Can a caregiver manifest health issues of those she is taking care of?

You can't "catch" symptoms the way you describe unless they are psychosomatic. Discuss these new issues with your doctor if you have not already!

edit; Half my comment got eaten!! 

A symptom being psycosomatic doesn't doesn't mean they aren't 'real' or something to take seriously, it means with a mental not physical cause. If you are feeling pain then that pain is 'real pain'.

demnstress, yes, it is possible to have such symptoms. I have heard of cases where men would get morning sickness when their wives are pregnant.

I know for myself, my parents had different degrees of dementia. Mom was in her last stage so I didn't copy her, but my Dad was just going into dementia and I felt like I was forgetting things, too.

As for the mattress, I was wonder if your Mom was wondering if she needed a new mattress and that is why she wanted you to lie on her bed??? I remember my parent's mattress was a mess but they didn't want to buy a new one, so I suggested they switch out the mattress from the guest room [they hadn't had overnight guests in decades].

Caregivers can develop a variety of symptoms, some of which also may be genetic.

Since I’ve been caring full time for my husband, my own health has gone down the tubes. Your aches and pains sound just like mine. I can’t even imagine taking care of TWO! My back and legs hurt from shoving my 350 pound husband over to change him, wash him and change his bed. Not to mention the stress of caring for him and the house and our non-existent finances. For sure our (yours and mine) health has suffered. That’s why it’s so important that we take care of ourselves while we care for others.

I have a young neighbor with some pretty serious mental disorders. I didn't realize it until after I had gone through some GI issues and I was found to be mildly lactose intolerant (not a big deal) and no signs of celiac's. Good news.

After chatting briefly with this girl, she suddenly is telling the world she's got celiac's disease and she's lactose intolerant. Amazing, something she'd NEVER heard of, suddenly she has both. BTW, her lactose intolerance is SO BAD, if she drinks a glass of milk, she's in bed for a week.

Munchausen’s, Midkid? If I’m correct, that is a disease where one will feign the symptoms of another in order to call attention to themselves. The “by proxy” version of this disease means the person’s claims someone they’re caregiving for has symptoms also to call attention and sympathy to themselves. In either case, how sad.

Midkid58, my sig other's daughter does something like that. She was always at death's door. Then the following week she was out running a 5k. Go figure.

As for the neighbor, good grief, in bed for a week? Seriously?? Got to introduce that girl to Lactaid products.