Personal Blog #17 … Caregiver Emotions and COVID-19 … 6/3/20

I recently posted a Personal Blog discussing my personal anxieties and stress due to COVID-19 … stress and anxieties felt by a former caregiver who has struggled for more than 3 years before I was able to start enjoying life again as an AD widower.  Much of my newly found happiness came to a screeching halt when this coronavirus hit.  But as stressful as this period has been and continues to be for me as a former AD spouse caregiver, I can fully appreciate how much more stressful it must be for those who are AD caregivers now.

Until COVID-19, many caregivers relied upon dropping off loved ones at facilities for socialization and activities to allow themselves some respite time.  Until COVID-19, many caregivers took their loved ones with them to go shopping, to beaches, gyms, restaurants, movie theaters and other places … even if such activities were also stressful … simply to get out of their houses for a change of scenery and, at times, for some minimal respite time.  Until COVID-19, many caregivers were either in the process of placing loved ones in assisted living or nursing home facilities, already visiting loved ones in such facilities, or thinking about moving loved ones from assisted living placements into nursing homes.

I experienced a wide range of emotions as an AD spouse caregiver and am sure that many current caregivers have experienced or are experiencing many of these same emotions now.  I addressed these emotions in the first 10 articles I wrote when I was a contributor to The Huffington Post several years ago, and am re-listing the titles of those 10 articles here to encourage readers to go to my Huffington Post archive site to read them if you think they may be helpful.  Many caregivers do not belong to support groups … and many caregivers do not share their feelings even if they do belong … but sometimes it can be comforting for caregivers to know that they are not “the only one” or “crazy” or a “bad person” to feel the way they do.  Sometimes, it is comforting just to know that other caregivers experience these same feelings.

Here are the titles of the first 10 of my 35 articles published in The Huffington Post:

6/04/15 … Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse

6/10/15 … Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse ... Acceptance

           

6/17-15 … Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse ... Affection and Love

         

6/24/15 … Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse ... Anger

         

7/01/15 … Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse: Anxiety and Depression

7/07/15 … Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse: Doubt and Guilt

7/16/15 … Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse: Frustration

7/22/15 … Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse: Loneliness, and Sadness

7/29/15 ... Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse: Stress and Grief

8/04/15 ... Reflections of an Alzheimer’s Spouse: Caregiver Comments

You will find a complete listing of all my Huffington Post articles published between June of 2015 through December of 2016 on this website’s “My Published Articles” page.  All 35 of my Huffington Post articles, including the 10 titles listed above, may be read on my Huffington Post archive site at https://www.huffpost.com/author/acvann-498.