"Spouses of HF patients should take heed and be proactive about their own mental and physical health issues so that they do not put the already ailing hearts of their partners in even greater jeopardy. "
While in principle, this statement seems to be common sense, it can actually cause a great deal of guilt and further stress for spousal caregivers of HF patients, if they only focus on the second part, about putting the ailing hearts of their partners in greater jeopardy.
As President of the Well Spouse Association http://wellspouse.org, I feel there needs to be more emphasis on, and resources devoted to maintaining the health of spousal caregivers -- who all too often do not recognize their need for regular respite breaks and stress-relieving activities apart from their caregiving activity. A Feb. 2006 study by Christakis et al. in the New England Journal of Medicine, of spousal couples over age 65 has shown that after the death of a chronically ill or disabled spouse the mortality of the spousal caregiver greatly increases, to as much as more than 20% in the case of mental illness for the ill spouse -- compared to the mortality rate of couples in their age grouping where neither has a longterm disease or condition.
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"Spouses of HF patients should take heed and be proactive about their own mental and physical health issues so that they do not put the already ailing hearts of their partners in even greater jeopardy. "
While in principle, this statement seems to be common sense, it can actually cause a great deal of guilt and further stress for spousal caregivers of HF patients, if they only focus on the second part, about putting the ailing hearts of their partners in greater jeopardy.
As President of the Well Spouse Association http://wellspouse.org, I feel there needs to be more emphasis on, and resources devoted to maintaining the health of spousal caregivers -- who all too often do not recognize their need for regular respite breaks and stress-relieving activities apart from their caregiving activity. A Feb. 2006 study by Christakis et al. in the New England Journal of Medicine, of spousal couples over age 65 has shown that after the death of a chronically ill or disabled spouse the mortality of the spousal caregiver greatly increases, to as much as more than 20% in the case of mental illness for the ill spouse -- compared to the mortality rate of couples in their age grouping where neither has a longterm disease or condition.
July 12, 2009 - 6:44pmThis Comment
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