I have an older family member who is living with early-stage dementia. She lives on her own at the moment and refuses to consider any sort of assisted living arrangement. She has two dogs that she insists are her emotional support animals and refuses to give one of them up. She's only 75, but we saw the start of this a decade ago. She no longer drives because we got the state to cancel her license. She blamed it on her physician, and since he was a quack anyway, we didn't bother telling her the truth. In the last 3 years, she has destroyed her relationship with her 3 children. She sends me nasty emails frequently. Somehow the problems with her children are my fault. She sold her house to her oldest son who moved in with her after his divorce. His girlfriend wanted her out, and he sided with the girlfriend. She moved out and he cut her off. Her daughter who had been taking care of her and helping her in one way or another finally cut her off. She had been so nasty and demanding of her daughter that she finally said enough and stopped talking to her. The youngest son lives halfway across the country and can't be bothered with her. So she dumps her anger on me. Mostly I ignore it, but once in a while she goes too far and I remind her that I'm the only one who still talks to her, and her behavior is making it really hard for me to continue. None of her siblings will talk to her without another family member being there. It's very sad. It doesn't help that her Dr got her onto some medication that causes dementia-like symptoms in elderly people, and also causes drug-seeking behavior. It's not a narcotic, but it causes behavior like an addict would have. The Dr would no longer prescribe it, but somehow she managed to still get it. We've had to call every local pharmacy and tell them not to deliver medication to her. It's hard to watch, but she sees nothing wrong with her actions, and somehow everything is always someone else fault.
