I am 64 and my mother is 82-I recently moved to the area she lives in. She lives by herself in a retirement community. She is selfish, controling and is alway lying. Now she is always been this way but getting worse. I am trying to help her but when I do -she says I need to mind my own business. If I cant go take her someplace she pitches a fit like a 5 year. Please someone give me some advice. I have seen therapists in the past and all told me I needed to divorce her. Not sure I can because of guilt and also thinking about my dad-who died four years ago-he loved her even though she was awful to him. Please what should I do
I loved what you said.......yes, exactly, it is the nerve and always has been and the gall to ruin things that gets in my craw, plus the attitude of her thinking she can get away with it - never mind how hurtful the comments are.
Just for the record - my dad was NOT a bad guy, he had everything going for him and was very well-liked, prestigious and successful and she hated every moment of that. I really don't understand in retrospect why he just didn't get the hell out, but I suppose in those days it would have looked like he was a quitter and a bad guy......but we would've all been better for it if he had.
Guess I'll be doing a lot of "tapping" in the upcoming days and weeks!! Thank you for some good advice.
Another nail in my coffin today, Father's Day of all days, but maybe that was her point.......
Daughters and son-in-law over, a nice day planned, pizza dinner and making an effort with this leg of mine to try to have a family day for my husband. (I lost my dad in 1988 - he was only 62; my mother was always jealous of our relationship and rapport and spent every day plotting
her passive-aggressive strategies against him.)
I asked my son-in-law if he would be seeing his own mother today, for he is also a father. My daughter (his wife) pipes up and says, Probably, for his mother misses her own husband who passed away less than ten years ago.
Suddenly in jumps my mother with the comment: "Well I don't miss him and I'm not sorry."
We all sat there in a stunned silence, trying to figure out who on earth she was referring to.....but my daughters clued in instantly. I thought she had gotten confused about who we were talking about - I always try to give the benefit of the doubt especially to someone who is nearly 87 - but again, I fell for it, hook line & sinker.
I said, oh you must be mistaken, we are talking about my son-in-law's father, but she says, no I got it right the first time, I was talking about your father and he was a "rotter".
Daughter with Asperger's says, what's a rotter. The other one stood up to her and said Grandma, I don't appreciate those comments, that's my grandfather who is no longer with us that you are talking about, and you need to be more sensitive and considerate of other people's feelings. My husband said to her, he was a very nice man (naturally that comment went right in one ear and out the other.) She ignored him.
Of course, now that she had dropped the bomb and brought all the focus back on herself in her entitlement to express her own unneccessary opinion of my Dad, she sits back and stuffs her face with pizza and apple pie and enjoying the drama she has created. My son-in-law kept quiet in his embarrassment.
Two seconds later she is off to the next subject - whether the pie should be heated up or not.......
The message here, I believe is two-fold: I will take any opportunity I can to slag your father because he was so bad and I will save it for family gatherings for the most shock value; and
don't underestimate me, even at this age I am still capable of sabotaging any event you might work so hard to plan because I can't be pleased, and don't dare think you will have any power because I can still cut your heart to shreds with one sentence.
All she is doing is succeeding in making me hate her even more.
I always find that when we refuse to budge from a situation, even if it's for our own good, the ole universe always seems to oblige and delivers a big kick in the rear to help us on our screaming way. As is the case with my NM.
I begged her to allow me to take her to re-establish with a new doctor this long weekend, because it was the only time I had to deal with it. I never liked NM"s dr anyway and was always trying to talk her into finding a new one. The universe took care of that while she's been bed-ridden and her doctor up and left her practice.Typically though, NM dug in her heels and refused to budge from the bed that she somehow believes the hospital told her she has to stay in till her broken arm mends 8wks or so weeks down the track.
Why would she want to get motivated while she is on tap with g'ment carers fussing each day over her? Friends & daughter/s ringing, calling in with food and doing her bidding. Her neighbour volunteering as her meals-on-wheels.
So in comes the home visit doctor I had arranged for last night because she won't take a trip to a new doctor to get scripts filled. My anger & frustration at not being able to push through to her that she must start moving off the bed was unexpectedly backed up by the doctor who was horrified to see her still in the same spot he had left her 7 weeks earlier. I could barely hold back my laughter while the dr chastised her like a naughty child for still being in the bed. He told her the same things I have said over and over and stated that he doubted the hospital doctors had ever told her she had to lie in the bed till her arm was mended. That if she didnt get up and exercise she will surely die with blood clots to her legs. I showed the doctor out the door with a quiet word in his ear about her rebuffing my attempts to get her out of bed and to go establish a new doctor. He stated he could see exactly what she was doing and he won't be able to help her anymore. LOL.
It also horrifies me that she emphatically refuses to move from the bed long enough to allow me to change the sheets she's been lying on for 7wks. I also imagine her temporary carers must have given up trying. So now whenever I end up arguing with her about the sheets, I just let it go. After all, its not me wallowing in bed-bugs and dirt. If that's what she wants, then so be it. I also will not be in a panic to find some time to take her to a new doctor. If she can't care enough to do it in my time then she will have to wait till I can find some more again.
It sounds cruel, I know, but God helps those who help themselves and I'm learning to detach from fretting over it all now.
Hoping this will help others here.
Cheers
Madge....I imagine you must be very proud of your later achievements. Keep up the good work.
golfgirl....never feel you have to apologise for speaking your mind and putting your heart out on your sleeve. If anyone has a problem with it then the onus is on them to feel the way they do, not on you. As I said above, it's your willingness to vent that has given me the heads-up on how to deal with my NM.
Cheers
My concerns for Libracat stem from the fact that she has her mom in her home. She still has to live it face to face on a 24/7 basis.
I can relate to many things you have mentioned, not everything because I didn't have all of the experiences you have had. Enough, however, to feel exactly how many of you have felt in some situations.
My heart goes out to all of you and I wish you love and peace. I have more to share, maybe later. Hugs, Cattails
Ditto on the boyfriend thing. My daughters have not let one boyfriend get them down too much. They have good self esteem, no whining, no trying to get back together. Just move on and, hey, a new boyfriend is in the picture. I was always devastated when my boyfirend broke up with me because I thought, "If only".....I were prettier, more loveable. I have a really sad and strange story to add to this. I had a boyfriend from 18 - 21, who I loved very much. He would break up with me and go off the college, then come home and we would get back together. I did this for years. Finally, he gave me an engagement ring, for a short while. Then he took it back. My mom asked me where it was while we were doing the dishes, I began to cry and tell her he had, once again broken off with me. Dad comes rushing into the kitchen and yells at me that he better not see me moping around about it. Just horrible to me, made me feel I was to blame. Now that I have daughters, I realize, he was crazy. He should have taken me in his arms and comforted me. That was how things always were with him. Oh and BYW, the boyfriend was gay. Poor guy must have struggled for many years.
If I had a nickel for everytime someone told me, "oh you could have sent yourself to college," I would be rich. But these people do not understand the deep damage done to children of narcissistic parents. Read Malcome Gladwell's book the Outliers. He explains how all the Zuckerbergs, Gates, and other very lucky, gifted people were always given alot of support and help. Good family, schools, oportunities, good timing, etc.
Money was an excuse for everything when I was growing up. Couldn't do anything because it cost money. I felt bad for my parents for years and years. Until I found out they have almost one million dollars. And all is intended for, now only mom's, nursing care. She is a mizer, anything we do, anywhere we go, anything we like, is tooooooo expensive for her. She doesn't have one lady friend to have lunch with because, as she said, she is not picking up the bill for someone else!!!!! Seriously.
Well I am glad she saved all of that money. She's gonna need it. :)
I am a believer that unless you live it, you can't really, really understand it. You just need the path to get out of it.
I went back to college at 55, just to take math. Made all A's. Proved to myself i could have done it. My college educated husband told me how sad it was to see me do things he wasn't good at and know what I could have done. He finds my parent's behavior disgusting. We made sure our 3 girls went to college. They did so well. Mom hates it and her response has and until this day always been, "Not everyone is meant to go to college." That, of course, is aimed at me.
Since finding this site, I have started to heal. I have read many, many posts. If everyone didn't vent and let these things out, others of us may not see what is going on with our own mothers/fathers. We may blame ourselves for things we were not responsible for. This site has helped me start to heal.
Libracat, vent away. When you made the statement about not feeling loved or thinking no one would ever love you, I cried. I can't tell you how this made me feel. I felt this way most of my young adult life. When I look back at photos of my young self and think, why did I think I was ugly, why did I think I wasn't good enough? I now know why.
So keep posting, it helps you, it helps many to read these sad things and realize they are not alone and there is help out there. Take care.
Ideally it would be better to remove myself out of NM's life, but that's not always an easy thing without dismantling ones life and the people in it.
My other thought is, that although she drives me bananas, without my help at this stage she would not survive with any quality and that's not something I want on my conscience.
So like Libracat, I come here to vent my frustrations knowing that this thread is really my only outlet. A place where its not important about what NM does so much, but that the people who visit this thread and respond, are those who can also relate to the dynamics of this same problem.
I'm sure therapy would benefit us all, as well as NM, and other care-givers and receivers in different roles. It would be nice to free access to such a thing, if only!
So for now I will settle for wanting to support others in similar circumstances, which also helps me overcome my own mind-set.
Cheers
It think Joan has explained this very well and I hope her comments are helpful to you.
Good luck and lots of hugs, Cattails
My counsellors have helped me to arrive at a place of emotional distancing, detachment, and healing that allow me to maintain, albeit minimal, contact with my mother, and do those things I can do, for her, while maintaining strict boundaries to protect myself.
It is not all about being separated from her by death or distance, but about managing your own emotions with regard to the past, and also the ongoing abuse. You could have no contact, and still be seething with anger at your mum. When she dies, if you have not resolved your own anger, hurt, pain, loss, her death will not remove those emotions from your heart. I believe that they will still affect you.
Sometimes we hang onto the hurt because we are not ready to give it up. Your mother likely has a personality disorder, something she was born with, that is a handicap in terms of how she relates to people. She didn't ask for it, nor did you ask for a mother with this problem. But, it is what you have to deal with. How much choice she, or my mother, or the hundreds, and thousands of other narcissistic mothers out there have, regarding their behaviour, I don't know. I only know I have to look after me, and not let her mental health problems drag me down. No one can make that decision for me, and no one can prevent me from doing that - not even her, nor the advice of a counsellor, no one.
My hope and prayer for you is that you start to focus on yourslef, your immediate family, and your own needs, and not on your mother's sick behaviour towards you, and take whatever steps you have to, to get past this place of ongoing pain that you are in now. It is very stressful emotionally, and cannot be good for your physical health,either. I would not permit my mother to take over my house - even if she insisted. Libra, that takes two people - her insisting and you allowing it. The answer is no, and if she persistes, the next step is to show her the door. Mother tried to take over my life and household several times. One time I moved out of an apartment, and left it to her, because she had moved herself in, and one time, I insisted that she leave, there was a scene (what's new) and she left. It was not pleasant., but it got the job done. Elisa1961, whose thread you may have read, has been able to restore her home to a peaceful safe place for her family, by finding a placement for her mum. it will take a while for her to heal from the trauma, but it will happen. I hope you can do the same.
Wishing you all the best - love and hugs ♥
Joan
For a child, the dichotomy of having a mother like that, and seeing other children/friends/cousins etc. with their "normal" mothers, caring for them, supporting them and basically just loving them, is very hard to swallow. We, the children of NMs have grown up feeling unloved, unwanted, never any praise or hugs or words of encouragement, constantly being run down, told we are "hopeless and helpless", compared to the other siblings who got everything they wanted, left wondering what is wrong with us and what did we do to NOT deserve the love and attention that any child should receive, often physically abused for what we never knew why (usually their own rage at something else), not to mention being blamed for everything that went wrong in the family dynamic and often tossed aside and out of the family home left to fend for ourselves -- these are the arrows with which we have had to deal, and have had to pay the price for.
The children of NMs often never succeed at jobs, friendships or personal relationships. Self-esteem is non-existent. We constantly rub people the wrong way or refuse to believe that anyone could love us for, after all, if our own mothers didn't, why would someone else?
I'm sure you know all this already......it is just great to be on here to be able to vent and discuss it with others who are experiencing the same feelings.
Once I was unceremoniously "sent off", I worked very hard to shelve my past and do some mental housecleaning. I went to a new city, made new friends, found a job and a place to live and tried to re-create myself. I changed my name in an effort to build a new persona for myself. It worked for a while until I missed my dad so terribly that I just had to contact him, for he also was a faultless victim in this mess......
Unfortunately NM came back into my life when I got engaged and married. I kept up the barrier for a long time, but, when I was expecting my first child, I could not be so heartless as to deny her the joy of having a grandchild -- and that's where everything started to go downhill, from the minute I went into labour (she drove 40 miles to come to the hospital during my labour and would NOT leave, ordering the nurses, drs. etc.). Of course after I had my baby she showed up at our home, insisting on running everything and telling everyone what to do - even telling me how to care for my own baby!
As I have said, they are so parasitic, their tentacles just get into every aspect of your life and want full control - one day mine blasted me for not telling her that I had a bank account!! What business of that is hers?
Now with me being laid up, she has taken control of the kitchen and food in the house, something she hasn't done in three and a half years since I've been indentured to her. She is loving it because I have had to relinquish my surveillance on the food she is supposed to be eating and not eating, which has allowed her to take free rein on everything in the fridge and cupboards. Her need and greed for food just astounds me and you should have seen how she loaded up her plate last night, suddenly being able to boil vegetables, heat up food and believe me it was a heapin' helpin'!!
So I do hear everything that you are saying. What saddens me is that I have tried every strategy in the book, yes I have talked to professionals who are experts in this field and the only way to break this toxic attachment is to completely detach, or wait for their passing.......it's so unfortunate.
There still does not seem to be an answer as to what has created this in them!
I can only speak for myself in saying that my NM frustration comes from mostly resentment that I haven't a normal mother like others. A mother who is a friend. Someone I want to hang out with and can rely on in tough times. Who'll listen to my problems and not interfere. Instead I am in a reverse roll where I'm the mother and she the child, only with a stinging ungrateful tongue.
It does tend to grate on ones nerves over time, and like sandpaper, it wears you down to a point where you feel the only escape to sanity is to either die or a few thousand k's away. I've tried over the years standing up for myself. It works for a while then she just reverts back and I find I have to start all over again. I got tired of putting in the effort over & over.
Some days I just want to break out and scream out to her all the hateful hurting things she does, but I swallow it down and walk away, knowing its to no avail. I really don't need a suicidal mother on my conscience.