Caregiver Community

  • Caregiver Community
    2310 member(s)

    A place where Caregivers come together to share common experiences, challenges,and resources. 

    Caregivers are truly experts in patient management and can help each other because of their intensive experience in patient care at home. Caregivers can ask questions to others on this forum going through a similar caregiving experiences. They can start topics and discuss things like ways to manage daily tasks, where to find doctors, nurses, and other health services, how they manage stress, and any other topics related to caring for their loved one and for themselves. It is a great place for Caregivers to come and chat about the issues that affect them on a day to day basis and take time to focus on their own needs and health.

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  • Payal in a brown dress holding her mother in a yellow kurta and white dupatta from behind
    How Our Entire Family Rallies Around My Mother, My Dad's Primary Caregiver
    Payal talks about how she has seen her father deteriorate physically and mentally over the years due to stroke. She and her mother play an active role in his daily care which has become tougher over time. Payal, tell us about your father’s condition? My father had a brain stroke 15 years back and he has been slowly deteriorating day by day. He has lost most of his memory and struggles to even remember his children’s names. He often wanders off if left alone, so he needs to be monitored 24 hours…
  • Head shot of the author Gayathri Prabhu wearing a yellow blouse, brown sari and a necklace around her neck. In the background are trees
    An Intensely Personal Memoir Of A Father’s Mental Illness
    Trveen Dhillon reviews Gayathri Prabhu’s intensely personal memoir of her conflicted relationship with her father who had depression ‘if i had to tell it again’ and relates to her own experience as a caregiver to her father. Gayathri Prabhu’s ‘if i had to tell it again’ is a memoir about two beings who greatly influenced her life and continue to do so even after their passing - her father, SGM Prabhu, who refused to accept or name his illness (clinical depression), and Chinna, a beautiful…
  • Mr Balagopal in a black t-shirt in front of the garden he loves to work in
    Why We Chose To Move To A Senior Living Community
    To move or not to move to a senior living community is a topic of discussion amongst many as they approach retirement and for many years after retirement. Retired Chief Executive Mr. S. Balagopal shares the factors that affected their choice and what they like about their senior living community. #QualityOfLife Tell us a little bit about your background and your family.  I am a Physics Graduate with an Electrical Engineering degree as well and have worked in the Private Sector in…
  • Getting a Dementia Diagnosis: Clear and Practical Suggestions for Families
    Swapna Kishore, a dementia resource person, talks to Dr. CT Sudhir Kumar on the importance of getting a dementia diagnosis and not treating it as a normal ageing process, how to select the right doctor, how to plan for a doctor consultation, the tests that the doctor may prescribe and how to plan reviews with your doctor.   When someone shows symptoms like memory problems, confusion, unclear speech, inability to plan, or strange behaviour, we may wonder whether this is dementia and…
  • Leading Causes And Precautionary Interventions For Falls in Persons With Dementia
    Ms. Ayush Chandra and Ms. Sradha Madan Ray under the guidance of DEMCARES, SCARF India write about the leading causes for falls in persons with dementia and how caregivers can prevent these falls.  According to WHO risk of falls in old age increases due to several factors such as changes in physical function, sensory input, and cognition. For a patient with cognitive impairment the risk is doubled and can lead to more complications (Scala G & Kraemer, 2009). Being aware of the…
  • Tips for Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients
    Our Best Tips From Caregivers of Persons with Alzheimer's and Dementia
    World Alzheimer's Day 2018 Alzheimer’s is hard, but as we care for our loved ones, we gain experience that can help others. Read the best tips from Shibani Ganguly, Vimal Balachander and Carol Fernandes, caregivers of persons with dementia.  Share your insights. If we share our knowledge, we can all manage better. #YourExperienceMatters    
  • Mausumi, a dark haired woman on the right with her mother, a person with dementia on the left. Mother is wearing specs and a bindi on her forehead and you can see the blue and white sari draped around her shoulders
    Patience And Innovation Are The Most Important Attributes Of A Caregiver For Persons With Dementia
    Mausumi Ghosh from Mumbai talks about the travails of taking care of her mother, 77 who suffers from dementia in addition to other conditions like osteosporosis. My mother is an osteoporosis patient from 2003 when she underwent hip replacement operation in Mumbai. She recovered from the same very well and was mobile and independent till she met with a ‘fall’ at home in 2010 and broke her ‘femur bone’ (left leg). She got herself operated twice in Kolkata in AMRI hospital and both the times the ‘…
  • On the left is Yee Ling with her husband Yen-Lu Chow on the right. She is dressed in a black formal dress and he is wearing a black tuxedo with a white shirt. The background is red and shows some people blurred
    Things Will Get Better, The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow
    ...Life is precious - life is worth living."  reminds Yen-Lu Chow. When their son and only child Lawrence Chow ended his own life at the age of 26 after suffering for many years from manic depression, Yen-Lu Chow and his wife Yee Ling went beyond grieving and coping with the tragedy. They involved themselves in mental health initiatives in Singapore which have, in turn, given them a purpose in their lives. Tell us about your mental health initiatives in Singapore. Mental wellness is not…
  • Stock pic of a young girl child with blond hair hugging her mother holding her face and feeling depressed. Image is respresentational only
    Depression In Parents Of Children With Special Needs: How To Cope And Build Resilience
    Parimal Pandit, Clinical Psychologist and Program Director, V-Excel Educational Trust Chennai describes the signs of depression to watch out for, how fathers and mothers react differently and how a special needs family can build resilience. 1.  A journey of a special needs parent goes through many ups and downs. What are the stages at which parents are most vulnerable? (Are these different for a mother v/s a father) When a child is diagnosed with a chronic condition or a…
  • Rishi Chowhan a young child with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Autism on a wheelchair with his family standing behind him from Left to Right- his mother, his sister and his father. Picture shows Singapore's Merlion in the background
    A Wish For A Magic Wand to Shoo Away My Son's Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
    Hitesh Chowhan, 52 from Bengaluru, shares the challenges of bringing up his son Rishi diagnosed with Autism and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a rare disease. The constant struggle to make him independent and as comfortable as possible. And of course a hope for a cure. My son Rishi is nearly 10 years old and has both Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Autism. Early Symptoms and Diagnosis He was diagnosed at the age of 5. We consulted doctors when we noticed that he was unable to lift himself…
Patient not discharged from ICU despite repeated requests
In the last couple of weeks, I have heard of two different cases in India where the hospital kept a patient in ICU on life support for weeks on end. In one case, even after the family asked for the patient to be transferred to a normal room, the…
Counsellor in Ahmedabad
Query from a caregiver Does anyone know a counsellor in Ahmedabad who can go to a patient's home. Patient has had a couple of strokes and even though there is no paralysis believes he is paralysed and does not use his limbs and keeps falling.…
Walking with quad cane assistance
Here is a question from one of our members: My father is 89. He used to walk regularly twice a day and used a simple walking cane. But now he has had a few falls. Doctor says he must use a cane with 4 legs(quad cane) but he refuses to do that. Now…
A family torn apart by illness
When treatment started failing 66 year old Siew Ching, the family became divided into different camps. Some wanted her to stay in hospital so that she could receive maximal supportive care. Others wanted her to be discharged so she could go…
My 95 year old father
My 95 year old father lives with my sister. She takes very good care of him. Normally he is fine. Can manage most daily activities with some help. But he is sometimes very paranoid about domestic helpers coming into his room and trying to harm him…
Tips for Caregivers
We found a great list of tips (in the link below) to help ease the challenges of being a caregiver and help caregivers with self-care - take a look at this list and share with us if you have ever used any of these and how! The tips include:…
Sleep - A big challenge for Caregivers
A lack of sleep or feeling tired is one of the biggest challenges that Caregivers face. Often times we have to wake up at night to check on our loved one, or we have trouble falling asleep because our mind is preoccupied. What are some of your…
How do you ask for help?
As Caregivers we often take on a lot and can get exhausted. It is important to learn how to ask for help - maybe other family members, friends, or neighbors can help take on some tasks and make life a little easier for the Caregiver. For many of us…
Restlessness in semi mobile senior
My MIL is a little bit over weight @ 94, and is able to walk only with a walker very slowly.She is addicted to watching TV whether she understands anything or not, but cannot sit for a long time. WE give her TV time, once a day for 2 hours. For…
Sharing Caregiving Duties Among Siblings or Family
I recently came across a great article that spoke about the importance of sharing caregiving duties among family or siblings. Often, the caregving duties falls upon one sibling or family member, and  this can cause resentment or…

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