About a yr and half ago my mother-n-law came to live with us from her brother's home. She came to us after her brother called several times to inform my husband that his mother had been accusing her sister-n-law of poisening her water, shampoo and saying very harsh things about the sister n law. Now she lives with us. She has had other times where she's told my husband that people were saying or doing absurd things that we knew did not happen. When my husband told her it didn't happen she became enraged. Now that she lives with us she has had episodes where she believes the neighbor has said things to her, about her and made threats to her. She believes the neighbor wants her to do all of this work in our yard. Our yard is very nice and needs no work beyond a few flowers. She also believes the neighbor clipped several of her flowers (it's the deer eating them). She does not ever want to go out, she has mood swings where she could seem normal one day and the next morning you can tell she has a different mind set, just a nasty, petty person. The other issue is that she doesn't hear well so we know she could not hear someone say anything 1/4 acre away. I have walked up to her and I have to yell for her to hear me. She is also suspicious of our friends and a few of my family members. She has also told me on several occasions that someone on t.v. has said some horrible thing to her. What am I supposed to say to that?
We've tried to get some advice from her Primary dr but they seem to say we can only do something if she is a threat to herself or someone else.
I feel for her becasue to her this is very real but I am overwhelmed because I never know what to expect from her. I don't want to cause her to get worse. What do I say when she says the neighbor threatened her or that my husband pulled up her flowers or when she talks in code, when she thinks one our children says something that I know they didn't, or when she says we had a conversation that I know didn't happen? I don't know how to handle this with my husband because he is working 60 hrs a wk and he doesn't have to deal with it. Do I tell her these things are not happening and we need to get her some help or just keep letting her go on? How do I respond to people talking to her through the t.v.? Any help will be appreciated.