues, such as diabetes, their care becomes more complex for family caregivers and for staff at nursing homes.

Here are 7 tips which hopefully will make diabetes care for Alzheimer’s patients a bit easier:

1. Learn about diabetic diets, especially if you’re the one preparing the food.

2. Learn about your family member’s medical needs.

3. When your family member resides in a nursing home, make sure you note this on the forms you fill out. Diabetes should show up in their health records, but be sure you have it documented… every place possible.

4. Coordinate with caregivers at the nursing home and make sure they know your family member has diabetes. Monitor diet at a nursing home or with a caregiver in the patient’s home.

5. You’ll find a diabetic Alzheimer’s patient becomes forgetful about medications and diet. They eventually won’t know why their diet is restricted and may rebel against this. Don’t take it personally when the patient gets upset with you as they lose the ability to comprehend diet and medication.

6. Seek advice from the patient’s physician about their care. Being informed makes it easier to cope.

7. Remember you aren’t expected to know and do everything, only the best you can!

(Guest blogger Mary Emma Allen co-authors Alzheimer’s Notes at the Science and Health Channel, as well as Home Biz Notes at the Business Channel. She writes Quilting and Patchwork at b5media’s Lifestyles Channel. She cared for her mother and aunt who had Alzheimer’s. Her aunt was a diabetic.)

Post from: Blisstree

Guest Poster Mary Emma Allen Shares About Alzheimer’s Patients With Diabetes