Are you feeling BURNT-OUT?
Supporting another person that is ill can be stressful. For many family members, friends or caregivers supporting someone with vasculitis there may be moments when you find yourself feeling physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting. Too often, caregivers put their own needs aside to focus on their loved one’s needs. This can leave you feeling drained sometimes without you even realizing that. You may become irritable, depressed, have trouble sleeping or feel completely unable to cope anymore.
Compassion fatigue occurs when family/caregiver begin to take on the pain and suffering of the person for whom they are supporting. Caregivers experiencing compassion fatigue have a difficult time maintaining a healthy balance between concerns for their family member and staying objective. They continually push themselves harder, eventually becoming completely burnt out. Some caregivers are caught up in the trap of trying to do all they can to keep everything as “normal” as possible and being “strong” for everyone.
Some of the causes of compassion fatigue are:
- Not asking for help and seldom taking a break
- Having unrealistic expectations of yourself
- Working hard to make everything ideal for the person you are supporting
- Difficulty saying “no”
- Feeling as though you are the only person capable of providing the care needed
- Ignoring your own mental health and health concerns
- Financial pressure
- Fear & uncertainty. Treatment for vasculitis is not certain, so it’s hard not to worry about the person and the future.
- Guilt. You may feel bad that you can’t give more, or you may feel that you are short-changing other family members and friends.
Warning Signs of Compassion Fatigue
- Bottling up feelings
- Crying easily
- Avoidance and not wanting to be around your loved one or friends
- A decrease in patience and tolerance
- Angry outbursts that are uncharacteristic of your behaviour
- Cynicism and hopelessness
- Heightened anxiety
- Impaired ability to make care decisions
- Feeling resentful towards others or unreasonably annoyed by them
- Feeling tired all the time
- sleeping poorly
- Eating poorly
- overuse of alcohol, tobacco or other substances to cope
If you begin noticing any of these signs, the next step is to make yourself a priority and attend to your needs. Remember that compassion fatigue is not black and white—it is a continuum. Each caregiver has different limits, and there are times throughout the caregiving journey where your susceptibility to stress will increase and decrease. You may experience these warning signs from time to time. These feelings and behaviours are undesirable but common among caregivers as they tend to be so overworked and have so few resources available. When the list above
begins to describe your daily experience rather than fleeting behaviour on a bad day, it is absolutely time to act.
Download tips for preventing compassion fatigue and a caregiving action plan for divide tasks here