Help with my sister

julbee

My only sister and best friend was diagnosed with EO Alzheimers at 55. I am spiraling and want to find a support group for siblings. Can anyone please help?
Thank you.
Juli

harshedbuzz

@GothicGremlin was a sibling caregiver.

GothicGremlin

@julbee Hi there Juli. Yes, @harshedbuzz is right - I cared for my younger sister who was also diagnosed with early onset when she was 58.

I totally understand about the spiraling - I was overwhelmed for quite some time before I got a handle on things.

First things first - do you have a durable power of attorney for her? If not, I'd do that asap. Get all of your legal ducks in a row while she can still legally consent to everything. It's so important. If you can, see a certified elder law attorney to help you out with everything.

A book you should both read is Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell. Wendy herself was diagnosed with early onset in her 50s. That book is gold, and it's not a long read. My sister Peggy lost her ability to read fairly early on so I read it to her. It's not scary, and really, it's kind of inspiring. It took away some of the fears Peggy had. When I told Peggy the title of the book she said (without any prompting) "that's exactly how it feels, I'm somebody I used to know." I would never have had that insight without that book.

I hope this is at least something to help you get started. Even though my sister has passed away, I'm still here most every day, so I'll see this thread, and I'll help where I can.

Robert1320

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/74426/help-with-my-sister

I am a brother who lives with and is caring for my sister with ALZ.

The best thing I did was joining this group. It helped knowing I was not alone in this and that others have experienced the same problems I face and found answers here.

The major one was her anger (search this site for answers). It's now been 2 months without her being angry with me. Note, she hasn't changed, I have. I no longer try to reason with her about things because she has difficulty reasoning. For example, she recently fell for an on-line $$ scam, that I gently warned her against. Now she asks me about them before deleting them.

The rest of our family are either staying out of her care because they live out-of-state.

I know I'll get through this knowing I am doing the right thing for her.