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Any caregiver will have days when they feel depressed, unwanted, and unloved. It is just a natural aspect of caring for elderly. The world seems to pass you by as you spend almost every waking moment thinking or doing for your ill parent. For some of us, the caregiving just continues on and on — almost endless — but you know that you don’t want them to leave so soon. My case has been six years of ups and downs — days when you think it could be the last day but then, miraculously, they get better and can do things for themselves again, and then there are times when they are quite sick and you find yourself caring for them 24 x 7.
Try to keep your situation in perspective. It is natural to feel depressed. It is natural to feel like you’re doing all the work. It is natural to feel that all your money and time is not your own. Once it’s over, you’ll feel that caring for your parents was well worth it. A special bond can form between you, making you even closer than when you were a child growing up.
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I have been extremely depressed lately. It seems like I have nothing left of my own life. I started taking care of my mother and stepfather about 10 years ago. After a bad marriage and divorce I moved in with them because there was no one else able to do so. At first mother was getting around quite well and still driving. Within a couple of years she quit doing much of anything for herself and expected me to do everything. My step father got so bad we had to put him in a nursing home for awhile. He was in and out untill we simply took him home under hospice care to die. His wish was to die at home. My mother is 89 and totally dependent on me. We do have aids come in a couple of hours a day to help get her bath. Is there a support group out there to help me get through this?