We introduce you now to the "Sandwich Generation."

Some 42 million women are caring for both their children and their elderly parents, with all of the stress and expense that implies.

But a new survey shows this balancing act is taking a bigger toll on women and their families than they realize.

After a full day's work, she tends to her kids, and to her aging mother, who is blind in one eye and suffering from severe diabetes.

"I'm trying to please everybody without killing myself, but I am killing myself," said LeRhonda.

She's one of over 20 million Americans who find themselves in this position: overworked, overwhelmed, over-scheduled.

They are taking care of their kids, and their parents.

Filmmaker Julie Winokur and husband Ed moved 3,000 miles, from San Francisco to New Jersey, to take care of her 83-year-old father Herbie, who suffered from dementia.

"It's a huge sacrifice at a time in my life that I feel like, it's a like a prime time of my life and I basically gave it away," explained Julie.

In a recent study of social workers , 91-percent report that sandwich generation women underestimate the toll caring for an aging relative will take on their own health.

"It becomes a downward spiral, making them feel like they can't cope and like at the same time they've failed their loved one," stated Patricia Volland, Director of the New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute.

"I feel pretty tightly wound, pretty tightly wound, like I am going to start having convulsions soon," said Julie Winokur.

For Julie and Ed, its been a sobering experience.

"He has good days, he has bad day, she has days where we get the old Herbie back and he cracks some jokes," said Ed.

"And then we have days where he just rambles incoherently and nobody has any idea where his mind is."

Herbie lost his battle with dementia in January.

Despite the toll on family, Julie and Ed say they wouldn't have done it any differently.

But for the millions of Americans currently sandwiched, mothering their child and mothering their parent, it's stressful.

And scary.

"I have a lot of time in my room, staring at the wall," exclaimed LeRhonda.

"Things have been a little stressful and I don't have anybody that I can really turn to."

"This problem is not going to go away," said Volland.

"The sandwich generation is going to feel this impact for decades to come."

If you're also caring for your children and elderly parents, and need tips on how you can cope, click here to visit the Sandwich Generation website.