Reply #51: When you are the sole care giver it's hard to go to get support [View All]

My Mom has Alzheimer's and it is heartbreaking.

I don't have the time to do anything on a regular basis because I can only leave her with a Senior Sitter or take her with me.

So many people say, "just get some one to take care of her and you'll feel better." Or. "Take her to a Senior Center and she will love it!" --- No she won't. She doesn't know how to interact if I'm not with her or my cousins or other very close friends.

I just got back from a beautiful 5 day vacation in Palm Springs -- my wonderful cousins stayed with her, I would rather pay my family than someone else.

I feel like I never left home. It stays with you, even on vacation.

I have been to an excellent Support Group. However, I just spent 45 minutes looking for her denture(it was wrapped up in a piece of tissue and stuck in the back of a draw.) Emotions and sorrow and frustration take over and you feel so guilty.

Everything learned is gone in an instant -- don't have time to call anyone for advice, just roll up in a ball and feel my blood pressure rise.

She has been on three medications -- nothing worked. She has negative reactions to all of them.

What works best is WATER -- the brain must have water. The days when I can sit with her and watch her sip by sip -- she does better.

It's just so hard to take care of the one person that you love more than life itself, the person that took care of YOU and now the tables are turned -- :cry: