My parents are 57 and 63. My mother is erratic, forgetful, and when she gets mad she sometimes screams and throws things. My father is slowly going deaf, getting slower and more stubborn and forgetful as well. They can be infuriating sometimes, but I know that they’re aging and I can’t be mad at them. How do I deal with this, especially early on in preparation for further down the road?
Speaking as a 57 year old, it seems odd that they’re both having cognitive problems. As you might guess, most of my friends are around my age and literally zero of them are in any kind of decline like that.
Out of curiosity, do your parents have a carbon monoxide monitor in their home? IANAD but it’s my understanding that long term, low level CO poisoning can lead to symptoms like you’re describing.
Yeah that’s the part that jumps out of this scenario. 57 and 63 is generally way too young to be seeing significant age related cognitive decline. Both of them having worsening cognition + worsening mood problems sure sounds like an environmental toxin. Lead poisoning is a likely culprit. I would get them to a doctor to test them for heavy metals and other common harmful environmental materials.
Agreed… doctor up, hit the gym, eat some veggies.
Seriously though OP, if they haven’t seen a doctor, try to get them to go get tested for environmental toxins and nutritional deficiencies. Some of this stuff can clear up like magic once you’ve identified the problem.
This should be top comment. My wife and I are similar ages, and many of my employees are as old or older - I’ve never known anyone with that kind of decline around 60. If it was just one parent, I’d suspect early onset dementia, but two at the same time? Something is going on there.
Simple iron deficiency can also lead to rapid mental decline, and is very easily remedied.
You would hope. But it’s also entirely possible we have an unreliable narrator posting on the internet about their hyperbolic perspective and are just angry at their parents for taking their phone away and grounding them for setting the dog on fire again.
57 and 63 screaming and throwing things forgetful … infuriating
Folks shouldn’t be forgetting so much it affects their lives at this point. Nor screaming and throwing things. Oof man, genetics are a bitch, get them care (at least checked out) and then get yourself setup as well.
Treat them how you would wish to be treated when you are old, forgetful, stubborn, deaf, and slower. Getting old can suck. It’s angering. It hurts. They are humans with emotions. Don’t forget that.
if they have helped their son to raise sooner on his feet and could afford to live by himself , he could have been at least remotely able to make their life a smooth sail…but when u stuck living with them and has to deal with their shenanigans with nothing significant to expect in return in the future then thats the infuriarating part
He never said he isn’t capable of paying rent or wants to live away from his parents. Even then they are parents, you can’t just neglect their problems because you don’t have to deal with it. Unless your parents were terrible and you genuinely hate them, take care of them even if it’s only visiting once in a while.
He never said he isn’t capable of paying rent or wants to live away from his parents
we are both making assumptions while op is mute. its good to debate but its futile.
Making children expecting something in return is utterly fucked up.
What about taking the tiniest bit of personal responsibility?
it took two to take care of one person. it took only 10 years for me to become almost autonomous, but still only financially dependant. i cant as a single person take care of two people, not only 10 years, but basically 30 years or how long they will last while becoming more vegetable. at least i was a vegetable for the first 4 years…the nerve of some people…personal responsability…what does it even have with all of this ?
I keep seeing comments along the lines of calling OP’s parents “elderly”, but early 60s are barely reaching retirement age. They shouldn’t be having such cognitive impairments…
Well, this post is about being prepared for when it gets worse.
[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]
Yeah, it’s definitely young to have these problems. My dad is turning 70 in 3 months and he still regularly goes out running and fights with me over which new phone is best lol
Controversial, but until they are diagnosed with a mental illness, you have to assume they are in control of their actions regardless of their age. If a medically mentally sound 70 year old man is sexually harassing people, he’s just as guilty as someone half their age (not saying your parents would do that, just proving a point).
My personal opinion is you choose who you have relationships with, including family relationships. If you want to keep a relationship with them, you have to accept that they are choosing to act this way (again, assuming no medical/mental conditions) and decide to love them anyway.
If they are actually experiencing mental decline and not just relaxing their inhibitions, as so many older people tend to do, then you need to get them to a doctor fast. Everything from medication side effects to vitamin deficiency can cause mental decline. If they have early dementia, or some other incurable mental ailment, talk to a therapist about how to handle the situation and stay sane yourself. Caring for someone you know will never get well is extremely hard emotionally.
Either your parents have serious problems or your mum is developing some form of illness. They need to see someone.
They are your parents and you love them, and want them to be treated well despite any problems they have now, is how I understand your tone. No matter how much you can or can’t help them, remember:
You are just human and have very real limits to what you can take.
Be conscious of how much time you spend tolerating their behavior versus time you spend taking a break from it.
Edit: Reading this back, it feels slightly like I’m just pointing out the obvious and not really answering your question, so I want to elaborate a bit on why I felt it is relevant. Any interaction you have with them while exhausted, is a danger to your relationship with your parents. You take more of a toll on your sanity, and you have an increased risk to act cold, snap at them, or use needling language. Towards people with low introspection, this is just harmful to them - they just will feel bad and act worse - the world is against them and now even their child is mean to them. I’m not saying you have to constantly cushion and coddle them, but any stance you may choose to take where you set boundaries or talk sternly at them, must come from you when you are at your strongest, not accidentally when you’re driven near mad. Though avoiding confrontations all together is of course also completely valid - you know better than any of us what you can or should confront.
57 and 63 is incredibly young to start losing all that. They sound like they are mid seventies / early eighties. Where are you that people are aging so fast? Are they getting enough exercise cuz this sounds more like very bad life styles or something is early onset rather than just aging. Something is very off with this situation. This isn’t healthy ‘aging’. Something is deeply wrong.
I was gonna say, my Mum’s starting to get a bit like this but she’s 86 so it’s not a surprise … 57? Hard yikes.
Aging seems to have a backwards effect. Elderly act more childish the older they get.
So try to think about how frustrated they may have been with you when you were a child. Now its like the roles are reversed. Its up to you to take care of them, to pay them back for the care they gave you, as it were.
Or, instead of the progeny taking care of parents, professionals could.
Yeah, if they can afford it. Personally, I feel that not taking care of your parents is disrespectful if you have the money and capacity to do so, but there is nothing wrong with paying professionals. But that is pretty expensive in my area. I feel the same way with parents who are entirely absent from their childs lives, keeping them in a daycare or under a nanny or even home alone at all times.
Extremely relevant Steve Hoffstetter: https://youtube.com/shorts/TPb7pd4UnXo?si=sYifsgGWAiYea5M3
Well you’re either too busy to take care of your parents because you have to make the money to look after them and so you pay for a professional
Or your too busy to take care of your parents because you have to work to make money in order to barely keep a roof over your head and still can’t afford to help them.
Pick one.
I’d rather a mix of both. Most affordable homes suck (my mom’s getting there so I’ve been doing some precursory looking), so I’d rather have my mom living with my wife and I and having a nurse (nanny if you will) do the routine functions when that time comes.
This is so weird to me. In so many countries outside of the west different generations live with each other and take care of each other. I only think it’s fair for people to give back the same kind of care to their parents they received as kids
But children didn’t ask to exist. Parents “choose” to burden themselves with children. The elderly, particularly here in the US, are a drain on nearly every aspect of life. They control most of the wealth, still vote even with decreased mental capacity and empathy and generally sap the bulk of the resources for healthcare services.
I hope when you’re old and incapable you’re treated compassionately, however that may be
Your parents also didn’t ask to exist.
My wife was horrified to learn that we put our parents in a home when they get old. She’s from Colombia and such a thing would be unthinkable.
Having said that I would never want my children to look after me. It’s not fair on them… they have their own lives to lead.
probably because where she lived probably doesn’t have the same housing/living wage/ economy crisis where you’re expected to work 14 hours of the day just to struggle to put a roof over your head let alone have absolutely no time to look after someone who is incapable and failing cognitively
Probably because of housing costs not driving up the need to work for 14 hrs a day in which no, you cannot look after an elderly person who is struggling. That is a full time job. You can’t expect a person already working two full time jobs to also fail at that.
Does your father have hearing aids? Studies have shown not hearing well can increase cognitive decline.
And if hearing aids aren’t acceptable for any reason, such as pride or money, some people get good results from Apple AirPods, in accessibility mode
That’s a good point. Samsung has something similar in their settings.
That is awfully young to be having cognitive changes and deafness. Have they been evaluated for health problems?
I can see why you are frustrated - if they are already falling apart, you could have decades of this behavior to deal with. I think it’s ok to talk to them about it. You don’t have to be mean. You are correct to be worried.
Get help when you can, remember to fill your cup before others, and try to make peace with the fact that you will have very little control over their older years.
I was a caretaker to my grandmother for a while and now am approaching a similar stage with my mother. This is pretty cynical, but at a certain point everything’s a downward slope. Sometimes gentle, sometimes steep, and punctuated by good days but the overall course doesn’t change. Accepting how little control I have and acknowledging the downward slope has helped in some ways. It’s an absolutely brutal journey, but it’s like a rip current. You can fight and swim against it or you can swim parallel to shore. You might end up further out in the end but you’ll at least have the energy to make it back.
I would look at it as you’re getting frustrated. It is important to identify the emotion and it can be valid.
It is also a reason why a lot of people describe caring for the elderly the same as caring for children.
Not to get extreme, but my Dad died at the age of 63 after having a series of strokes that really caused a huge decline in his ability to function. Forgetfulness, loss of mobility, just an all-around descent into almost like a second toddler age. I was helping to take care of him during his last few years and in the run-up to his ultimately dying from a stroke, it felt like everytime I turned around he lost some basic functionality that you just sort of assume everyone who isn’t a toddler still has. At some point, without any of us knowing, the Dad I knew growing up was gone, and left in his place was this weak-willed person who craved only soda and cigarettes, that’s all he’d ever ask about. He watched The Irishman on repeat for days or weeks on end, because he’d forget what he had already watched just minutes prior. It was frustrating as all hell, but I would give anything in the world just to have that version of my Dad back for even just a few minutes. There was a few times I lost my patience with him and I still regret it. He died two years ago and I still think about him almost daily.
Not to get melodramatic or macabre, but you don’t want these memories of your parents to be haunted with remembrances of you losing your temper with them.
