Managing my mother's injections and her dementia

Started 14 June 2026 · 14 replies · 85 hearts · read 1.2k times

IdrisCardiff, UK · 14 June 2026

1 month ago

A question rather than an update: Managing my mother's injections and her dementia

Practical question, and possibly a silly one.

I would like to know what other people say when asked, because my current answer is too long and invites more questions.

I have a plan for the ordinary weeks and no plan at all for the unusual ones, and the unusual ones are where everything has gone wrong.

I would rather hear one person's actual arrangement in detail than five general suggestions, if anybody is willing to write theirs out.

Thanks in advance. Practical detail welcome, however dull — the duller the better, honestly.

NkosiJohannesburg, ZA

The exhaustion was already there before any of this. Working out what was new and what was simply caring took me a long time.

WrenFacilitatorLeeds, UK

Speaking as a facilitator: the person who asked wanted company for a difficult week rather than a plan, and the thread has given both, in that order.

ÖzlemIzmir, TR

Eating properly is the thing that goes first when I am stretched, and it goes without me noticing, and this circle is where I noticed.

SableCape Town, ZA

Gently disagreeing with Nkosi, or rather adding the other half of it.

Something practical: I got my collections aligned with the ones I already do for somebody else, and it saved me a journey a month.

6me too 9

LinnetKendal, UK

What helped was one hour a fortnight that is genuinely mine, arranged formally, so that it cannot quietly disappear.

SerenLlandudno, UK

My GP asked how I was doing as a carer, once, unprompted, and I cried in the appointment, which surprised us both.

PipBristol, UK

Gently disagreeing with Seren, or rather adding the other half of it.

The guilt about spending money or time on myself was the hardest part, and it is still the hardest part two years in.

2me too 4

BrennaEnniskillen, NI

Adding a name to the list of people this helped.

PamSouthport, UK

Just marking that I read this properly rather than skimming it.

FitzLimerick, IE

#10

Something I have learned here is that looking after myself is not in competition with looking after him, even when it feels like it is.

KeeleyBlackpool, UK

#11

Fitz said something I want to sit with for a second.

I would say ask about a carer's assessment if you have not. Mine took an hour and unlocked things I did not know existed.

ZoraSarajevo, BA

#12

My routine is completely non-negotiable because it has to be. Everything else in my week bends and this does not.

WrenFacilitatorLeeds, UK

#13

Holding a boundary kindly: we do not discuss what anybody should be eating in this circle. A couple of replies have edged that way and I am steering us back.

8me too 6

GigiNaples, IT

#14

Zora has already said most of this and I want to add the one part that was different for me.

What I did not expect was how much better I have been at caring since my own energy improved. That is the argument that finally convinced me.