[Verse 1]
An elder sits before you, clouded eyes and trembling hands,
The clinician must decipher what the symptom web demands.
Is the onset sudden, hours — delirium's restless tide?
Or has memory slowly crumbled, piece by piece, from deep inside —
No, strike that — gradually eroded, decade-worn and hollowed out,
While dementia rearranges what the self once was about.
Then depression dims the eyes but leaves the calendar intact,
She knows the year, the season — it's the meaning she has cracked.
[Chorus]
Три маски, один пациент — три masks upon one face,
Delirium is acute — find the cause, and find it fast,
Депрессия — the treatable shadow, do not let it pass,
Dementia builds its fortress slow — distinguish, then assess,
Три маски — know them, name them — clinical success.
[Verse 2]
Delirium — attention flickers like a candle in a draft,
Waxing, waning, disoriented, cognition fore and aft.
Fluctuating through the hours — check the chart for recent change,
Infection, hypoxia, metabolic — something systemic, strange.
Next step: urgent medical workup, do not let this linger,
Point your differential at the precipitant — point your finger.
Dementia creeps across the years, insidious and slow,
Next step there: neuropsych testing, collateral history, go.
[Chorus]
Три маски, один пациент — три masks upon one face,
Delirium is acute — find the cause, and find it fast,
Депрессия — the treatable shadow, do not let it pass,
Dementia builds its fortress slow — distinguish, then assess,
Три маски — know them, name them — clinical success.
[Bridge]
Now the cabinet is crowded — medications set the stage,
Five classes that can masquerade as mood and anxious wage:
Бета-блокаторы first — beta-blockers blunt the spirit's hum,
Benzodiazepines — paradox, they leave the elder numb.
Corticosteroids kindle storms of dysphoria and dread,
Anticholinergics fog and flatten — clarity has fled.
Fifth: antihypertensives — reserpine depletes the store,
Alpha-agonists like clonidine — withdrawal strikes you sore.
Always audit every pill before you close the door.
[Verse 3]
Depression in the elder wears a somatic masquerade —
Fatigue and appetite refusing, motivation frayed.
Pseudodementia fools the rushed — she fails the memory test,
But structure the assessment: PHQ, GDS — then invest.
Collateral from family carves the timeline into view,
Did cognition slide for years, or did the darkness break through new?
Self-assessment means you question every reflex you deploy —
Confirmation bias ages badly — sharpen, not destroy.
[Chorus]
Три маски, один пациент — три masks upon one face,
Delirium is acute — find the cause, and find it fast,
Депрессия — the treatable shadow, do not let it pass,
Dementia builds its fortress slow — distinguish, then assess,
Три маски — know them, name them — clinical success.