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.

.... Or the wealthy who can afford the drugs get tested and treated while the rest of us are advised to self euthanize at 75

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · Today 10:39
Just to add, my DM was on HRT literally for decades, so in her case that was certainly not a dementia-preventive factor.”
As was mine, over 30 years. Though she only started to develop in her mid-80s. Maybe it would have been earlier without?
Either way, the new drug break throughs are good news. Trying to raise the subject with someone in complete denial in lucid periods though, when the suggestion is met with deep offence and anger, another matter altogether ……

I do find it odd how much we do to prolong life in people whose quality of life is already so poor. I don’t know why for example our 92 year old grandma who doesn’t know her own name half the time is given flu jab etc. a dose of flu would probably be a far kinder way to go than waiting for her swallow function to go and starve or choke to death. It’s all a bit bleak really. I would much rather go in my mid 80s than cling on with a low quality of life.

Yea it’s about quality of life - so if hrt or another drug prevents / delays you getting dementia for some years then great. Something will get us all in the end.

good point about the flu jab etc I won’t bother beyond a certain age

There is a very large study going on right now (I believe it's called AHEAD, but I could be incorrect) where these new drugs are being used to treat people that do not currently have Alzheimer's but are at significantly increased risk due to family history or genetic markers.

It looks very promising. We could possibly see a time in the not-too-distant future where we're able to prevent Alzheimer's or slow it's progression to the point that it's treated more like a chronic disease such as diabetes or HIV.

I truly don't see a cure on the horizon (sadly), and these drugs don't appear to improve dementia not caused by ALZ, but for the first time there seems to be real, tangible hope.

@Bunnycat101 to stop her passing flu to other care home residents who do still enjoy life.

Women in my family did not take HRT, only one had dementia. In her nineties.

Not every woman gets dementia. Sounds like you have good genes. But women get more dementia than men at every age which is why the research is including hormone changes.