Our Forums are all about caregivers supporting each other.  In this week’s highlights, members are sharing information on topics that concern us every day.

Caregiver stress and burnout is talked about quite a bit.  Recently, Caregiver Stress Syndrome (CSS) has been identified by the medical profession.  Here is a link to a CareStation blog entry on  CSS. http://carestation.agis.com/2008/02/05/stressed-and-tired-have-a-new-name-css/

Two conversations in the forum this past week highlight the seriousness of this issue and how a caregiver can watch for signs they are have gone beyond their comfort zone and have fallen into a serious caregiver stress situation.

This post highlights the life threatening dangers of caregiver stress.  Neglecting our own health puts caregivers at risk for serious sometimes fatal outcomes of their caregiving experience. 

http://forums.agis.com/thread.jspa?threadID=237&tstart=0

In this post, one of our members is being proactive and seeking to learn if her stress has tipped over into anxiety and depression.  She makes a very good point that caregiving is stressful…how do we know when we are approaching a dangerous level of stress?http://forums.agis.com/thread.jspa?threadID=248&tstart=0

One way to know how much stress you are experiencing is to complete the Caregiver Self Assessment on the AGIS website.  Use the results of your assessment as a tool to talk with your doctor and familiy members about getting more help with your caregiving responsibilities. Here is the link.

http://www.agis.com/Document/5/caregiver-self-assessment.aspx

The AGIS Network Caregiver Forums are a great place to get support and ideas for helping your family member.  Will you join us?  http://forums.agis.com/index.jspa

Filed under: Uncategorized