Does any one here have a truly crazy relative?

[hatredisnotavalue]

How did you deal with it? Do you go along with whatever they say? Do you bait them to see what the response will be? Or do you just ignore what they say?

[Cult]

1. I have an uncle that's a crack-head....

He had to switch to crack because his nose was so damaged from coke.....Kinda depressing, really. He left his wife and kids to live in a crack-house in ...Southern California. Where I live!

...I don't mean I live in a crack-house, I mean I live in Southern California.

[bliss_eternal]

20. Hi Cult--Welcome to DU!

:hi:

I understood what you meant. I had a family member that was dating a crack head. Couldn't be told that this person was a danger to have in their life. I'll never understand that at all.

I'm sorry to hear about your uncle. It's sad when someone would rather live on the streets than to do the hard work required to overcome their sickness and return to those that care about them.

[Fox Mulder]

2. A truly crazy relative?

How about my whole freakin' family?!

You know how I deal with them? I don't talk to them.

[hickman1937]

3. No. My family could use one.

We bore ourselves stupid. Is your relative eccentric? If crazy means sick, then just be as kind as possible.

[henslee]

4. I have a relative who chooses where to eat/shop based upon

whether or not he gets into nasty arguements with counter people and shop owners. He is in his seventies and has been fighting with the same shop owners and waiters for years. He is hated everywhere. Is he crazy? I think so. I humor him.

[Tallison]

5. Oh, yeah

Dad's sister is schizophrenic.

[xmas74]

6. We have schizophrenics in my family.

You don't bait them if you know what's good for you.

[Tallison]

12. Those relatives are how close?

Becoming schizophrenic was a big fear of mine until I hit 30.

[xmas74]

23. Twice removed.

I'm 30 now. They say that it first strikes between the ages of 16-25.
I suspect someone closer in my family of having it but they've never gone for treatment and no one will talk about it.

[mcctatas]

26. My aunt cured her schizophrenia by changing her name...

she used to have a perfectly respectable Irish name, but she was hearing voices so she changed it (to something in the same vein as Moon Unit)...she swears the voices stopped. Of course, to the rest of our family, that is just further confirmation that she is batshit crazy!:rofl:

[Cult]

7. Actually, my family probably thinks of ME as the crazy relative....

I'm the only member to have a felony....(DUI when I was 21, prompted me to quit drinking entirely...)

Whenever there's discussions on criminal topics, people always look at me, like I have my finger on the criminal bloodstream.

[Tallison]

8. Spicy!

Where in the US does a DUI count as a felony?

[Cult]

9. Ehhhhhhhhh.....

Okay, DUI with a grave bodily injury. God, okay, now I have to explain. My (former) friend and I were drinking, and he wanted to get something to eat. He asked me to drive (We were both very intoxicated), and I did. I swerved left to miss another swerving car, and ran head on into a concrete center divider. My car flipped three times in the air, landed upside down in the oncoming lanes, skid a hundred feet or so, and hit another car. The person in the other car was more or less fine, some bruises. My passenger, on the other hand, broke his ankle very badly, and was scalped. I was arrested, and told that he died. (He didn't.) I swore to never drink again, and have been successful thus far. Had to spend three months in jail. My passenger continued to drink, sued me, and has gotten in several bar fights. He had his nose broken by someone in a bar, and tried to sue me for that as well. His father made him sue me for millions of dollars, and asked for a lot for himself because he demanded to be paid for the time that his son stayed at his house after the accident.

God, don't I sound good 'n criminal now....

Anyway, I learned my lesson from it all, but he didn't. I'm a nice felon!

To end it all, the jury sided with me, because we were both drunk. Oh, and he asked me to drive because he had gotten a DUI a few months before the incident, and didn't want to get in trouble again. He never told me that, though.

[Tallison]

10. Jesus, you're both lucky

That's chilling to hear.

Operative thought: Never Again.

[Cult]

13. Very, very lucky.

I just wish he had stopped drinking as well. When I got arrested, they told me that there was a fatality (There wasn't), and I spent my first week in jail trying to come to terms with thinking I had killed someone. Thank god no one was killed.

[hickman1937]

19. In Michigan a second DUI is a felony.

Actually a second within 7 years. My daughter hit that bingo.

[djeseru]

11. The whole family is.

I'm the only one who's come to terms with it, which is why I'm not on speaking terms with them. Ah well, no great loss...I'm an only child anyway.

[Thtwudbeme]

14. ummm no, but my relatives do!

;)

[Bunny]

15. My late uncle wasn't "crazy", but he was a little eccentric in his

beliefs. Once, many years ago, when we were in the middle of an exceptionally bad winter, he declared that all the snow, cold, and wind were the result of Canadians being pissed at us because of acid rain. He claimed that they had gigantic fans in Canada, all pointed in the direction of the US, and they were blowing their bad weather down to us. All because of acid rain...:shrug:

[RetroLounge]

16. Uhm, in my family, I think that was me

RL

[William Bloode]

17. Sure do.

I am considered the crazy one in my family. And no one baits me or ignores me, both are potentially hazardous.

[jobycom]

18. Yes.

My oldest brother is schizophrenic. He lives with my parents and is an invalid. He'll probably live with me one day. I don't bait him, or ignore him, I try to talk to him. Not always easy.

My grandmother and most of her family was also schizophrenic. Lots of attempted suicides, mental institutions, strange behavior. I was adopted. Probably that's good. It doesn't seem to have affected my mother, though she is more high strung than most.

[bliss_eternal]

21. Yes--the entire family.

None of them realize it. I did and sought help to work through it all. Which is why I now have no contact with any of them.

Spend too much time with the truly whacked out, and you start to question what is abusive, dysfunctional, etc. and/or you spin back into the cycle of not being able to recognize it, because it is the norm for you.

I have no desire to return to that time--so I keep my distance and no longer have family, except my dh. :loveya: LOL!

[Inspired]

22. Religious right Auntie

accused dems of killing babies. Loved Bush more than Harriet does. My aunt was terminology ill (recently died) so I didn't get into an argument with her.

[suzbaby]

24. Most of my family are pretty sane

and most are pretty liberal. However, I have one uncle who is a freeper and hardcore christian. He once told my brother that if he didn't get married by the time he was 30 years old, he would "turn" gay!
That's one of the most insane things I've ever heard...

[Shine]

25. Yes, my BIL is mentally ill. Paranoid schizophrenic.

My husband is his conservator b/c their parents are both dead. He's fairly functional as long as he stays on his meds...but when he doesn't, it can be a real problem. Over the years, we've had many many situations that have gotten dicey. He's also been in and out of the psche ward at the hospital a bunch of times.

Baiting him is NOT a good idea...esp. b/c of his anger management issues. Luckily my husband is a very patient man.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

27. I keep them at a very far distance ...

I don't go around them - I have learned how to tolerate them . Ever since then , I have been happy and I have been much better - now if only my mom would learn to do the same thing to the same relatives , she would be fine .

[Jamastiene]

28. I go to therapy to talk about it or mention it on DU.

My mother has officially driven me crazy with her crazy ideas. I actually have to go to therapy because of her. I try to avoid her and every once in a while I lose my cool because I've had it up to the proverbial here with her insane ramblings. I can only take so much. She goes on these kicks where she becomes obsessed with some miracle cure or miracle claim and she won't shut up about it. She talks about nothing but that latest crap she is trying and swears up and down it'll be the cure. It never cures her or me of anything. Right now, she is on an indian family geneology kick. She swears up and down I can get a $40,000 a year grant just to go to school. She says I can get one per semester until I am 62 years old. Don't ask me where she got that number from. I'm guessing out her ass. Anyhow, she has been giving money to this guy she met through our con artist cousin (at least she says he's our cousin although I've never met any of these people she claims are family). She said she paid $100 to get our race changed. She sent me the "ID card". It looks as though someone handed some lamination stickers and a printer to a 5 year old. It's not a real ID card. She wouldn't shut up when I had to go get my license renewed. She kept telling me to "inform" them that my race had changed to indian and show them that card. There was just no fucking way I was going to embarrass myself that way. She also wouldn't shut up until I took some "forms" to the financial aid people at college to have them filled out. Well, I did that back in the summer. The lady said they were for organizations not individuals. There is no Tuscarora tribe in North Carolina or South Carolina that I know of, but my mother swears up and down that we are Tuscarora and that I'll be rich from those education grants. My financial aid just came in and there was nothing but the Pell Grant that I normally get on the check, so I've pretty much proven her bullshit is just that; bullshit.

Years ago, she got these anti-yeast pills and "good bacteria" pills and made me take them for six months. She said they would get rid of the yeast and replace it with good bacteria. I got a horrible infection. When I went to the health department for my pap smear and urinalysis. They said I had a build up of so-called "good" bacteria from the pills and that is why I had the bad infection. It itched and burned worse that a yeast infection ever has. I'll never forget how bad that infection hurt. It took a long time to get rid of it too.

She has long since broken my bullshit meter. I can't take her any more. This is only a drop in the bucket of some of the bullshit my mother has put me through in my life. I can only take so much of her. I try to avoid her, but she is a control freak and wants to control my life to the point that she may have just sent my social security number off to be stolen by the con artists she calls family. If I find out that they have used my social security number and screwed me over, I'll blame it on these so called indians. I've always been against racism, but this damn bunch she has been hanging out with lies and makes up amazing claims and now it's causing me problems. And like I said, I've proven their claims are bullshit. Nothing came of that form I filled out and had the lady at school send to them. They claim they never got the form. I trust the financial aid lady because she is the one who helped me get the Pell Grant in the first place. I've had it with all this bullshit my mother is spouting. That woman could make me hate money if she got on a kick and wouldn't shut up about it. Damn, I want a big drink now just thinking about it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

38. my sympathies

[deadparrot]

29. Yes.

I just try to smile and nod through our conversations.

[mockmonkey]

30. My Dad

is a Paranoid schizophrenic. I haven't seen him in 28 years. He moved to California. We never got along even before he showed any signs of Mental Illness. I don't have any desire to see him.

[clyrc]

31. my brother is a sociopath

I don't have to deal with him now because I live in another country.

[fleabert]

32. my mother.

I educate myself about her illness and I love and support her.

[Z_I_Peevey]

33. Two sociopaths,

a paranoid schizophrenic (also diagnosed as bipolar at one time, hospitalized and medicated), a narcissist, assorted religious nuts and several garden-variety neurotics.

I can deal with all but the sociopaths, because they bring new levels of crazy daily. And they are so, so dangerous.

[AccessGranted]

34. Yes! Uncle Bob, The Bushie Republican Cuckoo!!

My Uncle Bob is a horror and nobody can stand him. He is a "Bushie" and a hardcore Republican. He hated Bill Clinton. He said Clinton ruined the country. He loves Bush. He says that Bush knows exactly what he's doing and even worse Uncle Bob can actually sit and justify everything Bush does in a positive way. He says that Bush is "fixing" the country and soon we'll all see what a genius he is. Uncle Bob hates everybody and everything. He hates every race of people and has these long lists about why he hates them. He even hates Black people and he's Black. He hates all religions. He says that all women are whores and use men. The last time he came over my house someone had left a Capri cigarette butt in my ashtray in the living room. Capri's are really long and skinny. He saw it and picked it up and started screaming that we "smoke drugs" in my house. He went and told everybody in the family that I smoke marijuana in front of my kids and that my kids smoke it, too. Can you believe it!!!! I have never!!!! I have three 13, 22 and 20 and they've never even had a drink, let alone a drug. They are truly good kids and I've alway been proud of my sons. Uncle Bob went over my aunt's house and her son had a male friend in his bedroom listening to some music, so he went and told the entire family that her son is gay! He is a lying gossip-monger, a chronic liar and even worse, a Republican. When his brother, my uncle died, Uncle Bob came to the funeral and right in the middle of the funeral he starts screaming about the flowers. He started yelling, "What in the hell did you all buy him flowers for, my brother wasn't shit in life and he isn't shit in death". Now is that crazy or what? Oh, the stories I could tell about Old Uncle Bob. By the way, I've disowned. I will never speak to him ever again in life.

[graywarrior]

35. My sis-in-law. Toxic whackjob.

She's been in the developement business over the past 30 years but always ends up in a law suit. She just entered into another partnership with an old boyfriend of hers. Periodically I'll say, "hey, has Mike ever met David (her last partner who sued her for mismanaging millions of dollars)?" She freaks out. I love it.

[AirmensMom]

36. My in-laws are all nuts and my family isn't much better.

I stay away from most of them. They get nasty if anyone disagrees with them, so there's no point in talking to them because I disagree with just about everything they do and say. (They're all repugs ... coincidence?) Of course, they think I'm the one who's crazy. Even the ones I do talk to think I'm WAY off base getting so upset about things like who won the presidential election. "There was no fraud ... Kerry lost because he's a f**king liar ... MSM is liberal ... " They think I shouldn't waste my beautiful little mind worrying about things like hurricane victims. When I told my sister what Barbara Bush said about the evacuees in Houston ("they're better off"), my sister said she was right!
:banghead:

There just ain't no reasoning with some people. :shrug:

[skoppa]

37. I have a manic-depressant uncle..

...who always thinks there is a government conspiracy going on (like they are bugging his house and car and stuff). When he starts talking like that we have to confront him and make him stop or he will make some bad decisions.

[zanne]

39. I had an aunt who was very devout...

She was very religious and she went to mass every morning. But she was also such a traditionalist, that when her local church started saying some masses in English (and not French), she stopped going to church completely. She never went to church again, even though she spoke perfect English.

[ScreamingMeemie]

40. My mother is paranoid and neurotic...

I try not to get too involved. She also tends to think she is an authorirty on everything.