My Dad was the center of my Mother's world, she was a typical 40's era housewife, she let my Father handle everything. She was never proactive in her own life, prefering to stay home to the point that my father would even buy her clothes and she was fine with that.
He passed away nearly 4 years ago, and she seemed ok for about the first 6 months, still taking her long, brisk walk daily (at least 3 miles at 79 years old at the time). She started complaining about a couple of symptoms and I took her to the general Dr, and then to 6 different specialists and a battery of tests that were all negative.
So here it is, over 3 years later and she is still suffering and have the same complaints that have exacerbated over the months. She has been on numerous anti depressants, to no avail, and my brother and I try to do whatever we can to help and appease her, but it's never right. She wont go to any more Drs because 'they don't know everything' because they can't make her feel better. So we live daily with her telling us that this is the day she will die, or that she wants to die, etc etc. I feel awful because I have become immune to her complaints, as I hear the same thing several times a day from her. If her complaints are real, then nobody should suffer like this. If they are imaginary, then I don't know what to do about that. She's mentally alert and still cares for herself in her own home but I think she's a hypochrondriac.
And at home, I am trying to cope with an alcoholic spousal-equivilant. I'm at my wits end.