MIL watches TV all day and sees commercials for wellness drinks, pills, etc. and wants to try all of these expensive things. I fell for it once and let her buy Nopolea for $150 a month - what a rip off. She is obsessed with drinks, vitamins, etc. She had a stroke 14 years ago and is paralyzed on one side and in a wheelchair unable to walk at all (she lives with us). Other than this, she is extremely healthy and only takes an antidepressant and an anti seizure med due to her stroke. She's always writing phone numbers down and telling us to call or ripping things out from newspapers and magazines to call and order for her. When we tell her no and ask her if she is not feeling well then we'll take her to the dr. she cries like a child. This is driving me crazy.
Would she be satisfied with vitamins from the store? Or go to GNC and buy her some vitamins in packaging she doesn't recognize and tell her "it the latest thing". Coconut oil is very fashionable now, get some of that and make a big production out of it and then dribble it on her ice cream.
Or you could tell her that in buying these things off of tv she is paying for the packaging and the shipping but the actual product is simple to make at home. Then make her a shake of some kind (wheat grass might change her mind about these products).
What is her motivation for wanting all of that stuff? Does she believe that they will reverse the effects of the stroke? That she'll "FEEL 10 YEARS YOUNGER!!!" ? I have to think there's some dementia going on because you said when you tell her she can't buy all of that stuff she sees on tv she cries like a child. That's not a reasonable reaction to being told "no". Maybe if you get her to tell you why she wants those products you can figure out a way to get around this from now on.
He once wanted a juicer so bad that it was all he asked me about - so I just bought a green smoothie at the grocery store - told him it was "sample" and he hated it, so the juicer idea went away.
He resents it if I just tell him no - and to try to reason does not work, so I just try to go with the flow - whatever he sees that he wants, I just tell him - great idea we will try it and substitute something that I can usually find at the dollar store.
Currently he is feeling so much better because of the magic lotion I am putting on him for his arthritis - it is just some dollar store hand cream.
If she tends to not remember that she's/you've ordered something, you could always fake it. Get out the order form, write the check and mail it back to yourself (or toss it, lol). Invoke the 'kind lie' and remind her, if she asks that shipping can take up to 8 weeks. Bet she's utterly forgotten about it by then.
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