Caregivers Must Be Able To Manage Self Anxiety

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Written By Tony Subia
August 16, 2022
Anxieties Are Strong Feelings of Worry and Fear
For many reasons, caregivers can experience serious anxieties which are strong feelings of worry and fear of the unknown. This is particularly true when giving care to a pancreatic cancer patient since pancreatic cancer is arguably the most brutal of cancers with the lowest survival rates. When you worry about a family loved-one, anxiety can become very real.
Care giving to a loved-one with cancer can become a very satisfying and rewarding experience. Helping the patient recover against serious odds can gift you with a purposely meaning in life. However, care giving can become very stressful and exhausting to balance against your own emotional state while helping the patient cope with the challenges of having pancreatic cancer.
The Most Often Causes of Caregiver Anxieties
The list of causes of anxiety are almost endless. The following are some of the most common causes. The better you deal with stress, worry, fear, and depression will help you from falling into deep emotional states of anxiety.
- Concerns for your patient’s well being and strong hope of successful recovery.
- Not having much experience in dealing with appropriate medical intervention tasks.
- Not being sure about how to soothe the patient’s emotional feelings.
- Fears that your patient may not achieve full recovery against poor odds.
- Not getting enough help from other family members.
- How the demands of care giving will adversely affect control over your own life.
Ways To Manage Your Emotional Anxieties
It is so important to focus equally on the emotional health of both yourself and your patient. Keep in your mind that caring for a pancreatic cancer patient can cover a long period of time. To be able to successfully achieve positive results over the long haul, you must take care of yourself to be fully able to diligently care for your loved one.
Ways To Achieve Focused Goals and Avoid Anxiety
First and Foremost. Ask other family members to help. No matter how menial the help is. Needing help and support is not a sign of weakness or failure. Your own health is crucial to helping the patient recover. The better you take care of yourself, the better you can direct successful care giving to your patient. Click here for various ways family members can help.
Make Time For Yourself. Creating time for yourself is imperative. Take breaks. Have dinner with friends. Visit a salon to get a relaxing massage, a pedicure, or a facial. Giving some time for yourself will not only make yourself feel better and more relaxed, those things you do for yourself will make you become a more proficient caregiver.
Seek Professional Counseling When It Becomes Necessary. Giving care to a pancreatic cancer patient will carry heavy responsibilities. Emotional issues, stress, and anxiety can often grow into anger, depression, and resentment. Those challenges can result in creating friction within family co-caregivers if left unchecked and can adversely affect the patient’s recovery.
Sources: National Cancer Institute
