When Its my turn at Mom's and I greet her with with "Hi Mom, how are you today?", I either get NO reply or "you KNOW how I am so quit asking."
She's always been difficult and this has gone on and off for many years and has just gotten ridiculously worse since the dementia has been recognized. She's mad at the world more often than not and just will to engage. I get "will you just leave me alone and quit bugging me" a lot.
How have others coped with this? Sometimes I'll just sit and read or use my tablet. That just seems to make her angrier. She's in a 1 bedroom apartment so theirs really nowhere to retreat to and someone is there pretty much 24/7 to ensure her safety.
How else do you greet someone when they clearly do not want to engage? Welcome any and all suggestions.
It's hard, I know. My mom's favorite subject was how unhappy and unwell she felt... I used to call it "rattling the keys in front of the baby" to distract her.
She's not on any ant-depressants and refuses to take any of that "junk".
She doesn't want to be "drugged". Has Ativan for anxiety but won't use it. Was using it to help her relax at night and sleep but something turned her off of that.
Got thrown into this so quickly and suddenly that my head is still spinning. Appreciate this forum. Still learning about this dreadful illness.
I would also imagine she is rather bored. How far is she in her progression? Does she like to be alone or would an outing to a day center interest her?
Also, I'd try to get her outside. I know her walking is difficult, but I might try to see if she will try a wheelchair just for the purpose of going outside for a few minutes. It can make a big difference for some people, not for others. My cousin doesn't like the outdoors, never has and still doesn't. For some, it's a great thing.
And I know your hands are tied and that she's being ill, but I wouldn't read or use tablet while visiting her. That would annoy me greatly. Not unless you can show her photos of things she enjoys.
And, sometimes there is no way to make people happy. We just do the best we can.
He walked away. She was making bad, life-limiting decisions and thre was not one d@mn thing he could do about it. Sometimes there is just no helping difficult people.