{"id":1489499,"date":"2022-05-24T08:30:29","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T12:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1489499"},"modified":"2022-05-24T08:30:40","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T12:30:40","slug":"seniors-suffer-growing-malaise-as-covid-19-slogs-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/seniors-suffer-growing-malaise-as-covid-19-slogs-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Seniors Suffer Growing Malaise as COVID-19 Slogs On"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fseniors-suffer-growing-malaise-as-covid-19-slogs-on%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1489499&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Coffino was referring to the caution that has come to define his life during the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-covid-19\">COVID-19<\/a> pandemic. After two years of mostly staying at home and avoiding people, his patience is frayed and his distress is growing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a terrible fear that I\u2019ll never get back my normal life,\u201d Coffino said, describing the feelings he tries to keep at bay. \u201cAnd there\u2019s an awful sense of purposelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite recent signals that COVID-19\u2019s grip on the country may be easing, many older adults are struggling with persistent malaise, heightened by the spread of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant. Even those who adapted well initially are saying that their fortitude is waning or wearing thin.<\/p>\n<p>Like younger people, they\u2019re beset by uncertainty about what the future may bring. But added to that is an especially painful feeling that opportunities that will never come again are being squandered. Time is running out, and death is drawing ever nearer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFolks are becoming more anxious and angry and stressed and agitated because this has gone on for so long,\u201d said Katherine Cook, chief operating officer of Monadnock Family Services in Keene, New Hampshire, which operates a community mental health center that serves older adults.<\/p>\n<p>Henry Kimmel, a clinical psychologist in Sherman Oaks, California, who focuses on older adults, said, \u201cI\u2019ve never seen so many people who say they\u2019re hopeless and have nothing to look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To be sure, older adults have cause for concern. Throughout the pandemic, they\u2019ve been at much higher risk of becoming seriously ill and dying than other age groups. Even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-seniors\">seniors<\/a> who are fully vaccinated and boosted remain vulnerable: More than\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthsystemtracker.org\/brief\/characteristics-of-vaccinated-patients-hospitalized-with-covid-19-breakthrough-infections\/\">two-thirds of vaccinated people hospitalized<\/a>\u00a0from June 2021 through September 2021 with breakthrough infections were 65 or older.<\/p>\n<p>The constant stress of wondering, \u201cAm I going to be OK?\u201d and \u201cWhat\u2019s the future going to look like?\u201d has been hard for Kathleen Tate, 74, a retired nurse in Mount Vernon, Washington. She has late-onset post-polio syndrome and severe osteoarthritis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess I had the expectation that once we were vaccinated the world would open up again,\u201d said Tate, who lives alone. Although that happened for a while this past summer, she largely stopped going out as first the Delta and Omicron variants swept through her area. Now she said she feels \u201ca quiet desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t something that Tate talks about with friends, although she\u2019s hungry for human connection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI see everybody dealing with extraordinary stresses in their lives, and I don\u2019t want to add to that by complaining or asking to be comforted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Tate described a feeling of\u00a0 \u201cbeing worn out\u201d and\u00a0\u201cflatness\u201d that saps her motivation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s almost too much effort to reach out to people and try to pull myself out of that place,\u201d she said, admitting that she\u2019s watching too much TV and drinking too much alcohol. \u201cIt\u2019s just like I want to mellow out and go numb, instead of bucking up and trying to pull myself together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beth Spencer, 73, a recently retired social worker who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her 90-year-old husband, is grappling with similar feelings during this typically challenging Midwestern winter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe weather here is gray, the sky is gray, and my psyche is gray,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cI typically am an upbeat person, but I\u2019m struggling to stay motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spencer said her husband was recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t sort out whether what I\u2019m going through is due to retirement or caregiver stress or COVID,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cI find myself asking \u2018What\u2019s the meaning of my life right now?\u2019 and I don\u2019t have an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/faculty-search\/bonnie-olsen\/\">Bonnie Olsen<\/a>, a clinical psychologist at the University of Southern California\u2019s Keck School of Medicine, works extensively with older adults.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the beginning of the pandemic, many older adults hunkered down and used a lifetime of coping skills to get through this,\u201d Olsen said. \u201cNow, as people face this current surge, it\u2019s as if their well of emotional reserves is being depleted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Most at risk are older adults who are isolated and frail, who were vulnerable to depression and anxiety even before the pandemic, or who have suffered serious losses and acute grief. Watch for signs that they\u2019re withdrawing from social contact or shutting down emotionally, according to Olsen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen people start to avoid being in touch, then I become more worried,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Fred Axelrod, 66, of Los Angeles, who\u2019s disabled because of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.niams.nih.gov\/health-topics\/ankylosing-spondylitis\">ankylosing spondylitis<\/a>, a serious form of arthritis, lost three close friends during the pandemic: Two died of cancer and one died of complications related to diabetes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t go out and replace friends like that at my age,\u201d Axelrod said.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the only person he talks to on a regular basis is Kimmel, his therapist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t do anything. There\u2019s nothing to do, nowhere to go,\u201d Axelrod said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of times I feel I\u2019m just letting the clock run out. You start thinking, \u2018How much more time do I have left?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOlder adults are thinking about mortality more than ever and asking, \u2018How will we ever get out of this nightmare,\u2019\u201d Kimmel said. \u201cI tell them we all have to stay in the present moment and do our best to keep ourselves occupied and connect with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Loss has been a defining feature of the pandemic for Bud Carraway, 79, of Midvale, Utah, whose wife, Virginia, died a year ago. She was a stroke survivor who had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heartbeat. The couple, who met in the Marines, had been married for 55 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI became depressed. Anxiety kept me awake at night. I couldn\u2019t turn my mind off,\u201d Carraway said.<\/p>\n<p>Those feelings and a sense of being trapped throughout the pandemic \u201cbrought me pretty far down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Help came from an eight-week grief support program offered online through the University of Utah. One of the assignments was to come up with a list of strategies for cultivating well-being, which Carraway now keeps on his front door. Among the items listed: \u201cWalk the mall. Eat with friends. Do some volunteer work. Join a bowling league. Go to a movie. Check out senior centers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d circle them as I accomplished each one of them. I knew I had to get up and get out and live again,\u201d Carraway said. \u201cThis program, it just made a world of difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/faculty.utah.edu\/u0510274-Kathie_Supiano,_PhD,_LCSW,_FT,_FGSA,_APHSW-C\/hm\/index.hml\">Kathie Supiano<\/a>, an associate professor at the University of Utah College of Nursing who oversees the COVID-19 grief groups, said older adults\u2019 ability to bounce back from setbacks shouldn\u2019t be discounted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t their first rodeo. Many people remember polio and the AIDs epidemic,\u201d Supiano said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been through a lot and know how to put things in perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alissa Ballot, 66, realized recently that she can trust herself to find a way forward. After becoming extremely isolated early in the pandemic, Ballot moved in November 2021 from Chicago to New York. There, she found a community of new friends online at Central Synagogue in Manhattan, and her loneliness evaporated as she began attending events in person.<\/p>\n<p>With Omicron\u2019s rise in December 2021, Ballot briefly became fearful that she would end up alone again. But this time, something clicked as she pondered some of her rabbi\u2019s spiritual teachings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt paused on a precipice looking into the unknown and suddenly I thought, \u2018So, we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen next, stop worrying,&#8217;\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I relaxed. Now I\u2019m like, this is a blip, and I\u2019ll get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>We\u2019re eager to hear from readers about questions you\u2019d like answered, problems you\u2019ve been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/khn.org\/columnists\">khn.org\/columnists<\/a>\u00a0to submit your requests or tips.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article was originally published on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.khn.org\">KaiserHealthNews.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coffino was referring to the caution that has come to define his life during the COVID-19 pandemic. After two years of mostly staying at home and avoiding people, his patience<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":505,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1489499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/505"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}