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.
Simple iron deficiency can also lead to rapid mental decline, and is very easily remedied.
Or B12 deficiency?
B12 deficiency causes iron deficiency
No, b12 deficiency causes anaemia, not iron deficiency. it’s also independently a cause of nerve degradation and cognitive issues, much moreso than just iron deficiency. However it’d also be a little odd for two people in a couple to both get it at the same time.
Good to know because my well water is full of iron
My blood is full of it, I’ll be fine.
Iron deficiency isn’t just caused by not consuming enough iron, it can also be caused by your body not being able to absorb iron for one reason or another.
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.
Yeah, OP really ought to consider whether they’re having medical issues. As I started reading the description, I was expecting to chime in based on similar situation with my Mom. I love her very much but she can be frustrating to deal with, for similar reasons.
… then OP gave the age. I’m 57. My Mom is 83 having these issues
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.
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.
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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.
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What about taking the tiniest bit of personal responsibility?
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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
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.
I think you should start looking for specialists, especially with your mom’s erratic behavior. She shouldn’t be having that kind of cognitive decline yet.
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.
STDs or UTIs can cause dementia symptoms. Could explain why they both have symptoms
You don’t have to suffer abuse just because they are your parents. I would hope that if they were in their right mind they wouldn’t want you to either.
Have a support system, if you have siblings do your best to share the load of responsibilities somehow. If you can, get some sort of professional care to help. Take any government assistance available to you or your parents.
Either your parents have serious problems or your mum is developing some form of illness. They need to see someone.
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
I’d like to be treated compassionately now.
So would the people you are calling evil.
You sound angry and entitled.
No they don’t.
Your parents also didn’t ask to exist. No one did.
True, but they decided to bring new life into this hell.
And nothin anyone here can do for you. So you can get over it or get old and miserly die with a heart attack angry about it. Your call.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Install a carbon monoxide detector in their house…
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.
You can pick your friends, pick your spouse. You cannot pick parents. You dont have to forgive them just because they are your parents. Shit behaviour is not forgivable. If they are behaving like a 5 years old on tantrum maybe they need to be left with their thoughts and think it over. They will change their mind when they are left out of things.
Hmmm…
I think I can see where that took you.
On this subject, the shallowness of your thoughts is only matched by the authoritative way in which you express them.
Can I suggest you to allow yourself to be left your thoughts to think it over.
So, I’m uncertain if the parent’s behavior (screaming and throwing things w/ the mom) has been like this all the time and OP is finally getting fed up with it, or if it’s really a sudden change.
I’d definitely first consider the advice from others in this thread to check environmental toxins or health stuff with the parents, esp. if the behavior of mom is a sudden change–but if that checks out ok, or if the mom screaming and throwing things has been present OP’s life, it’s not a bad thing to consider this advice above.
How you handle parents who were good (or decent enough) parents when they decline is different from how you handle abusive parents. And this advice here is solid for if OP’s parents are abusive.
I imagine the people downvoting it are people who grew up with stable parents who maybe did descend into (normal) decline and thus are thinking of their own experiences and can’t imagine what it’s like to have genuinely bad parents one’s entire life, or the harsh boundaries one has to set to win yourself free of them.
But OP does need to take context into account (including stuff they might not have put in their story) and evaluate if the screaming/throwing things is actually new, or if it’s always been that way and they’re finally getting fed up enough to want to break free.
