How do I even handle my mom. She gets so worked up over everything.

I can't even respond to just random stuff she starts to talk about. It's like her mind gets twisted and she doesn't understand what I'm saying and gets angry and a simple comment turns quickly into a big argument. It is not old age, because she has always been like this. She does it with my dad and probably other people too. She's not scitzophrenic. She just gets frustrated talking and somehow doesn't understand exactly what I'm saying. Like she thinks what I'm saying meant something else