New Caregivers’ Exhaustion – Down But Not Out!

When Gladys first arrived to live with us, I was not quite prepared for the exhaustion I was about to experience.  It was much like when I brought my oldest daughter home from the hospital 35 years ago.  I was constantly checking on her, I could hear every movement and sound that seemed different coming from her room.

The first week Gladys was here, I slept with the baby monitor by my bed turned up fairly high so I could hear if Gladys needed help.  Unfortunately, I could also hear every move, every snore and every fly buzzing over the lamp.  I bet I ran up and down those three flights of stairs at least six or seven times each night.  By the third day I was exhausted, both physically and mentally and it didn’t help when Gladys fell out of the bed that first week.  Fortunately, she was not injured.

Nikki kept telling me to turn the monitor off and go to sleep, that Gladys would be OK.  She said when Gladys first came to live with her that she did the same thing until a nurse friend of her’s told her to turn the monitor off.  I heard what Nikki was saying but I was afraid that Gladys would need help and no one would hear her, especially since Gladys is on the ground floor and we sleep on the third floor.  At Nikki’s house when all was quiet, she could actually hear into Gladys’ room because she was only one flight up.

Gladys has been here now for two months.  The baby monitor is still on but it is turned down and I have become immune to irrelevant noises.  I do hear Gladys when she needs help and I go downstairs to assist her.  Most nights I also go down to her room at least once to make sure she’s not too close to the edge of the bed.  I’m sleeping better and am not exhausted – tired – but not exhausted.

I know I’m not the only person to experience this but I wonder how other people handle similar situations?

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