To find dementia statistics frightening

[Collins567]

Having done some reading yesterday , it was stated that approx 1 in 1000 under 65s will develop it. That's really quite a high number, pretty much one pupil from each high school roughly.
After 65, that number shoots up, I think it was 1 in 20, which is terrifying.
65 is really no age at all.
I am thinking about Fiona Phillips who has recently revealed her diagnosis, and I have known of a 56 year old lady with late-stage dementia.
I have worked in dementia care homes so know exactly what it is, I have seen a lot of things that wouldn't be very pleasant to describe.
It just seems like a bit of a lottery. My Grandma currently has it and my other grandma who is no longer with us was starting with it before she died at 84, she became vey paranoid.
As it's in the family, it makes me even more worried.
I don't smoke, don't drink, exercise and so on.
Does anyone else worry about this a lot? I know there are now treatments which are supposed to really slow the prognosis but still no cure.

Two people in my family have had dementia but was really only noticeable in year before they died. Lots of people who live to a very old age get it. But those with a normal life expectancy are unlikely to get it or if they do Bly for a short time before they die. Those living with dementia for years are the minority. So no wonder don't worry.

As a nurse I feel like I see this so much now, it is such an awful disease that takes so much. I find it so difficult to care for these people it is so heartbreaking.
However there was some good news recently, regarding a new drug that appears to be having success.

More people are living longer than ever before. There has to be something that kills them in the end.

I suppose we maybe notice it more as like you say, we're living longer than ever.
Yes I read about the drug, that's fantastic news.

My family has the nightmarish combination of severe dementia with long (female) life expectancy. If and when I get the diagnosis I'm doing whatever I want for 3 years then I'm out of here. I decided this when I was 15 and I have never wavered. Not because I hate life but on the contrary, because I enjoy it very much.

Dementia is a horrible condition but those suffer ending with early onset are still.quite rare I worked as a,nurse in dementia care for many years and most people who had a diagnosis were 80+
There are also many different types of dementia too
And with some a persons memory can fluctuate

There have been treatment s that slowed the the.symptoms of dementia around since the 1990,s but these were predominantly for Alzheimer's
I haven t worked as a nurse for a number.of years so.i.don't know if there are newer treatments ?

Part my work is in Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia prevention.

We use metabolic therapy as a preventative measure. Whole food, low carb/keto diet along with other metabolic treatments like light exposure, exercise, red light therapy, cold therapy and other mitochondrial treatments.

Its extremely effective but the problem is that people don’t realise how detrimental modern food and lifestyle is. Just go read the Nik Naks thread to see how many people think that food like products are innocuous but they’re not. They and all other UPFs are extremely harmful to health.

There is some research that shows a common strain of dementia is common among T2 diabetics and is sometimes referred to as T3 diabetes. I suppose one way to help yourself, genetic factors not withstanding, is minimising your risks and living a healthy and mentally stimulating life

I honestly think we should have the right to be put down once we get a diagnosis of dementia/Alzheimer’s.

I would tend to agree having worked in the field.

I told DH that I would be going to Switzerland if I was diagnosed.

You are not being unreasonable to find dementia terrifying.

My only experience with it is knowing people either early onset (hideous) but also someone later in life. It almost seems like a curse that he took care of himself physically because as such, he is now living a much longer life in a care home without a clue as to what is going on and its going to drag on much longer.

Those with early onset is also devastating. I know someone who was recently diagnosed and is already unable to drive, cook, make a coffee etc.

It terrifies me. I had a parent develop it in their late 40s, they went down hill extremely quickly and died in their mid 50s. I’m so worried it’s hereditary (unfortunately little family history but the little digging I’ve done shows that other family members have died around 60). If I ever get any indication I have EOA then I will not be letting my children (and they will still be children if I’m in my 40s) watch me go the same way.

I’ve also read that unsupported/undiagnosed adhd can lead to a higher rate of developing dementia later, though I’m not sure how certified this is. It makes sense, the brain is a computer and if it’s running to hard then a crash is inevitable to my mind. There were obvious adhd traits in the parent who passed along with myself. Other factors that can affect you neurologically would also have a similar effect, along with concurrent conditions such as Parkinson’s.

I'm off to Switzerland if i'm still alive at 80. I'll have a great big party for my 80th and a lovely day and then just quietly go a few days later, thinking about the party and my loved ones who were with me that day.

Yes. That's what i'm gonna do. The thought of lingering on for years with dementia is horrifying. I work in that industry.

@LMNT if you are serious about that you need to plan ahead. Dignitas is expensive. But you can become a member now.

I assume I'll get it. Both my gran and her sister had it for years, as does, now, my mother. Strangely she never thought she'd succumb whereas, even before her diagnosis, I assumed it was inevitable.

Totally agree. It is barbaric that we don't have the right to choose and arrange our own death, whilst we still have the capacity to do so. Changing the law on this would remove the fear for thousands of people.

Those thinking they will kill themselves if they get dementia may not find it so straightforward. Many people don't realise they have it at the stage they could do that. My mum was diagnosed 2 years ago and it was obvious to everyone else what was happening 3 or 4 years before that. The nature of memory problems means she doesn't realise how forgetful she is because she doesn't remember forgetting/getting confused. She thinks she manages perfectly fine because she doesn't remember how much support she gets from family. She doesn't think she's got dementia and she thinks she's never seen a doctor about memory problems but she's even had a brain scan that she's forgotten all about.
On a day to day basis she copes provided everything is routine and someone manages her medication. But she can't manage her medication - unpacks dossette boxes, either forgets to take meds or forgets she has and takes them multiple times. And if anything goes wrong or is unusual someone has to pick up the peices. But she forgets all the problems ever happened. She can be distressed to the point of sobbing but distract her with cake and half an hour later she's forgotten it happened.
Even if she had ever thought of suicide following a dementia diagnosis she wouldn't do it because she doesn't think it's happening to her. And that us very common.

It’s common with older dementia. Some early onset is genetic and can be caught sooner. I’m planning to have genetic testing in the next couple of years.

@countrygirl99 that's so sad for your mum and your family and I often wonder this re the realisation vs being able
to do something about it.

I thought the same, as my father has dementia and watching him deteriorate is awful. However, I have a horrible feeling you can't consent to it if you are not compos mentis, which either means you have to go too early (before any real decline) or you leave it too late and they won't take you. Very annoying.

The type of dementia my dad has is fronto-temporal, which is a rarer kind, and apparently has a higher level of genetic heritability than the others 😫

The likelihood of getting it increases a great deal with age. Having seen far too much of it in this family (but only in late 70s/80s/90s, yes, it’s the one disease I dread more than any other.

As for new treatments, delaying the decline, I’m not sure. My DM had Alzheimer’s for around 15 years anyway, start to finish, until she died at 97.

So I’m inclined to think that if I’m going to get it, I’d like the galloping variety, please. A friend’s neighbour went from fine to dead in only about 3 years - it’d be a lot less worry and heartache for dds - not to mention probably care home fees - and fewer years of the endless fretfulness, anxiety, and appalling loss of dignity for me.

NB I would not say the same for anyone with early-onset dementia.

@countrygirl99 , you’re so right.

When her elder sister had dementia some years earlier, my DM said over and over that if she ever got like that, she’d have a supply of pills under the mattress.

She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s fairly early on, and appeared to accept it when the GP told her (Dbro was with her.)

By the time she got home only about 15 minutes later she had completely forgotten and angrily denied that there was anything wrong with her when we gently tried to remind her. So we never bothered again, no point.

What people often fail to understand re dementia, is that the reason people deny that they’ve got it, is because at any given moment, they can’t remember that they can’t remember anything. If that makes sense.

My DM still honestly thought there was nothing wrong with her (it wasn’t ‘denial’) when she could no longer even make herself a cup of tea.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I can never make up my mind whether it's better for the person with dementia to forget. It must be a nightmare if you understand what's going to happen balanced against possibly being more accepting of the help needed. My mum gets a right hump every time I fill her pivotell insisting it isn't needed. And when she had a mouse infestation due to putting food in random places and forgetting it was there it wasn't dealt with until I got the mugs out for tea and found they all had poo in them because she instantly forgot she'd seen a mouse so we didn't know they were there. DS (who was visiting from abroad) and I spent all afternoon scrubbing the kitchen clean and that evening she phoned to ask when I was coming up as she'd forgotten we had been there.

Escapefromhell · Today 08:35
More people are living longer than ever before. There has to be something that kills them in the end”

This. When the state pension was put in place, most people died just a few years after retiring. Many people now can be retired for as long as they worked. Everybody wears out in the end.