My mom has severe dementia at just age 69. Her body is healthy but she is totally out of her mind. She wanders all day, gets paranoid, and is often violent and aggressive. Caring for her is 24/7 job. You have to follow her all day to keep her out of trouble. She'll poo in the middle of the floor or try to drink bathroom cleaner or turn the gas stove on and burn herself. Etc,etc--you can never freaking let her out of your sight, and for reward she just hits and punches us all day. I'm so burned out and tired. I also have 3 kids who need me. Right now she's in a psych hospital to get her meds under control, and I swear she's not coming home. She is going to a nursing home. I just can't take her anymore! I feel horrible guilt over this but I really need to get my own mental health back and focus on my kids. How do you deal with guilt?
I know by my saying don't feel guilty your guilt will go away but I really hope you work on not feeling guilty. You have nothing to feel guilty about. Your kids don't need to be around her in the state she's in and it must be almost impossible to care for 3 kids and your mom too.
Please try to stop feeling guilty. You're doing the right thing.
We do feel guilty when we can't meet every need, spoken or unspoken by our loved ones. It's very hard to say "no" and it's very hard to not feel guilt, if you are at heart, a caring person.
It gets better.
One that will benefit you and your family all around.
There are professional to deal with this level of aggressiveness.
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