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She has a whole arsenal of zingers and emotional triggers to use. Keep telling myself not much longer now, but also keep wondering if I will make it to see her living somewhere else. I know I keep posting pretty much the same thing on here, but I have not one person who knows what this is really like. My counselor is ok, but I need more help. I've started withdrawing from life and that's not me. Unable to work, so I'm going to try to get disability benefits but I think I could actually bounce back if she wasn't here. She can't use me anymore and I need to also stand on my own feet as well. I'm 59 for heaven's sake. But it feels like I'm trying to stand back up with her on my back-the mental weight. Anyway, she has gone back to her ways of accusing me of whispering behind her back with a neighbor who visits us. This neighbor is nice to me and Mom gets so jealous. She does this thing called triangulation. Only I think I'm the only one who sees it.

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With narcs, that's precisely how they want it.......YOU are the only one to see the ugliness of what she's really doing. To everyone else, she wears The Mask of the lovely and Sweet Woman you know to be totally fake. That is the deceit.....they make US out to be The Bad Guy and people believe them! They are convincing and conniving and charming. I watch my mother literally blowing kisses to people then saying filthy things about them once they walk away. Yet, they think SHE walks on water and I'M mean!

Nobody understands the dysfunctional dynamic, nor the stranglehold, these women have over us as long as we maintain contact with them. That's why it's impossible to set boundaries....they won't allow it and they constantly change the rules of the game to keep us off guard.......so the only real answer is to go no contact.

Most of us can't feel okay doing that, so we wind up accepting the abuse. We allow the constant mind games and zingers to go on and on. An on. And we wind up waiting for them to die, but they live on and on, coming up with new ways to hurt us on a daily basis. Just when we think they can't possibly find yet ANOTHER way, they do. So we wind up drinking or drugging or needing anti depressants just to function. Right?

I maintain low contact with my mother who has dementia and gets more foul on a daily basis. I've gone from calling 2x a day to once, and am considering going to every other day now. I used to visit frequently, now it's once a week if that. When she goes off on me, I leave or hang up the phone. I don't take half the shit I used to take, but I still take way too much. But I'm the only child, unfortunately, and starting to feel like she's my punishment in life for the past 62 years. I wonder if I'll be 70 and still resenting every moment I have to spend dealing with her. I hope not.

All of her siblings are dead. Her husband of 68 years is dead and shes glad, since she always disliked him because he was never enough, just like me and everyone else in her life who's disappointed her.

It is what it is. I've written all this just to tell you I Get It. I feel your excruciating pain. She doesn't live with me because I put my foot down hard on that subject many years ago. I'd literally shoot myself first, honestly. So I know you have it a lot worse than I do and my heart hurts for you. Take care of YOU, my friend, because she sure won't be doing it.

I hope there won't be a bunch of negative backlash over this comment, or comments about hate or things like that. It's not about hatred...its about exhaustion and never feeling like enough. And it's oddly about Love, too, in a strange way, and wanting a loving relationship but never feeling it or knowing what closeness feels like. Or the mother daughter bond, because narcs are incapable of true love or closeness.

Its all very sad, how they destroy everything they come in contact with, or within 100 yards of their toxic presence. Yep, I really do understand where you're coming from, from one who's Been There Done That
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Rbuser1 Oct 2019
Thank you for that very real response. I relate to all of it. I hate how nothing ever satisfies and they critique everything and everyone. The neighbor left some pull ups outside the door and my mom complained about the thoughtful gesture, then when neighbor called later in the day-she was so, so , what's the word. Oh she says let me pay for them, you didn't need to do that. Not sure I ever heard her say Thank you.
Well-she hasn't been by in a few days. If it was me-my feelings would have been hurt. Anyway. Another example is another neighbor right beside me gave us some fish-fresh caught, cleaned and ready to cook and she said-I wish they had been_____fill in the blank (the type of fish they weren't.) Anything but what someone offers and I think that is so selfish.
When she moves out of my house, I will be able to have some control over how much she belittles me and I will be leaving out of her earshot too when she starts. I will be able to be myself around people without having to watch what I say or how I act around them. You know, like a normal human being.
Again thank you for understanding how it feels.
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Do you get the carer allowance
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I am totally heartbroken. I cared for mom for over 14 years in my home. I did everything!

When I started to set boundaries all hell broke loose. She pitted my brothers against me. We didn’t get along to begin with because my brothers are so self centered.

I burned out. I got so much criticism that I told mom to go live with my brother and his wife if they thought he could do better. She stirred up so much crap that he threatened me with turning me in for elder abuse.

Hadn’t spoken to them since she left because I needed to regroup.

Yesterday was my birthday and I tried to reach out to mom. Calls kept going to voicemail. It upset me so I asked my daughter to call. Same thing happened to her. My daughter called my godson, my brother’s son and he gave my daughter mom’s new number.

I called. She was cold as ice to me. I may not even know where my mom will end up living. She’s 94 in November and I am pretty sure my brother will place her somewhere. That’s what he said he was going to do.

She wasn’t even going to give me her number. I won’t know when she’s dying or when she’s dead.

I am struggling to process her rejection. Grieving for a mom that isn’t even dead. It’s horrible.
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1golflady Oct 2019
I understand this totally. It will get easier and you will be better off. I grieved the loss of my mother 5 years ago and she is still alive. I was 50 when I had to finally admit to myself that I didn't have a mother, she was never a good mother she ALWAYS put herself before her 6 kids. People who have real mothers ( as I like to call them ) will NEVER understand this and think I'm a horrible person. But I don't care, until they walk in my shoes their opinion means nothing to me. I moved her in with me and my family after my step dad died and it was the worst mistake of my life. I suffered post traumatic stress syndrome and probably had a couple nervous breakdowns while she lived with me. I had to get up enough nerve to tell her the situation wasn't working out and she needed to move out. smartest decision I ever made. I talk to her on the phone but keep my distance and take care of her from a distance now. Just yesterday she was talking about how great she is and reminding me how thick my thighs are etc.....she calls her daughters, grandkids and great grandkids terrible terrible names and tries to pit us against each other every day. But to the outside world she just the sweetest person......sometimes I still wonder when god will put me out of this misery....
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Hello, It seems like we are all going through the same things. It’s a torture unless you can somehow break away from her . Can you go to a few caregiver meetings?
I finally hired two aides who she fought for the first few weeks. She now accepts them in her house and she’s sweet as pie to them but demanding and agitated all the time with her children .
I know the pressure and anxiety of carrying them on your shoulders. I started working out and that helped. Part of me hopes she dies in her sleep and than I’m guilt ridden for thinking that . It’s just two much for one person to handle.
Sending some strength your way.
hang in there.
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Backlash is why people don't hold firm to their boundaries. Mom didn't like my saying "no" so I gave in. Which only continue to feed the bad dog. So in advance - decide what boundary to set (you can't yell at me) and decide what you will do if the boundary is trampled (exist - hang up the phone or leave).

When I kept leaving after my mom trampled boundaries she eventually learned not to yell. It was hard though.
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NeedHelpWithMom Oct 2019
I agree holding firm helps because the message being sent is clear. There are exceptions though. I held firm. Backlash can still happen. Everyone is individual and reacts differently.

Well, it’s over now since she moved out. If I hadn’t called her. She wouldn’t have had the opportunity to jab me again. I can’t begin to count how many jabs I took in my life. Maybe I should have been a boxer instead of going to school to become a teacher!
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Boundaries are set in place to protect you, and if you don't keep them firm and all you are doing is crying wolf. This also gives the other person the upper hand to manipulate you even more.

My mother was a manipulator and an abuser. I have not spoken to her for 8 years this time and 9 another time. The happiest times in my adult life, I will never go back to her. My boundary is set...no contact.
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NeedHelpWithMom Oct 2019
Sometimes there is no other choice. Sometimes people bring their grief upon themselves. Other times it can’t be helped due to their circumstances such as a mental illness. Still, they don’t have the right to abuse others and no one is obligated to put up with their abuse. Good for you for setting boundaries and it working out.

Boundaries don’t always work out. Sometimes people have to get outside help. My daughter had to get a restraining order on her ex boyfriend after he abused her and her little dog.

He kept tormenting her even though she set boundaries. She had no choice but to take him to court to get a restraining order. She won the case! It’s amazing what defense lawyers will argue to defend abusers.
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Need, please don't feel guilty and let her contact you when and if she does. She is unhappy there (almost sure of it) and in turn she is blaming your for it. It's not your fault. That's what we need to keep telling ourselves. It's not our fault. Period.
I think, and it's just my thought, we get so conditioned to feel bad about ourselves and how we always come up short-in our Mother's eyes that it takes a while to get back to knowing we were doing all we could and can. Let the others deal with it. It hasn't been that long.
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NeedHelpWithMom Oct 2019
RBuser,


You are absolutely right. We are programmed to see things as our fault. It’s horrible. She erases all of the wonderful things I did for her. Nothing was ever her fault.

It’s an emotional struggle for me. I don’t think she will call. My brother is a bully! She will be submissive to him. She fought me but won’t with him.

He will keep her away from me out of spite. It’s a long, complicated history between us. It’s just sad. Let me just say, with brothers like mine, you’d wish you were an only child. Even my brother’s kids despise their dads.
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Panda, I don't receive carer allowance unless that's what she gives me for 'renting' from me. I couldn't go back to work after I had my anxiety/meltdown. I have no income.
She thinks since I'm not working then I should be doing stuff for her as part of the money she gives me. She is able to do a lot of things but tries to bully me into things.
No amount of money is worth all this bullsh*t.
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I wonder why we don’t call them on the things they say to us, after being sweetness and light to others? When you are all together with the neighbour, say ‘Mother, how can you say that, when you told me that …..’. I think WE are ashamed of THEIR behaviour, and don’t want to display it to other people. However it works out to be a way to control us, and we let it go on and on. If we did make the nastiness clear to other people, in mother’s presence, what would happen? After the blow-up, denials etc, perhaps it would encourage mother to move out?
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Rbuser1 Oct 2019
She is a classic manipulator. Other people do notice so they eventually stay away. Plus, most people can't fathom a Mother treating a daughter like that and vice versa.
I just had a blow out with her tonight over how bad I'm treating her and she's living in HELL. She's slams off into her room and I told her a good date to move out is December 1st and she says I'm not leaving and you can't make me. So I ask, why do you want to stay in hell? Her answer is that I like all the money I'm getting. I said no, Dec 1st is a good date. She had a hissy fit. Now she is coming up with the energy for another round tomorrow.
She is a very strong willed survivor and knows how to twist me around-if I let her. She also knows how to kick a person when they are down, and I've been way down. oh, her words when I snipped at her tonight were a very dramatic 'GOD, please take me out of this Hell I can't take it anymore' Very dramatic. It's another on of her go-to tools she brings out. Drama. sorry my reply is so long.
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Margaret,

I confronted my mother many times. It doesn’t do any good. They get mad. She either denied or there was an inaccurate retelling of events.

They take the attitude of how dare we confront them. Must be nice to be so perfect, huh?

My mother was never motivated to move in the right direction. She was too busy scolding me for calling her out. Then going behind my back and stirring up crap with lies. Sometimes it’s just not even worth confronting someone.

Maybe they are embarrassed and can’t face the truth due to pride. It takes humility to admit wrong doing and change.

I had a friend who was severely and emotionally abused when young. She left at 15. Got pregnant. Married the guy. Had another child. She loved this man. He was good to her. He was killed in an accident. He was a bit older than she was.

She remarried but he wasn’t a good man. He severely abused her. She would end up in the ER. She finally left him.

She remarried one more time and he is not physically abusing her but he emotionally abuses her. She’s had it tough. I met her at the gym while she was married to the third husband.

The horrible abuse left her very shaky. A common phrase for her was, “I hate the world and everything and everyone in it.” It broke my heart that she had been so abused.

Once as an adult after many years away from her mom she went home to get answers about her childhood. She grew up in Nebraska where they have cold winters. Her mom would take the blanket of the bed to punish her. She told me many mean things that her mom did. She ended up cutting all ties with her mom. Her dad had divorced her mother when she was young and remarried. Her stepmom was lovely and she considered her stepmom as her mom. Her stepmom treated her with love and respect.

During this trip back home she said her mother denied it all. She never apologized. So she told her mom that she didn’t expect an apology even though it would be nice. She asked her to just admit it. Her mom never would. Some people just won’t do it. They are either vicious or perhaps have a mental illness.
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BarbBrooklyn Oct 2019
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Rbuser, consider legal evictionn proceedings.
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Rbuser1 Oct 2019
I told her I would do that. Big mistake on my part. When she is wounded she can do a lot of damage. I gave away some of my energy when I said that.
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I notice you gave your mum a date.
Dont let that be a statement that isn’t followed through.
Look up homes or warden assisted flats and when got a selection you find suitable bring up the topic of leaving December 1st and show her the choices.
Remind her how it’s been hell for her with you and that you are having to agree that you are finding it bad too.
That - lie if necessary- you’ve been advised that this is best since you are in need of help yourself.
Be firm.
Inform family that she will be moving.
if she won’t chose - chose for her.
Go to the places and pick best fit / finance
if she’s not co-operating - explain to them so they are aware.
Organise a date for her to go there as close to your specified date as possible.
Sort out what she’s taking / new doctor etc
Remain firm that her staying is not an option.
Bear in mind that any unpleasant behaviour you only have to contend with till she moves.
Notify family of new residence from what date.
Go with her to new place - stay a while then have a convenient “appointment” to leave for.
Breathe!

Best of luck 👍
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Rbuser1 Oct 2019
Here is the situation. She is 'waiting on' her previous apartment to become available for her to move back into after reconstruction. It isn't an assisted living or elderly residence. It's a low income apartment.
AND she is having another place (brother's home-he doesn't live there) being repaired in the meantime, too. She will have pretty much 2 places to live. And she will be living alone.
Both of these places will require hired help to move her belongings to and fro. She is expecting me to do this. She is also expecting me to help her do pretty much all of the planning of this.
My health can only tolerate so much of this moving stuff back and forth. But she sees me doing some things around my yard or house and figures that I owe it to her to do that at my brothers house.
That is her leverage-that it will some day come to me. But the way things are set up now-its impossible. It will most definitely not fall to me. My brother will never be able to live in his house again. But she can. And it triggers too much anxiety in me to be there for very long.
She keeps demanding more and more of me for those reasons. It is a pattern of abuse that needs to stop.
When I stick up for myself by refusing to do what she wants me to do for her-she says 'why do you hate me' I wonder.
It's never fn ending.
She is toxic and demeaning and then expects me to help her. If I don't help her in just the right way...oh well you get it.
I have been pulling back and staying to myself and the result is, a bored narcissist is a dangerous thing. They will stir up trouble anyway they can to get attention.
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Margaret, what can also happen is when called on the behavior in public, she may go into victim mode. “But I was just (insert something seemingly caring) for you”. The onlookers see this poor thing and you end up looking like Cruella Deville. It’s a powerful tool in their tool chest.
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Ah ok -
In the meantime it’s not working - when you say ‘waiting’ - is that one of those gok when it will happen waiting times? !
If so consider 24/7 respite care until she can move in - that might get the waiting time down.
And no, you can’t do it all - if she wants things done she will have to pay someone else to do things.
Box things up and label them per room.
Have SET times you can visit - then leave - including moving day.
Do things that could help - like meals at home and take them over for her to warm up. Her loss if she doesn’t want it - put it in freezer.

Start by checking out respite places and inform them it’s temporary as she’s waiting for her own apartment .... but see if they can take her in for December onwards.

Then start looking at what you’d like to do in your spare time
all the best
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I have had to go grey rock with mother. Not happy about it, and I am not feeling great about it---BUT...she was making my life so impossible to live in a healthy fashion.

Don't know what's really wrong with her, Narc personality disorder, manipulative disorder, who knows? All I know is it had gotten worse as she's aged.

There's 5 of us sibs living. Of course, it was Golden Boy who died and she mourns him incessantly, yet HIS kids have all gone "Black Rock" with her. NO CONTACT whatsoever. She lives another son and complains mightily about him. Doesn't really talk to anyone else in the family. SO SELFISH. It's literally painful.

I just finished my chemotherapy tx for cancer. Did she every call or bother to ask ANYONE in the family how I was doing? Nope. She ACCIDENTALLY called me last week, thinking I was my sister and since her line of ?? made no sense, I said "Mother, did you mean to call T?" Long silence. Yep, she had. So she made some stupid coverup and I said "Mother, I am SO SICK and I really, really don't want to talk to you about your BINGO winnings. I'm fighting for my life and I am sicker than you can imagine. Please don't call again". (I fairness, she has not called me in YEARS AND YEARS, so this call was probably a niece dialing for her).

She didn't have the decency to ask how I am. B/C she doesn't care,

It is beyond any way for me to fathom how she can be so cold so selfish--although this has been 63 years in the making.

Time for a therapy check up. 20 years of therapy, in and out and she is STILL able to get to me. Even tho I never see nor talk to her.

I think I am just beyond terrified that I am going to turn into her. Don't we all feel that way??
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LoopyLoo Oct 2019
You won’t turn into her, because you recognize the problem! She doesn’t.
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For me, I kept trying to make my dreams come true because I wanted them so much. The dream of wanting the normal, happy and thoughtful family became so intense for me. We feel like we are failing instead of those hurting us. I believe it is a sign of insecurity.

Foolishly, some of us think if we only treat them they way we want to be treated, teach by good example, they will eventually return love and respect.

Boy, was I wrong! Then our hurt and frustration starts to wound our hearts. It’s really complex for some of us who happen to be ‘deep thinkers’ or the philosophical type. I really think that is what attracted me to my husband.

He is not a deep thinking philosophical type. He is rational, very logical, a problem solver, an engineer. He grounds my ‘run away’ thinking. I know what I appreciate about him.

Often I have been puzzled what he found attractive in me. Because I feel like I must drive him nuts!

So I asked him what attracted him to me in the beginning. He told me that he couldn’t help but notice my blue eyes that drew him in and he loved my sensitivity towards others. In our case opposites did attract and we balance each other.

Sometimes we clash like any other couple. But for the most part we balance each other. We respect each other. We truly love each other and have been there for each other.

I wish he didn’t have such a high stress job. He wishes I didn’t have to deal with family crap. He has family crap but has learned to put it in perspective. Of course he has. He is better at emotional issues than I am. I am working on it though and I will make it.

Ha! Yes, I give my whole heart when I love. It’s who I am. Once though, I dated this drop dead gorgeous guy but he was quite a jerk. When I ended the relationship with him he was upset and said that I was making a mistake and asked for another chance. I told him no more chances and I wasn’t making a mistake.

He then says that I would never be able to ‘forget him.’ He was so vain! I looked at him with amazement and kind of giggled and told him, “Please reign in your ego because very shortly you will be nothing more than a distant memory for me.” I never looked back.

Why is this so hard for some of us to do with family members? It’s so much harder to close the door on a family member and it really shouldn’t be.
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Mid and Lealonnie,

My MIL had non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Her mom, horrible woman, told everyone that her daughter didn’t even have cancer. She told everyone that her daughter made it up to get attention! How sick is that?

First of all, my MIL was not vain at all and didn’t do anything for attention. Secondly, she didn’t have to do anything for attention because everyone loved her for being a lovely woman!

Get this, my MIL was an only child and I swear I think her mother was jealous of her, competing with her only daughter instead of caring about her, being interested in her life and so forth. It’s sickening. Who gets jealous of someone with cancer?! That’s how crazy her mom was.

Her mother wrote hate mail to all of us before she died while in the hospital. She had nothing but hatred in her heart. My MIL used to say she hoped to never to become her mom. We all told her that wasn’t possible. She was nothing like her mom.
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I am just so very sad for all here who have similar situations and non nurturing mothers and/or fathers. I guess we can thank them for giving us reasons how not to be with others? It takes years to learn and be conditioned to react or deal with things and it probably takes years to try and accept it and let it go, too and I'm being introspective here too.
Probably I need to take a little break from here and turn my attention to other things. Meaning go walk on the beach or the mall. Yeah, that's it. So maybe if we all collectively go out and live in the moment in the sun or even rain it will be like sending positive vibes to each other to know we are living instead of just surviving. take care and love to all. I will be thinking of you all.
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rbuser, I’m on a similar train and got a lot out of your posts and all the replies. But I don’t live with my problematic mother thank goodness. Adults suddenly living with adults is fraught even if there isn’t mental/motion all illness. I hope you will continue with the counseling (switch counselors if needed) and find a support group in your area like someone else suggested. You can and will set the boundaries that matter most, I just know it!
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My mom was a very experienced narc. I say was, because she passed away in August. She assaulted me twice and ended up in the geriatric psychiatric ward of the hospital. When she realized the cat was out of the bag and her behavior was on display for all of the medical staff to see, she became outraged. By the time she was discharged, she was on medication for Alzheimer's with psychotic episodes.
For me, it was hell. She had pitted my brother and I against each other all of our lives, and our relationship fizzled, so we will never see each other again.
I'm 63 now, and I'm relieved my mom passed away. I'm cofused a lot about my grieving. I think I grieve for a mom I wish I'd had.
Your mom isn't going to change. Mom's doctor told me to stop visiting her so much. To visit just once a week. That's what I did. She became angry and agressive with the caregivers, but I stood firm on the days I would visit. I didn't abandon her, but I didn't play into her manipulating ways.
Now, I have PTSD, because of the years of hell that she put me through. I guess what I'm trying to say is, keep your distance from your mom.
Adult protective services had to come out to our home once because mom assaulted me and I called the police. The police had to call APS, which was fine, because I'd already been talking to a case worker. They're the ones that advised me to have her admitted to the hospital.
My husband and I went away for a weekend a few times, and mom was so angry that we did. I didn't feel bad about it either. We have to have time with our spouses, or LO, right? Right. You have to reclaim your life. It's a fight, but it's worth it.
So, call APS, DSHS, and get them involved right away. They aren't there to prosecute anyone, and they will help you find a solution for you. I'll never be sorry for getting them involved with my parents.
Depending on the state you live in, there's options for putting your mom in a home. My parents were in an Adult Family Home, which was much better than a nursing home, or ALF. You do have options for getting your mom out of your home.
I hope you can find peace somehow.
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Hithere Oct 2019
Hi. I identify so much with you. My mum is has NPD I’m sure. I also had the experience of being estranged from my brother thanks to her. Unfortunately the social worker believes her version of events - the ‘poor little old me’ act, while being emotionally and sometimes physically abusive towards me. I want to reduce my visits to her but find it difficult to toughen up. Am 62, she is 92.
Thanks for posting.
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I am again made to feel fortunate for never having been in situations like many of you describe in your posts. Both of my parents humbly apologized to us if they caused us any inconvenience, like needing an errand run or having to go to the ER! During my husband's terminal illness, he would apologize for "letting me down" by getting sick not being able to take care of me! His sentiment still touches my heart.

Reading all of your "horror stories" makes me hope I will never become negative and mean and demanding when I need more help myself.
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First of all, good for you for standing up for yourself. More than likely, your mother is not used to a daughter with a backbone. Could the paranoia be a symptom of the onset of dementia? Have you thought about asking your counselor or researching on your own a caregiver support group in your area? What about volunteering?
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You live together so you see her behavior all the time... and it seems to hurt you. Wow! That is a hard way to live, especially if you crave peace, cooperation and nonconfrontation. Healthy boundaries are for you, not others. Please work with your counsellor to identify all those distressing problems with mom and come up with a game plan to deal with them. Practice using your plan whenever mom's behavior gets out of control. The goal is not to change you mom, which will probably never happen anyway, but to find positive ways of dealing with it that leave your ego intact.

May I also suggest that you need other relationships in your life. Co-workers, friends, neighbors, faith-based friends, gym buddies ... being with healthy people to counter your main relationship - your and mom. It may require having somebody else watching mom awhile to get some "me time" but everybody needs this to create health and balance in their life.
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Hugs and prayers for you and your family.  Find some time everyday to care for yourself, and each day, increase that time - maybe even get back out there and enjoy life eventually, as you say.  Also, suggest saying something nice everyday to your mom.  It might just soften her a bit.
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NeedHelpWithMom Oct 2019
I tried that. Saying something nice daily. She was in her glory while she still treated me like crap. Nothing we do will change them but it drains us.

Nice thought though. I wanted to be nice. I wanted her to be nice. I wanted the freakin fairytale. Unfortunately, not real life for some of us, well really no one. No one has a ‘fairytale’ life! It doesn’t even have to be, I just wanted mom to be kind, respectful and loving.
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I hear you about setting boundaries. I finally did and it has helped. It's been almost a year and there has been no criticism thrown my way - even appreciation. Of course that could change but hopefully my mom has finally seen my worth as I've done everything for her. I sometimes hate that I gave up so much of my life to giver her a better one. She's almost 93 and I plan to just ride it out to the end. Hopefully I can without a total breakdown. I've been given a very long 3 month break as she's staying with a friend. I actually feel normal so I know I'm still in there somewhere. I started seeing friends, partaking in hobbies, interests, etc. So please everyone take care of yourself and get any and all help available. Get away for the day at least! I don't know what is down the road. I'm lucky as she can still get around, cook, bath herself and has all her marbles. It's actually pretty remarkable. She recently cause a major ruckus with other family members and her "true" colors came to light. They now know what I have dealt with. Hopefully she will stay "nice" to me - that's all I ask. If not I don't plan to let her ruin anymore of my life. She has limited funds too and I'm a single homeowner so we are not rich by any means. But I do have annuity coming in, still work full-time and she has some money. I don't know if I can work full-time, take care of her and a home. It's starting to wear me down so I might sell and move to an apt. Time will tell. Everyone giver yourself a big HUG, be kind to yourself, treat yourself - all of us caretakers deserve it!

My family has taken a back seat and I know I will not get much assistance from them. So I will rely on the state, volunteers, even friends who have offered. Good luck to all!
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Rbuser,

Don’t you wonder why, just why? I do all the time. No ‘real’ answers to the tough questions. Sure, we speculate. We have theories but are we ever privileged to know what is deep down in their hearts, even though sometimes it seems like they don’t have a heart or know what’s in that thick skull of theirs.

It’s a mystery! I think I would be afraid to be psychic and be able to read people’s minds. Some things we are better off not knowing because our hearts have been crushed enough.

Then other times I want to know every single detail so I won’t invest any more time or energy into what seems like a futile situation.

Sorry, this answer was absolutely no help to you. Just a rant, venting along with you. Hope you don’t mind. Hugs! I truly hope you find your answers that you seek. In the meantime please vent as much as you need to along with the rest of us.

Take care...
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Hi RB,
We do see them-WE HEAR-them and we are with you. My life is pretty much yours, but the only thing I want to share is, keep working- someway, some how, please dont go the SS route. Its not what you think. Im 62, only child, mother from hell from day 1, Im broke because of the non stop daughter in me. I have 5 stents and bless that they found the aneurysm before it popped at the base of my aorta.The slap with that was-mine is genetic- FROM HER!
So going thru all that, I made friends in rehab & hospital-Started back in 2010. Im the only one who didnt go SSDI. Karen died first, drs and drugs did her in- over dosing into brain damage. When the scripts ran out, the street drugs got her thru til refills came in. She ended up loosing her apt and moved into housing, there she met more people with nothing to do all day. Nikki -she discovered wine, sitting at a chain restaurant bar during the day. Then beer and wine, then pot, beer, wine, vodka, police, loss of license, she hooked up with some drugged out guy who was drinking and drugging his SSDI check...finally she passed. A neighbor found her, couple days later. Going SSDI gave them way too much time on their hands. Its not good. The same fight that kept me going back to a rotten mother kept me alive. Im now totally done with her. Im broke and fighting my way back now at 62 yrs old. If medically you need to go disability I understand, but DO NOT allow too much empty time in your life, she will find it, sense it, and destroy you from the inside. Just the very idea of her ruining you medically & mentally is a victory for people like this. THEY COME FOR YOUR SOUL and when they see they are winning its all over for you. Your best revenge is living and being happy. Even if she is under your roof put it in her face. YOU cant let her live your life. Go out, dress up-even if you walk thru WalMart alone- let her think she missing something HUGE. Invite friends over do something for you and let her see it. YA, there will be payback-but thats because YOU HIT A NERVE! Enjoy it. Either she lives your life and sets your rules or you do. Look what you have already been thru-You still have YOU, your guts, drive, your life. Get a good look at history and then decide if you was history for future. Let her rot in her own swill. I did and it can be done.
I support you, I hear you, I understand you. YOU ARE NOT WRONG. You just havent crossed into the self worth yet. Come on, here a little push for you. Cross that line and breath. I promise you its better on this side. Take the leap!
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Counseling and support groups for you. There are others out there with similar feelings. No one has the exact same thing going on, but there are enough similarities in everyone's caregiving role that they can "relate". Just remember how you feel now when your mom is gone and see how you feel at that point. I am 66, my mom is 89 and was diagnosed with inoperable cancer three weeks ago. She is on Hospice now and she will be dying at some point. On top of all of her other diagnoses, this seems the most cruel to me. There is no hope of a miracle cure because of the situation she is in. She told me at the hospital in one of her more lucid moments that she didn't deserve this. I agree. I just try to remember what it used to be like she was my mother and not someone with all of the issues she now has. It seems like it was someone else's lifetime.
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If her mind is still intact and she is knowingly tossing out zingers, every once in a while you need to reel her in by telling her she needs to be nice - or - you are not going to play the 'mean' game with her. If she has dementia, you cannot argue with a broken brain and learn to divert the conversation as soon as it starts.
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As difficult as it is, don't let yourself be drawn into "the arsenal of zingers and emotional triggers." When she gets on her mean streak of acrimony, don't respond, else you'll fail faint and ill and be good to no one.
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Bella7 Oct 2019
That is the absolute truth!! Been jumpin on that mental carnival ride with my mom for years...I get sick when I do...very freeing when I CHOOSE to not get on. It’s hard cuz I love her so much and especially so when I know I can’t help with her mental misery. Actually I think she gets through her mental pain junk when I don’t join in the conversation with her and ask her questions about it too much.
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