Why are you crying? A conversation with my Mother

I hear her crying. I go to her and ask, “Mom, why are you crying?”

“I don’t know!” She says and stops crying.

I would like to know why she is crying, but it does no good to ask because Mom does not know the reason she cries. Part of the cause is depressions. I know she swallowed the pill she gets for depression because I watched her put the pill in her mouth, drink the water, and swallow the pill. Another reason for her tears is Alzheimer’s disease.

Mom suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, but she does not realize that is the problem. Mom has short-term memory problems. Mom has anger issues. Mom is depressed. Mom takes medication for everything. The medication sometimes helps, especially with the agitation and anger issues. The medication slows the progress of the disease, but it does not cure it.

If Mom cries too much, then I have another pill I can give her that will help a bit, but when she takes it, she wants to sleep. Most of the time distracting her helps the tears.  Sometimes she will stop crying if I give her one of her stuffed toys or a doll. Sometimes giving her something to eat helps, the problem here is the calorie intake. Mom now weighs 140 lbs. and if she eats too much high calorie foods, she gains weight she does not need.

Then there is the issue with the high fiber foods, because she is on a low fiber diet. I have to watch her food intake to make sure that she eats a well balanced diet with out too many high fiber or high calorie foods. Watching is a balancing act and then there is the problem of getting her to drink more liquids. Then there are the tears and sometimes nothing will stop her from crying except medication.