Upset and exhausted about my mum's mental illness

You're 100% not the only one. I was told about these forums by a colleague at work and I cannot tell you the utter relief I felt by reading your story. Yours was the first one I saw and is literally the exact thing I am going through with my mother. She thinks her neighbors are targeting her being she 'knows they're making drugs'. She's adamant that any noises they make are to 'disguse their drug making sounds'. She even thinks the birds and frogs making noises around her neighbourhood are records being played by her neighbours but there's absolutely no reasoning with her.

She goes to the shops and is convinced that people are stalking her in the supermarket because she's seen the same person more than once. She's even gone as far as taking pictures of them. I'm concerned for her safety because it's only a matter of time before she does this to the wrong person.

I don't even know how many times I've moved her; she's even moved towns but all of this keeps happening. I've been dealing with this by myself for about 20 years and I don't know what to do anymore.

It's comforting to know there are others out there.

Hi! You are not alone in your suffering. I have had to live with two bipolar family members and one borderline personality relative all my life. As a child I was continually smacked and yelled at for making these family members cry and scream. When I was asked by my dad "What did you do to upset them?" I would look at him and say "Nothing, I haven't done anything". Of course I didn't do anything. When you are dealing with someone who is having delusions anything could upset them.

If I were you I would be looking for organisations to support myself, to keep me secure and happy. You really need support and you really deserve support. I wish you well.

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@Hana-B wrote:

Hi everyone

I'm new here and I'm posting about my mum who has a very serious mentally illness which I'm nearly 100% sure is paranoid schizophrenia. My mum is now in her early 70s, and she has had this condition her whole life and we have had to somehow cope with it all our lives.

The form that her MI takes are severe delusions of the neighbours targeting her and hallucinations of them doing things to persecute her, like banging, excreting in the pipes to her shower, coughing and spitting on her etc etc etc. There has been a long history of this, where as a family we had to keep moving house every few years away from the neighbours. And it's been expanding to the whole city now targeting her.

At the moment, she barely goes out, except when I take her out, has a friend who does her shopping for her (as the shops are all out to get her), wears a full face covering and sunglasses when she goes out, even indoors, and talks to herself out loud at home.

I understand from the many years of living with and trying to understand her illness, and my own therapy, that she has no insight into her illness, she believes the delusions. However, I'm tired of feeling alone and helpless with the situation, and also the embarrassment and shame , and guilt of trying to go out with her, and be 'neutral' with her.

This is the first time I've really ever come to a MI forum for support, just want to know I'm not the only one.

Thanks

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