MIL angry my children texting and talking on cell phones while visiting her - Page 2

[LynnS6]

There is a form of dementia that's called "alcoholic dementia". It's been awhile since I've read the symptoms, but I'm pretty sure that 'tendency to fabricate' and 'lack of inhibition' is part of it. If she's been a long-term heavy drinker (who substitutes drinking for eating a lot, for example), she might well be in the early stages of dementia.

[ASusan]

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

a symptom is to make up stories.

malnutrition due to alcohol intake is a contributing factor to the etiology.

[babygirlie]

So weird. My dh's grandmother suffered from alzheimers and he said she started needing assisting at 65. I personally think it was earlier and she did die fairy early. I'm pretty sure before 70 she was pantsless at a family gathering :(  

[babygirlie]

Maybe she thought a DS or whatever those handheld games was a cellphone?

[Lisa1970]

Originally Posted by babygirlie 

Maybe she thought a DS or whatever those handheld games was a cellphone?

Nope, was not that. None of my children bring those. We do own them (I said in a past post we don't own them but remembered there are couple of older ones, in our house, but they never leave the house. We don't know where the games are. I would never have allowed that anyway.

[Marsupialmom]

I am leaning towards mental deterioration/Alzheimer......you can have many crazy years before diagnoses. I would try to find out if she goes to a doctor and talk to him. Let him know that he cannot speak specifics of her care but let him know about this incident.....and the fact your kids don't own cellphones.

[sapphire_chan]

^That

And your MIL does a lot of lying about you and the kids in general? Next time she asks to babysit I'd just tell her "sorry, but I can't trust what you say about the kids, so you can't babysit."

[VisionaryMom]

Originally Posted by Stephenie 

Wow. What a nutter.

I sincerely hope you never have anyone in your life with a mental illness if this is typical of your views.

Originally Posted by RaeDyCo 

I also agree that it could be Alzheimers.  My grandma has been suffering from advanced Alz for almost 15 years so likely had it for 10+ years before that which would have put her in her mid-60's.  In the early days, she would be confused and covered it up by being very angry and argumentative.  She pushed away a lot of people with her anger.

Regardless, sorry you are going through this!

DH's grandmother was this way as well. MIL, who lives a couple of blocks from her parents, commented for YEARS about her mother saying or doing things that were a bit abnormal, but it took a really long time for it to be frequent enough that anyone else noticed. 

Originally Posted by Lisa1970 
Someone once told me she is bipolar (SIL told me that). But she is a heavy drinker.

This isn't typical of bipolar disorder alone, but it certainly could be an indicator of one of the co-morbid illnesses.