the D--word

de·men·tia

   [dih-men-shuh, -shee-uh] Show IPA

noun Psychiatry .

severe impairment or loss of intellectual capacity and personalityintegration, due to the loss of or damage to neurons in the brain.

Origin:
1800–10; < Latin dēmentia madness, equivalent to dēment- outof one's mind ( see dement) + -ia noun suffix

(copied from www.dictionary.com)

this D-word is keeping everyone in the household worried and i actually lost sleep over it yesterday.

it had been a tough weekend this week. seeing how my grandmother's situation deteriorated to the extend of her having illusions and bad mood swings. it came as a shock to me as i witnessed how she could make blind accusations and even hit grandpa and herself. she has lost trust in all people in the household. she has made up stories about grandpa, dad, mom, brother, aunt, and uncle.

'did you convert to a muslim?'- she asked my brother yesterday. then she became emotional and moaned about the loss of everything if he did. all these in just 2 days.

what about the coming days? i have also noticed that she likes to close the door of her room and stay inside for quite a while. it is as if she is keeping some secrets in the room which she does not want others to know about. what will happen to grandpa who sleeps with her every night in the same room? what if she wakes up in the middle of the night and gets into one of her demented states? and to make it worse, grandpa is almost totally deaf! he would not know what she is shouting.

gosh, i am having headache just thinking about it. and to think that her physical health is improving after aunt's nurturing in the last few months. the improvement could actually be a bane to her mental health state. as she is physically fitter, her speech has become more poisonous. there is clarity in her speech and also very hurtful things being uttered at the same time. 'whoever made this piece of cake must have the intention to kill with the amount of salt being put inside.'

maybe it is time to change her diet. i read somewhere that too much protein in the brain could trigger this reaction. so no more soy drink which is laden with protein in the morning. somebody has to talk her into eating her oats which might calm her down.

getting a home companion might be a solution but can we find her? heck, it is even hard to find a caterer for the one-month when my mom leaves for australia. who is going to cook all the meals and go to the market? me?? i might be the one getting depressed next.

HELP!!!