How do I deal with my manipulative aging mother when I'm the only child and I live across the country?

This is a great question. I live in Florida, am 60 and my mother is 82, acts like she is 102. She has some of the same personality traits your mother exhibits. My mother is very healthy and to our knowledge has no dementia, yet.

My difficulty has been her odd personality. I do have a brother who lives nearby but he does almost nothing for her. She has left me off her POA, has no living will or medical directive and is very paranoid about letting me get any information about how we will care for her. Forget about her banking, only my brother is privy to that. Both treat me like I am not family.

I too wonder how I will react when she needs help. I live far away too and at the moment if anything happened to my brother, my only option would be to get guardianship. Now that is a can of worms.

I would recommend you ask your mother "what would you have me do"? You can not move or change your life, I am assuming you are still pretty young and working. She must come to you. Either live in an Assisted Living or Nursing Home when the time comes. As you will read, many will tell you the horrors of having these types of parents live with you. It is not good.

Read Nina Brown's book the narcissistic family and google daughtersofnarcissisticmothers.com. I am not saying this is her problem, but this turned on numerous lights for me. Nina Brown's book is written to help you cope with a parent who thinks only of themselves and how to stop the cycle of how we react to parents with these personalities.

Also look at how she has been your entire life and make sure she is not suffering from dementia or alzheimers. The alcohol abuse can be a large part of the problem. Anxiety can also make her difficult, my mom has untreated anxiety and depression.

I hope she will work with you but I have found my mother to be unchanging. I had to change. It is the only way to survive. Good luck to you

Maybelle41: The previous responders made excellent suggestions, so I'll just get straight to my point: as an only child myself who worked 2,500 miles from a narcissistic mother, and then retired in 2006 to move back near her to support her when my stepfather died, I can tell you that it was MUCH worse to be nearby at first. Her attempts at manipulation were much easier to make with me nearby. It has taken several years to iron out a working relationship with her that doesn't make both of us irritated and uncooperative. What I have learned is that a 90-year-old mother is NOT the mother I knew even six years ago before my stepfather died. She is incredibly self-centered, paranoid, unwilling to listen to good advice, and spiteful when she doesn't get her way...and that's with me visiting her every week, spending the whole day ferrying her around, and performing many household repairs, etc. My point: lack of proximity to your mother probably is NOT the problem. Your mother's change as she ages is the problem, and being close might only exacerbate issues between the two of you now. Sometimes keeping a distance is a GOOD thing, no matter how much she tries to lay a guilt trip on you. :)

Elderly parents need a reality check in todays economy. Gone are the golden opportunity days of the 1950's and 60's. The adult children are doing everything they can to make ends meet in their own lives. Why are the elderly burdening their children with their needs also. If you need to be taken care of, rely on assited living or a nursing home. The majority of adult children cannot take care of their parents, they just don't have the resources.

Thank you so much for your advice. I don't think my mother has dementia or Alzheimer's. I think she's had these qualities for a long time but they are getting worse since she retired recently and seems to have little to focus on. I'm resentful that she acts like she's elderly when I know people her age who act like they're in the prime of their lives. Though she does have some very real health problems, it seems like attention seeking behavior, or at least self-inflicted by poor lifestyle choices and an unwillingness to seek help. It's taken me a long time, but I'm finally beginning to see how dysfunctional our relationship is and I've been working on that. I suspect some of her behavior is rooted in fear that she is "losing" me because I have been detaching from her emotionally, and because I recently married. I don't believe she will change, so I'm working on accepting that. I will look for the book you recommended.

Maybelle - God Bless You. Do not uproot your life for your mother. Three years ago I quit my job, rented out my home and moved from Oregon to Michigan to care for my parents who at that time were 86 and 87. For years my mother told me I need to help out more. Then when Dad lost his driving privileges I thought that moving back to help out was the right thing to do. It was not. Reading these posts I'm surprised to see how many mothers out there are just like mine. There is no appreciation for what I have given up and for what I do for her. My friends are on the West Coast, my daughter is in CA, my three brothers do not want to help and I'm stuck with someone who does not think of anyone but herself.

Please do not consider uprooting yourself for your mother. For heavens sake, I'll be 60 this year. She is not old and needs to get herself together. Take care of yourself and keep looking into solutions from afar. Do not, do not, give up your life. Peace.

I have had to start taking a light anti-depressant because all the stress of taking care of my dad before he died, continuing care for my mom, and dealing with siblings who aren't on board has really taken it out of me. They go out of their way to be mean and continue with malicious gossip. Never thought that any of them would act that way, but just when you think you have life all figured out the Lord sends you a curve ball. I'm doing much better now though. Whatever helps! And this forum has helped me immensely!

The biggest thing you need to remember is: You can't change anyone except yourself. You are doing the right thing. You are detaching from her because she is trying to destroy you. Congratulations for not allowing that to happen.
Long distance caregiving is a pain in the ass, not to be polite about it. Remind yourself that you can only do what you can do. Try to find someone who is on sceen who will give you a daily, or at least weekly, update. You might even offer to pay one of her old friends to do this. If she doesn't have any because she has outlived them all, try to find someone in her church or other social group willing to do this. I found it immensely helpful when one of my father's long-time neighbors chose to do this for me. It freed me to concentrate on makeing the money that helped pay for his care and to sleep soundly, knowning that I would most likely receive a call from him before an emergency developed.
Remember that, unlike other situations, you come first. You are going to outlive her. You need your sanity to do this successfully. Read all the books that have been reccommended. Find yourself someone to talk to. And take heart from the fact that other's are sending good thoughts your way.

Maybelle, just a short story to let you know how nutty my mom is. Day before yesterday I called her (she never calls me) and she told me her neighbor (my dad's cousin's widow) had a stroke. This poor woman in the past year has had a broken hip, light heart attack and now a stroke. I said to mom, "how awful, I just feel so bad for her". Mom comes back with, "well I am not in that good of shape either.".

Now, my mother has no illnesses. Takes no drugs. Doesn't need glasses, just readers. Has never had heart disease, cancer, hip replacement, anything ,many 80+ year old people have. No dementia, alzheimers, nothing. Just a narcissistic personality and this she has had her entire life.

Just another wake up call for me as to how glad I live in Florida and she lives in Alabama. Thank you Jesus.

bmiller what steps are you planning to do to get yourself out of this mess-start taking any little action it will give you strength to do more to get yourself out of this situation call social services and tell them you are leaving in say 6 weeks and you parents need to be assessed to see what kind of help they can receive and get yourself back to a real life-we only go around once and you need to rescue yourself -no one else will because it is working out well for your parents-but not for you.

Austin - thank you for your questions. It has helped a lot just reading these other posts and hearing that it's not just me - I'm not a bad person for not getting along with her. I'm also going to the website mentioned above - daughters of narcissistic mothers. I try to stay positive but it is so difficult. I think this will help me. I have also been calling around to agencies and services trying to find something that will help me (us). My Dad (God Bless him) passed in August. He was wonderful and appreciative and loving. Now there is no buffer between Mom and I. Thanks again for your help.