My mother-in-law has come to the stage where she can no longer take care of herself. She has suffered a few falls at home, had a TIA and general ill health. Doctor & part time care staff suggested full time care in a nursing home near to us so we could monitor her care plan. She has no relatives where she lives to help keep an eye so we have moved her closer to us. We are visiting everyday and helping her settle in. However she has started accusing care staff of allsorts of terrible things, complains about the care, food and basically anything she can really on a daily basis. She says we don't visit her despite seeing her everyday. The list is endless. Is all of this normal when an elderly parent gives up her independence. We are not bothered by her behaviour because we love her dearly but just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar situation.
I might also have her evaluated to see if she suffers from anxiety or depression. They can make people miserable and cause unnecessary mental distress. Meds helped my LO a lot and she seemed much more content in her surroundings, after she went on medication. Nothing to make her drowsy. She stayed very energetic.
Sometimes it takes a while for an older senior to adjust to the loss of independence and once they make friends they settle in. In Mom's case, she didn't and instead aligned herself with other complainers and they fed on each other's negativity. But we just ignored the complaints because there is no sense in arguing with someone with dementia. The best thing to do is change the subject or distract them. Sis and I each visited once a week (on different days) and didn't hover. We found out she did make friends and did participate in certain activities but she never told us - so we realized she wasn't as unhappy as she wanted us to believe and eventually did feel at home.
It might be a good idea to talk to staff there about your mother's difficulty with adjusting They are used to dealing with it.