Caring for a mentally ill person while ill myself with ME/Chronic Fatigue

[Jamine57]

I'm new here and as I get older (I'm now 71) I find caring for J who has paranoid schizophrenia severely taxing in terms of exhaustion/illness (I have severe ME or Chronic Fatigue). J's illness is variable but now more controlled with medication. He lives 5 minutes away. I don't do any heavy work but am more his companion/soul mate and talk to him several times a day, sometimes just chat but often helping him with mental problems that come up. We meet 2-3 times a week for lunch or waiting for him while he goes shopping.

I'd love to chat with someone also caring for a mentally ill person. Many thanks for reading this!

[Hidden]

Hi, my husband and I are in our late sixties and care for our son who has bipolar with frequent psychotic relapses. We know how mentally and physically exhausting it can be and sympathise with your situation. We have just been successful in applying for our son to go into supported accommodation so that his caring can be done by professionals and he can develop more independence. We still love him and want to be part of his life but we won't be around forever and would like to see him coping in life without our continued support whilst we are here to ease the transition period.

We made our request for supported accommodation whilst our son was in hospital. We made it to his consultant and his social worker.

I hope this information is useful to you. It may be a way that you can ease your own life and prepare your son for the times to come when you can no longer give him the same level of care.

Very best wishes to you.