I have a question about my mother - not sure if it's mental health or if it's something that we need to be more proactive about (as opposed to her doing something about it if you see what I mean).
She is 55. She has always had a temper and I wouldn't say she is really bright - I think of her as quite gullible in a way. Lately she has lost her temper really badly at things that she shouldn't really be losing control over. In emails, she suddenly started spelling my name wrongly (it has 3 letters and she added a fourth) and when I joked about it I got no response at all.
We don't get on that well (can you tell?) and I have had to ask her not to turn up at the school to pick up my children without asking me - she would just be there and expect us to change our plans to accommodate her presence, and to be grateful that she wanted to take them to the park. I asked her several times simply to call me beforehand in case we had other plans, and when she did it yet again, a few weeks ago, I am afraid I lost my temper with her and things have been very fraught.
The alarm bell is that she says she simply didn't understand what I was getting at before. It really seemed to be new information to her. I know her and I know the difference between that and someone who is playing a power game. It is really odd.
I suppose she could have turned into a blatantly horrid person (the foundations are certainly there) and she could be deliberately behaving oddly but it feels more like she's living in another world (difficult to explain).
Also, frankly she has been like this for years - but definitely lately it has got worse.
I ask about alzheimer's because a couple of people have said 'oh that sounds like it could be' and I wondered if any of you knows anything about it.