Caregiver Community

  • Caregiver Community
    2313 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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  • Image Description: An elderly person with a walker and supported by a caregiver
    12 Confusing and Overlapping Symptoms in the Elderly
    Symptoms like weight loss, memory loss, weakness, and fatigue should not be mistaken as a sign of the"normal aging" process. Dr. Shital Patel explains 12 common but misleading symptoms in the elderly and why you should seek a doctor's opinion instead of ignoring them.  Symptoms in the elderly can have very different causes than they may have in a young person. Many symptoms in the geriatric population may be masked by concurrent chronic ailments, injuries, age-related physiological…
  • Image: Black and white pic of Marianne's parents as a young couple - mom on the left and dad on the right
    Parkinson’s Robbed Their Soul And Spirit
    Marianne de Nazareth recounts how traumatic it has been to see both her parents suffer from Parkinson’s and how the progressive disease strips the dignity of the individual. Parkinson’s is an old disease in our house. Both my Dad and Mom were afflicted with it, unfortunately.  My Dad was ravaged by it first, and now it is after my Mom. It has been tormenting our family for nearly three decades now. My father, Anthony Michael Furtado, got Parkinson’s in his mid-50s. We started noticing a…
  • To Continue Loving my Son, I Need to be Brave
    Alpana Sharma, mother of 6 year old Aarav, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a rare neuromuscular disorder that leads to progressive loss of muscle control and muscle movement, is doing everything she possibly can to save her son. Read her spirited story. The birth of our son ‘Aarav’ filled our lives with happiness and joy that only a mother's heart can hold. Like any first time parents, Aarav's every new milestone - his smile or his waving hands - was a marvel. It was a pleasure just watching…
  • The I Support Foundation
    Helping Restaurants Welcome Persons With Disabilities
    I Support Foundation tries to make cafes and restaurant visits a hurdle-free experience for families of persons with disabilities. We speak to co-founder Juhi Ramani on how they are going about it. This initiative is to create awareness and provide hassle free service to persons with disabilities. We, the I Support Foundation (NGO), started this initiative for achieving universal accessibility that will enable persons with disabilities to gain access for equal opportunity and live independently…
  • On the left an Indian woman in a pink dress and white scarf who was over weight and on the right a trimmer version woman in a white and yellow top and black pants
    I Walk with Hand-Weights to Lose Weight and Build Health
    Kavita Behl, 53, who was diagnosed with high levels of uric acid causing excruciating pain and swelling in her feet, got back her health with a strict walking regimen and disciplined diet. Her mantra now - Be positive and Keep walking.  My problems started two years back in May 2016. I had developed swelling and pain in both my ankles and feet. The pain was so acute that I was not able to put my feet down. I had to go to a doctor. After a series of tests, I was detected with high levels of…
  • Hippocratic: 18 Experiments in Gently Shaking the World
    "Hippocratic: 18 Experiments in Gently Shaking the World" is a documentary movie that chronicles the journey of Dr M. R. Rajagopal, founder chairman of Pallium India and his initiation into the field of Palliative Care.  A film synopsis and review by Dr. Shital Raval. Released in 2017, the movie is based on 18 experiments or quotes by Mahatma Gandhi who happens to be his inspiration and guide. Founder chairman of Pallium India, Padma Shri award winner and lovingly called the “father of…
  • An elderly and spectacled couple Mr Pranab Basu in a blue striped shirt with his wife in an orange blouse and a cream sari
    Palliative Treatment Ensures Good Quality of Life
    Mr Pranab Kumar Basu shares his experience of being the sole caregiver of his wife, who had metastastic colon cancer, and how he succeeded in keeping her mentally strong and cheerful till the end. I have been the sole caregiver for my wife who was suffering from cancer. My wife was under the treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, from July, 2015. She battled for nearly 2 years and 6 months. She finally succumbed to it in October 2017. She was a victim of metastatic colon cancer. The…
  • Stock pic of a young woman supporting a young man in distress
    An Unshakeable Pillar of Support For Person With Mental Illness
    Mala (not her real name) has been the primary caregiver for her brother Ram (not his real name) who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia for more than 15 years. Indra Venkatram writes about the challenges Mala faced as a sole caregiver in Singapore. About Ram Ram was a very bright and intelligent boy who did very well in school, studying in top secondary and junior college and also topping his cohort in his overseas university.  He was the pride of his family and had great plans for his…
  • Jyotsna in a blue dress against a bright background of yellow, gree and red
    Co-existence of Caregiving and Nourishing Oneself
    Jyotsna Kumar talks about her caregiving roles - as a mother of daughter with Cerebral Palsy and as a daughter. With a timely reminder on the importance to look after oneself to avoid burnout and also to increase the quality of caregiving. When I became a mother of a child with disabilities (spastic diplegia, commonly known as cerebral palsy), my life changed drastically. It was an upheaval of all kinds - emotional, physical, mental and financial. The life I knew prior to her birth…
  • Facing Mortality To Seize Control of Living
    Dr. Divya Parashar, head of the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi, weaves in her personal experience with that of a patient to emphasise the need to talk about quality of life choices and why story endings still matter.  "Hi Doctor, I wanted to speak to you about my father if you have a minute.”  And in walked Rohit (name changed), conversations with whom led me to assess my own beliefs and practices about medicine and what we as…
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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