How Do You Know if You Are Developing Dementia
Helen met Clive Beaumont in her outset term at university. They were engaged in the summer of her second yr and married a year later.
Clive was an Oxford student and had a career in the ground forces every bit a bomb disposal officer. Nevertheless, their globe was turned upside down when he was diagnosed with early on-onset frontotemporal dementia when he was just 45.
Their children were aged three and four at the time. He died vi years later.
Hither, Helen tells us 10 things she learnt from the experience…
Dementia isn't but a part of ageing
Most people associate dementia with older people. Clive developing it at such a young age was then unexpected. It's difficult for people to understand when a person looks young and healthy.
It's not only memory loss
Dementia can mean forgetting what happened yesterday, but it tin can also mean losing the ability to read, write and even speak. Information technology tin crusade people to become disorientated, forget how to practice everyday tasks and can even change their personality.
People with dementia are still people
Once someone is diagnosed with dementia, many people human action equally if they no longer exist, except as an inconvenience.
Clive eventually lost his ability to treat himself and even recognise his family, just he still had feelings.
More: 10 things to know if a loved one has dementia
When someone has dementia, it affects anybody around them
Our children were all the same young when Clive got his diagnosis. He was an Oxford graduate, but could no longer read a bedtime story to his children.
His condition was very distressing for them, and caring for my family became very hard.
Dementia is not an inevitable office of growing former
Early-onset dementia like Clive's is rare. The condition more than commonly affects older people, although effectually 40,000 people under the age of 65 in the UK alive with dementia.
Information technology's not notwithstanding a normal part of ageing. It's caused by diseases which attack the encephalon, changing the way that someone functions and behaves in everyday life.
MORE: How to reduce your risk of Alzheimer'southward and dementia
Research is looking very positive
There'southward a lot of research going on, facilitated by charities such as Alzheimer'south Research UK, the leading dementia research clemency in the UK.
With the help of generous donations, scientists are looking for better ways to diagnose, forestall and treat and cure dementia, which 44 million people currently live with across the globe.
Information technology's about providing the right support
It's all about providing the right support. When Clive first started struggling, he was made redundant from the army. I had to piece of work part-time to bring in some money, but it was very hard looking later on two young children and my husband, who became like a third child.
Eventually, it was best to move my husband to a home where he could exist cared for properly and would not injure himself.
Everyone'southward different
Dementia affects people differently. Someone living with the condition might exist able to run a marathon, but they might also happily run down the middle of a state highway.
Information technology is a degenerative condition, meaning that the symptoms gradually become worse over time, but the timescale is impossible to predict.
Baroque-seeming behaviour has an underlying reason
Dementia can cause people to do things that we run across equally strange. Clive used to take the children to schoolhouse far too early and then leave them exterior the locked school gates past themselves. This was considering his ability to tell fourth dimension was diminishing.
People with dementia can have trouble communicating but their actions tin can tell yous a lot.
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You take to accept it 1 mean solar day at a fourth dimension
People with dementia will have both good and bad days. Every bit time goes on, the bad tend to outnumber the skilful.
It's hard when the person you've been married to for years no longer recognises you. Information technology's also hard when he's distressed and convinced that you've divorced him. But it'south amazing when you see a glimpse of the old him still in there.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Well-nigh DEMENTIA
How common is early on onset dementia?
There are currently 850,000 people in the United kingdom living with dementia and effectually xl,000 of those are under the age of 65.
The 2 most mutual causes of early-onset dementia are Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia (which affects the frontal lobes of the brain).
What are the symptoms of dementia and how can it be diagnosed?
Dementia is an umbrella term for a grouping of symptoms including retentivity and thinking difficulties, behavioural changes, problems with communication and a gradual loss of skills required for day to day tasks.
Dementia is not a normal part of ageing, it's caused past encephalon diseases that destroy brain cells.
A diagnosis volition usually offset at the GP, who will be able to assess symptoms and medical history, likewise as behave out memory and thinking tests. At this phase, someone may be referred to a memory clinic for further tests.
Is there anything that tin can be done to prevent dementia?
Nosotros still have a lot to learn, but in most cases, information technology is likely that our historic period, genes, medical history and lifestyle all contribute to our risk.
Currently there is no certain way to prevent dementia but there are steps we can take to reduce dementia risk in later life.
Researchers at present believe that 'what's good for your heart is good for your caput' and that not smoking, keeping active and exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy counterbalanced diet and keeping cholesterol and blood pressure in bank check could all help reduce dementia chance.
For more data:
Contact Alzheimer'due south Enquiry Uk at www.alzheimersresearchuk.org or call 0300 111 5555.
Learn more and come across how dementia affects the brain in this video with Christopher Eccleston
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Source: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/health/health-advice/a558977/my-husband-developed-early-onset-dementia-at-45/
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