Dementia Information

Hopes and Fears Dementia Information - Dr Simon Manchip – Psycho-geriatrician, Swindon

1. Dementia is a description of symptoms, rather than a diagnosis and usually has mixed and multiple causes. These include: Alzheimer’s; a disease due to abnormal proteins being produced in the brain, Vascular Dementia due to narrowing of small blood vessels in the brain, and long standing Parkinson’s disease.

2. There is no specific diagnostic test available, but the diagnosis can be made from the history and a specifically designed memory test. A head Scan and Blood tests are usually done to exclude other possible diagnoses

3. The symptoms of dementia are not just forgetting and short term memory problems, but also includes: loss of recognition of people and objects, speech quality deteriorates, apathy, loss of sense of smell, loss of ability to link information and personality traits become more exaggerated.

4. It is increasingly common with age: by 90yrs old 1in 3 people will have dementia. This also means 2/3 people will be unaffected. The incidence is going down as risk factors are being more often recognised and managed earlier.

5. Risk factors for Dementia include: smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, irregular heart rhythm (Atrial fibrillation), high cholesterol, Diabetes Mellitus. It is possible to reduce risk of Dementia by 40% if all of the possible risks factors are reduced.

6. Protective factors include: regular daily exercise strenuous enough to make you mildly short of breath and put up your heart rate, a small amount of alcohol daily ; 1-2 units alcohol/day for women, 2-3 units for men. (1unit = 1 small glass of wine or ½ pt normal strength beer) and a Mediterranean diet, which includes mostly fresh vegetables, fruit and fish and is low in animal fat such as red and processed meat, cheese and other dairy products.

7. Best practice management includes early recognition, daily exercise, use of drugs like Aricept, which will help to stabilise the disease for 2yrs aprox. Early recognition allows patients to put financial affairs in order, make a will, arrange power of attorney, make lifestyle choices, and for the general public to understand the disease better. The government is working towards more rapid diagnosis and more community support.

8. The Meeting was attended by 2 local counsellors aiming to make Wiltshire “Dementia Friendly” along with Wiltshire County Council who are “Dementia Aware”. Wootten Bassett has been chosen as a pilot site. A memory café runs monthly for people with Dementia. Opportunities exist for locals to become involved in their campaign and a tool kit information pack and “forget me not badge” are available. There is also a research trial at Kingshill, Victoria Centre underway with opportunities for patients and families to take part.