Mothers of Children with autism have stress like combat soldiers

[RainDog]

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/11/10/autism-moms-stress/6121/

I would imagine this is true for any primary caregiver with children with other health issues requiring constant interventions.

Mothers of adolescents and adults with autism experience chronic stress comparable to combat soldiers and struggle with frequent fatigue and work interruptions, new research finds. These moms also spend significantly more time caregiving than moms of those without disabilities.

Researchers followed a group of moms of adolescents and adults with autism for eight days in a row. Moms were interviewed at the end of each day about their experiences and on four of the days researchers measured the moms’ hormone levels to assess their stress.

They found that a hormone associated with stress was extremely low, consistent with people experiencing chronic stress such as soldiers in combat, the researchers report in one of two studies published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

“This is the physiological residue of daily stress,” says Marsha Mailick Seltzer, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who authored the studies. “The mothers of children with high levels of behavior problems have the most pronounced physiological profile of chronic stress, but the long-term effect on their physical health is not yet known.”

[kimbutgar]

1. I can 100 % attest to this

My son (21) is now in the process of getting kicked out of his group home. We are looking at a new place Saturday.The thought of my son moving back home would be a nightmare. I was so stressed out when he lived at home. He was bullying me and hurt me several times. People said I always looked fearful. Now when they see me they say I look so relaxed. I constantly felt on pins and needles wondering what he would do next or destroy. Even if I left him alone for a minute he got into trouble. The group home has matured him somewhat and the weekends we bring him home are entreated now. But the new stress is trying to find new home fo him. Parents of kids on the spectrum find new coping skills whenever they can.

[kimbutgar]

4. I also have a conservatorship on my 92 year old mother with dementia

Before my Mother was diagnosed there were days both my mother and son acted out and I was putting out fires with them. I finally got control of my mother's affairs and got great live in caregivers for her. Someday's I couldn't believe the shit I had to deal with like 20 phone calls from my mother telling me how selfish and horrible i was (it was the dementia not really her)My older sister who is childless never lifted a finger to help in my mother's situation. I became a just deal with it and take care of it type of person. I learned to shake off the small stuff but as my son got older ait got harder to where I wanted to hide under my bed but I carried on. Plus I had a job where my boss was bipolar and I never knew From one day to the next how he would be. But he was very supportive and sympathetic to my problems. He passed away last June and I am still working with the attorney to close his business. But you learn early on with a child with autusm that you just carry on and take care of business.

Life sure brings many surprises and obstacles. I am fortunate though as I have a very supportive husband and father to our son. When the group home situation sprung up I asked him to work on the situation because I was burned out. Now we are working together on finding a new home for our son, not just me taking care of the situation. To that I feel grateful.

[SheilaT]

8. Worse yet, people with problems,

autism, schizophrenia, major health issues of any kind, are treated as if they brought those things upon themselves. You know, like when you decide you're going to play a round of miniature golf? Only those with health issues didn't just play a round of golf and go off to the grocery store, they're still playing that hypothetical round of golf, because they still have the schizophrenia or lupus or whatever. But the illnesses don't just go away. It's not like a cold or flu. It's there, all the time, omnipresent.

I have a son with Asperger's, which is relatively benign. He is currently living on his own. He's back in school, completing his degree in physics, intending to got to graduate school. He is, like so many with Asperger's, immensely smart. But his deficits are very real, and I just don't know if he'll make it. And in his case he's very fortunate that there are some financial resources to help him out.

I think even without my son I'd have noticed how awful things are for people with various handicaps or health issues.

I've been working in a hospital (retired as of Friday) on the information desk, and for the past two weeks or so I keep on seeing a man who is probably in his 60s, with a younger man, probably his son from how much they look alike and the age difference. The son is handicapped in some way. I can't tell just how, and it would be rude and inappropriate of me to ask. But all I can think of as I see them coming in and out of the hospital, is of the unrelenting burden of dealing with a grown child who cannot be independent.

And he's by no means the only one with that burden. I cannot begin to imagine what it is like to have a severely handicapped child, one who cannot be left alone, one who cannot even be left with the teenage babysitter from down the street, one who needs to be attended to every minute of the day. There are more people out there like that than most of us realize.

[Politicalboi]

3. I don't want to say it's a cure all but

https://www.google.com/#q=autism+and+marijuana

I don't know if you have read about this, or even looked into this.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. But the combat soldiers do a tour, then go home

For the parents of children with disabilities, it's a lifetime of stress and strain. Poverty. Isolation.

Very difficult, and sad that today's "#%^* you, I'm gettin' mine" society is so unsupportive of those in need.

[RainDog]

7. This is one reason I support a basic minimum income

For those with developmental disabilities - and for those who provide care to ensure their well being. Not the only reason - but just one more example of the justness of such a policy, imo.

don't make people jump through hoops when they are already stressed to the max.