When I visited Mum on Wednesday she was again refusing to eat and drink. We have had it before as she thinks it is poison. She was very agitated and "said they want to put me down". I did my best to console her and said she was not a dog and they could not put her down, but she was adamant that the carers/nurses said they are going to put her down. At home it worried me and suddenly I realised that when the carers lower Mum's bed to wash/change her etc they have to tell her what they are doing or about to do. So they are perhaps saying " We are just going to put you (or maybe bed) down Pudcat's Mum" and Mum in her state of mind thinks they are going to put her to sleep. I suppose the same could happen if we say "You have to go to sleep now". If they can only take in certain words they can misconstrue the meaning. I rang the NH and they are going to try and use a different phrase. They understood where I was coming from fortunately. So I suppose we really have to think about what we say to someone with dementia and confusion.
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