Whether you're new to caregiving or you've been a family caregiver for several years, you have to pay attention to what is going on with your own health. Some of these situations are ones that can sneak up on you, though, making it difficult for you to manage your health properly.
Medication Interactions
Whether you're taking a few medications or a lot of them, you need to know how they'll interact with each other. It's also important to know whether those medications will interact with any supplements you're taking or foods you eat. That's one of the main reasons that your doctor asks you so many questions about your lifestyle and everything that you take. The answers help him to spot potential interactions.
Eating Too Little or Not Often Enough
When you're eating too little or you're not eating often enough, you're putting your body into starvation mode far too often. That makes your body do things like store fat, which can make you gain weight, can send your cholesterol up, and can aggravate other health conditions, such as high blood pressure. Make it a point to eat regularly and to eat enough food to keep your body properly fueled for all of your various activities.
Self-medicating Too Much
Stress makes it easy to self-medicate and as a family caregiver, you've got more than your fair share of stress. But having more than a drink or two or drinking every night can be a way of self-medicating those feelings. If you're starting to believe that's what's going on, talk to your doctor about ways you can cut back.
Not Managing Your Stress
Even if you're not self-medicating, it's possible that you're not managing your stress as well as you could. You need to take time away, for starters, and make sure that you're making room in your life for the activities that you love. Beyond that, exercise, meditation, and even getting a pet can all factor into your stress-relief care plan.
Take regular stock of what is going on with yourself. If you do, you can sometimes spot patterns or problems before they get too far.
