Boomerful.com Health & Fitness

 

Women are stereotyped as the caregivers in the family, the nurturers and the healers that are expected to keep the core together in the face of some impending danger or doom. Right?

The truth is, we are vulnerable, especially when it comes to caring for someone who is chronically or terminally ill. Painful feelings often emerge, such as guilt, sadness or anger at why this has happened, “Why me,” or “I don’t deserve this in my life.”

Nobody deserves the curves balls that life throws at us. What we can do is recognize how we are being affected and what we can do to cope.

One of our Boomerful experts on sex and relationships, Dr. Dorree Lynn, has written a fabulous book about caring for a sick loved one, When the Man You Love is Ill: Doing the Best for Your Partner Without Losing Yourself. It’s not just for a wife, it’s for anyone who has a significant other or partner who is ill.

Guilt is a common feeling in the landscape of caregiving.  Guilt can propel you to be the best you can be…or it can immobilize you. Dr. Lynn offers a mini-test on how to identify your coping style, which in turn teaches you how to effectively give care not only for your loved one, but also for yourself.

Dr. Lynn also addresses an interesting issue called “Transformational Love,” the idea of how a spouse's disability or illness can forge a deeper bond. Suffering through a loved one’s serious disease or sickness isn’t a test of a relationship, it’s a testament to how a relationship can grow with new meaning that you would have never known otherwise, even in health. Through illness, couples have a chance to become closer than ever before.

Dr. Lynn's Web site also covers many relationship related topics such as career, retirement and sex. You can also ask Dr. Lynn a question in our Boomerful.com experts area >>

Visit Dr. Lynn's Web site www.fiftyandfurthermore.com.