Carers of sick people are often alone in their role, while they need specialist knowledge and support in the context of both the patient's and their own health. Drawing attention to this problem is the aim of the eighth edition of the Nutricia Foundation's educational campaign, held under the slogan 'You help your loved ones, let them help you. Medical nutrition will support you in this". As part of the campaign, a spot was created featuring exceptional characters - experts working with the sick and their carers on a daily basis and Dorota Wellman, a well-known journalist, who shares her experience of being a carer.
According to opinion surveys, one in two people, when becoming a carer, fears whether they will be able to cope with their new role. At the same time, carers demand a lot from themselves. At the same time, they are often afraid to ask others for support and feel lost in a jungle of information on various aspects of their loved one's illness.
- The diagnosis was like a bolt from the blue. As a carer, I needed knowledge and support. I searched in various ways for information on what to do to best help my mother, who had cancer. I felt helpless - many carers feel the same way. However, I didn't ask anyone for help. My main focus at the time was to save the life of the person closest to me. Medication and painkillers were important. Nutrition and exercise became secondary, as it turned out - wrongly - says Dorota Wellman. - I decided to support the campaign run by the Nutricia Foundation because the educational materials it produces can help carers fulfil their role. I feel that if I then - being a carer - had access to this kind of knowledge base, I would have felt more confident and it would have taken me less time to learn about many aspects of care myself, such as the role of medical nutrition, which can significantly support the patient and carer in the healing or recovery process - he adds.
Nearly 42% carers feel helpless, with 50% people admitting that the daily care of their loved one could be facilitated by more help from those around them, including professionals. Advice and experience from experts can improve the quality of life for both the patient and the carer themselves, who often simultaneously take on the roles of nurse, physiotherapist or, in part, psychologist, boosting the patient's morale and motivating them to fight their illness. However, it turns out that it is not easy for carers to ask for help from those closest to them, to resort to expert support and, at the same time, to take care of themselves, for example by using a psychologist to be able to support the patient more effectively.
Asking for help - a sign of weakness or strength?
The barrier often turns out to be shame: "Because what do you mean, I have to ask for help?". Carers also very often say that it is not appropriate: "It's not me who is sick, it's my loved one, why am I the one reaching out for psychological help when it's the patient who comes first?".
Those accompanying the patient and their relatives suffer differently from the patient himself, but often just as much, because they struggle with immense helplessness. They would like to take away at least some of that pain, suffering and treatment. But they cannot. They are also helpless in what to say, how to say it, how to accompany and how to support. This is a role that also needs to be learned. Let us not be ashamed of it. Let's seek support, because none of us will be a good carer if we don't take care of ourselves first. This is what carers most often forget. They often think that they have to be on standby all the time, in action, helping out, not being able to get on with everyday life for at least a little while. - says Adrianna Sobol, psychologist and psycho-oncologist.
Medical nutrition your support
One of the pillars of the healing and convalescence process is proper nutrition - and here an important role falls to doctors, nurses and clinical nutritionists, who can support both patient and carer with their knowledge in this area. Indeed, many patients and carers are unaware of the role of nutrition during disease management and recovery.
Even the best therapy, the most modern medicine may not help if the patient is not properly nourished. Meanwhile, it is often forgotten that the sick person also needs to eat. What is more, they need to eat more, better, differently. Let me give an example from my speciality - oncology - where we have three main pillars of treatment: radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgical treatment. I compare them to a table that has four legs. The fourth one, which is nutrition, cannot be missing. Just as without the fourth leg the table can topple over, without nutrition there is no treatment - -. explains Dr Paweł Kabata, medical oncologist surgeon. - Please understand me correctly - I am not saying that nutrition alone cures. However, it forms the basis of the body's functioning and, like breathing, is an integral part of life. Providing the body with the necessary nutrients is particularly important precisely during illness and treatment, which challenge the organism's - adds the doctor.
What will a sick person like? What food will really provide him with the ingredients he needs to fight his illness? - These are questions that carers often ask themselves.
Patients, carers often feel confused about dietary issues. This is not surprising, as the information they receive is often contradictory or unclear. And what often happens is that with the illness comes an aversion to food, a lack of appetite or a rapid feeling of satiety. When the sick person refuses to eat or eats small amounts of food, the traditional dishes that we prepare at home may be insufficient during the period of illness and convalescence. This is all the more so because the needs of the sick person's body are different to those of a healthy person. The patient needs a certain amount of energy, protein and nutrients. And this is where medical nutrition comes to the rescue - essential substances in strictly defined doses. In this way, we are sure to provide what the patient needs most - says MD and PhD, clinical nutritionist Maja Czerwinska. - Patients and their carers often think that fatigue or lack of strength to get out of bed during illness is normal. They do not have to be and we can prevent this, reduce the negative effects of illness and treatment through proper nutrition - concludes the nutritionist.
A healthy dose of exercise
Illness and the stress caused by it cause a number of changes in the functioning of our body. Its metabolism changes and muscle strength decreases. In addition, this effect is compounded by immobilisation, as muscles need movement to function properly. If they are not used, they begin to atrophy. So while the disease contributes to weakness, fatigue more quickly, it is useful to know how to alleviate this condition. For some carers, it seems that their charges then need even more rest to return to strength. It turns out, however, that movement plays a key role during this time - and this is where physiotherapy comes in.
Even basic activities such as brushing teeth or putting on socks can be difficult for a sick person. Nevertheless, we should not be doing it for them, and should even motivate them to undertake such small activities. And this is precisely the first step, although not the last, on the road to recovery from illness, accident or surgery. In this context, the physiotherapist also plays an important role, as they can advise the patient on the best position to get up or sit down, and the carer on the best manoeuvres to use in order to lift or dress the patient. On the other hand, exercises carried out with the support of a physiotherapist can help to strengthen the patient's muscles and increase the mobility of their joints. Exercises combined with a suitable diet, rich in protein and providing adequate amounts of energy, affect muscle function and can translate into better rehabilitation results. I always say that movement combined with the right treatment and nutrition is the best medicine - concludes Łukasz Kłos, physiotherapist.
Share your experience and benefit from the knowledge of others
When illness affects the patient, it affects the whole family. The patient's loved ones, especially the carer, then need support. The spot, produced as part of the Nutricia Foundation's eighth edition of the campaign 'Medical nutrition - Your meals in the fight against illness', aims to show that the support of the carer by professionals in many areas is important and forms an integral part of treatment and recovery. In the age of the internet and information chaos, a platform has also been created to provide reliable knowledge and which connects carers of sick people - the profile on Instagram @JestemOpiekunem. It is a place to build a community of carers, share experiences and a knowledge base of experts - doctors, nurses, clinical dieticians, physiotherapists and psychologists.
The experts quoted in the material appeared in a spot that is available on the Nutricia Foundation's YouTube channel and on the JestemOpiekunem profile on Instagram.