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I feel for you! It can be exasperating. But since your mother is not going to stop asking one option is for you to just change the way you respond. I hope it helps.
I would bring up Lawrence Welk on YouTube yo south my parents because they used to love that show.
I play a game with the repeat questions. My Mom has gotten to recognize the cadence of my rapidly shot off repeat answer..so, when I make up something off the wall, she actually recognizes that it's odd. I cheap way to make her laugh
I was an in-home caregiver for almost 25 years and worked for many people in varying stages of Alzheimer's and every other kind of dementia.
When they get themselves into a dementia loop (the repeating and asking the same question over and over) the only way to break the loop is to ignore the topic.
If she is past the stage where she can be redirected, then just stop answering her. Tell her a few times where she is then no more. Eventually she will break out of the repeating loop.
I find that giving the person something colorful to play helps with agitation and repeating. I had one client who's niece was into arts and crafts. She made her this quilted cloth book. It had all kinds of colors and textures and pictures in it. The client loved it. When she'd start up with repeating and agitation, she'd get 1mg of liquid lorazepam and her quilted book and she'd be good for several hours.
Prayers to you and your mom.
Perhaps a large and pretty Home Sweet Home sign may help.
In a car, keep paper, a marker and tape and simply indicated Grocery store, or Drug Store, or Park and tape it to the dash board in front of her.
I heard of a caregiver that suspended (thumb tacked/push pinned) a huge sign (half a bed sheet) from the ceiling over the foot of a dementia suffering loved one's bed, to be seen first thing upon waking, (and not too low that it blocks her from clearly viewing the other side of the room), saying:
"You're Betty, my sweet mom.
"You are HOME". (could say; Safe at Home)
"I love you, I'm always nearby, your Janet"
Print whatever works for you and her. It could simply say - I love you mom, I'm so happy we're home.
Rather than letting her lead you, you can say you're so funny mom, we are home and then play pleasant melodies like Younger than Springtime from the movie South Pacific, or Wouldn't it be Loverly from My Fair Lady https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wwMvriFYLo.
Get the lyrics and sing along as it plays.
If you can, get her a mechanic purring stuffed animal, it may be comforting to her. Try to find an organization that will help you get one for free. Is she a veteran. Call them and every organization anyway even just to ask for advice.
I'm sorry for your heartbreak and stress.
The solution is 3-fold: 1)Tell her once that you will not be answering this question anymore. (This will probably have no effect on her, but you'll feel better that you've warned her!) 2) Then do what you've said: completely stop paying attention when she asks the question; say/do nothing.. No exceptions! It may take many repetitions of her asking the question and your not responding AT ALL. Again, for this strategy to be effective does not require her to understand what you're doing, either.
3) In addition, against the possibility that just getting attention from you of any sort when she repeats the question is helping to maintain her repetition, try to jump in and tell her positive things about not questioning you repeatedly when she is doing things other than asking the question, especially when she has not asked the question for a decent amount of time. In the beginning, wait a little longer than the usual inter-question interval; as the question-asking frequency decreases, you can increase the inter-reinforcement interval.
If this sounds too theoretical or esoteric, please know that many of us have utilized these strategies with (usually) developmentally disabled) individuals in institutions, generally with good success. There is also published literature about doing this, not necessarily with this particular behavior. You're fortunate in this regard that you are her only caregiver, so you don't have to be concerned about whether she's driving others crazy.
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