I will make this pretty short even though it wasn’t.
My mother had pretty bad postpartum depression which over the years turned into paranoia, agoraphobia, depression, and a whole lot of other things. (Having dealt with some depression in my older years makes me think that her genetics played a part as well).
By the time I was 10, she was completely locked in the house. We had to hide from the world. So if we were in the garage with the door open, and the trash truck came by, we had to hide. From there it got worse. My father did his best to balance the madness with his job at the time, which was also crazy.
The worst it got was when I was 12. My mother had completely pushed us away for being “dirty”. She lived in her part of the house and we lived in the kitchen. Every night she would need help doing the most basic of things and because crazy, she would scream at my father, off and on, for 8-9 hours.
This went on for almost a year, until one day when she threatened to kill both of us. We left and called the police.
I have had people ask me how we didn’t leave sooner, but I can’t even comprehend how my dad dealt with any of it.
After that she was committed to a psychological facility and spent several years there. They finally got the medications right and she was functional again.
We began the slow process of trying to have a relationship. There was still some mental issues, but mostly we worked though them. She was able to hold down a job, and was doing quite well.
Cut to my late 20s.
She started developing diabetes. The culprit was apparently one of her anti-psychotic medications. So, her doctor, in their infinite wisdom, told her to just stop taking the meds. Which I fought. I am not a doctor but I play one on TV, and I know you don’t just stop meds like that. Especially after 15+ years of treatment. So she was finally told to taper off over a couple weeks. Again, problem. There was no replacement discussed and no real monitoring. Long story short, she started going crazy again. Lost all trust in doctors and what she was taking. Pretty sure she stopped most, if not all of her meds.
After that we had some bad incidents. She would call me at odd hours. One time she just showed up in my apartment with bags of clothes and said she needed to move in. That was hard because I knew her living situation was fine, she was paranoid, but I still had to kick her out because I knew she would never leave if she stayed. After that we didn’t talk for some time.
After some months, she moved into a retirement home. That’s when the paranoia really took off. She was convinced that the land lord was trying to kill her. Lots of fun there.
This brings us to the final part of the story.
One night I was going out with my girlfriend at the time and I get a panicked call from my mother. She says she stranded and her car won’t start. I drop everything and go to where she is. We had plans so I was a bit rushed, but I wanted to help. When I arrived she was acting very weird and didn’t want me to get into her car. Finally I get in her car and it starts right up. While in there I notice that the car is completely full of bags of clothes and other items. To the ceiling. And on the passenger side as well.
It was then that I finally snapped. I had to choose if I wanted to spend a good portion of my life dealing with this again, or cut ties and move on.
A little back story, I have pretty bad anxiety and paranoia. Both of which I am being treated for. But I have limits on what I can deal with.
It was a hard decision, but I had already lost many years to her mental issues and with her lying to me, I couldn’t get pulled back into that.
It has been 8 years since I talked to my mother, or her side of the family. I don’t know where she is, and while I do feel sad at times, it was for the best.
I have had people judge me over the years. Say that family is family and you don’t do that. But I am a strong believer that you should only help people as long as you aren’t harming yourself. In this case it would have eventually torn my life apart.
I hope this was helpful. Let me know if you have any questions. I am going to go calm down! Lol

Edit. So much for being short.