Day 291

Mental illness is a family disease– that’s what I learned today

It’s 9: 35 PM on day 291 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, – feed myself  an egg sandwich for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign – no luck – help make 40 sandwiches as part of Virginia’s Sandwich Run – I am SO proud of myself – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, prepare my Kid of the Week feature for Sunday and brush my teeth once more.

As you know my grandma and I are very close and in honour of the person she used to be I am going to share with you the symptoms of “her” disease in the hopes that it will help you and your family. Take a look:

The Signs of Dementia through All Three Phases

Early

• Word-finding difficulty – May be able to compensate by using synonyms or defining the word

• Forgetting names, appointments, or whether or not the person has done something; losing things

• Difficulty performing familiar tasks – Driving, cooking a meal, household chores, managing personal finances

• Personality changes (for example, sociable person becomes withdrawn or a quiet person is coarse and silly)

• Uncharacteristic behaviour

• Mood swings, often with brief periods of anger or rage

• Poor judgment

• Behaviour disorders – Paranoia and suspiciousness

• Decline in level of functioning but able to follow established routines at home

• Confusion, disorientation in unfamiliar surroundings – May wander, trying to return to familiar surroundings

Intermediate

• Worsening of symptoms seen in early dementia, with less ability to compensate

• Unable to carry out activities of daily living (eg, bathing, dressing, grooming, feeding, using the toilet) without help

• Disrupted sleep (often napping in the daytime, up at night)

• Unable to learn new information

• Increasing disorientation and confusion even in familiar surroundings

• Greater risk of falls and accidents due to poor judgment and confusion
  Behaviour disorders – Paranoid delusions, aggressiveness, agitation, inappropriate sexual behaviour

• Hallucinations

• Confabulation (believing the person has done or experienced things that never happened)

• Inattention, poor concentration, loss of interest in the outside world

• Abnormal moods (anxiety, depression)

Severe

• Worsening of symptoms seen in early and intermediate dementia

• Complete dependence on others for activities of daily living

• May be unable to walk or move from place to place unassisted

• Impairment of other movements such as swallowing – Increases risk of malnutrition, choking, and aspiration (inhaling foods and beverages, saliva, or mucus into lungs)

• Complete loss of short- and long-term memory – May be unable to recognize even close relatives and friends

Are we connecting on Twitter? If not, say hi at http://twitter.com/Nisha360

If you’ve given to my cause or you can’t give now, please help me by sharing my cause with others. You can tweet about it like my friend Stan Faryna. This is the tweet he uses: @Nisha360 is a brave, smart young woman trying to make a better world for us all. Please help her do an amazing thing. http://bit.ly/hC7vOu

Stan’s very sweet for saying so, but feel free to write what reflects you best.

Thanks to all my friends out there who are helping me make my dream come true: to make a better world for all of us!