hospitalized Mother in Law, Alzheimer? or Mental disorder?

We hospitalized my 80 year old mother in law this week. We had to put her in an Alzheimer's lockup unit. It is very new and nice, but it is still a locked place where she knows no one. She really gave us no choice. She was making over 200 nuisance calls a day, calling the police and saying we stole her dog, car, money, etc. She forgets all kind of things. Fact is, she has been like this for years(even hospitalized 30 years ago for 6 months) but it was so long ago that no one remembers the diagnosis. We hope that she will get some kind of diagnosis where she is, but if she has a personality disorder instead of Alzheimer's they won't keep her. If they let her go, she will start it all over again, and no one in the family wants the responsibility of dealing with her. She is too toxic. Lives have been destroyed by her. The Psychologist who briefly met her said she demonstrated Paranoia, and extreme Narcissism. It 's true; she is like an actor on a stage who lives for the crowd. She tells stories for the glory of her, but the stories are nothing like reality. She also exaggerates illnesses to the point of calling 911. They check her over and send her home. She called Adult Protective services and said she was being abused. They investigated and saw her "posh" assisted living apartment that we got for her. They told us she was in need of "special help". I wish I knew what was wrong with her, but I DO know this:
I am bipolar, a survivor of two family suicides, and on medication for stress. I don't want to deal with her or her finances, home, property, etc. But guess who is the Legal Guardian? My husband. We are stuck with her. I wish I had pity for her, but she is so mean, manipulative, and nasty that just felt relief when she was taken away.

Hi miztexrgv

Welcome to PC! How hard for you and your family to place your m-i-l in a locked unit. It sounds like she has become so destructive to those around her, it may have been necessary. I hope she gets the crisis stabilization she needs while inpatient. Perhaps they will also refer her to outpatient services and/or medication prior to leaving the unit.

Best of luck to you!

Take care,
Dee

I really sympathise, the effect of toxic people can be tremendrously powerful. Still, I guess you need all hands on deck, ie all the help you can get to detox eachtime you need to!
I wonder, there could be a thin line between an extreme pd and a mental disorder like alziemers, like the pd gone berzerk!

it sounds like potentially a huge learning, in finding ways to detach, (not that anyone would recommend it if there was a choice), thats the most positive thing I can find to say.

all the best with it.