Coping with...CONFUSION

This condition may be acute or part of an ongoing managed illness

- GILL

A cute confusion (delirium) is altered consciousness with reduced ability to focus, or have abnormal ideas, developing over hours to days, tending to fluctuate during the day and worsening at night. It's commonly associated with acute medical and physical conditions, and with increasing age. Alcohol, drugs (both certain medications and drugs of abuse) and carbon monoxide poisoning can induce this state.

Chronic confusion is part of many physical and mental degenerative conditions, including dementia, strokes and Parkinson's. Symptoms of acute or chronic confusion include disorientation in time and space, inability to think or speak clearly, difficulty concentrating, seeing, or hearing things that aren't there (hallucinations), having untrue beliefs (delusions) and paranoid ideas. If your loved one starts to show confusion symptoms, ask them their name, age, location and today's date. If they're unsure or cannot answer you, they may need urgent assessment. Even if they have a known background, such as dementia or head injury, they need investigation during any worsening to exclude other problems (such as urinary tract infections), metabolic disorders (such as uncontrolled diabetes or reactions to medications).

WHO on aspartame

The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved classification of the sweetener aspartame as possibly carcinogenic, based on limited evidence for cancer in humans (specifically, for a type of liver cancer). There was also limited evidence for cancer in experimental animals and limited evidence related to possible mechanisms for causing cancer. WHO suggests no change to the previous acceptable daily dietary limit of 40mg aspartame per kg body weight, but there's a need for investigation by more and better studies.