It’s a difficult issue to talk about, but 1 in 14 people over 65 and 1 in 6 people over 80 has Dementia. That's about 850,000 people in the UK. We need to talk about Dementia.

We all forget things from time to time, it’s common to walk in to rooms and forget why we went in there and that’s perfectly normal. However, if you, your friends or family are noticing memory problems getting worse, or if they are affecting daily life, then it is very important to contact your Doctor to get help.

Common early symptoms of Dementia:

There are a number of types of dementia and they can all affect people differently, and everyone will experience symptoms in their own way. However, there are some common early symptoms that may appear some time before a diagnosis of dementia. These include:

• memory loss
• difficulty concentrating
• finding it hard to carry out familiar daily tasks
• struggling to follow a conversation or find the right word
• being confused about time and place
• mood changes

Common types of Dementia include: Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, among others.

Whatever type of dementia a person has, everyone will experience the condition differently. Dementia is progressive and the way it affects a person over time will be different too. However, many people stay independent for years whilst living with Dementia.

Who does it affect?

Dementia is not just what happens as you age. A common reassurance as you become forgetful is ‘Oh, that’s just what happens as you get older’, but Dementia is not a normal aspect of aging. It is caused by damage to the brain by disease, which changes the chemistry and structure of the Brain.

Dementia doesn’t just affect older people either. The chances of developing Dementia does increase as you get older and it is more common among women than men, but early-onset Dementia affects over 40,000 younger men and women in the UK.

People can live well with Dementia

Whilst there is currently no cure for Dementia, there are many drug treatments available that can stop symptoms progressing for a while. There are also approaches that don’t involve drugs to help people cope with living with Dementia.

An early Diagnosis can help you stay well for longer, get the best treatment as well as help you and your family to get support and plans in place as soon as possible.

Get Help

If you are worried about your memory the first step is to make an appointment with your GP. Your GP can help rule out other conditions that may be causing memory problems and help you get the help you need.

More information:

www.alzheimers.org.uk

www.nhs.uk/conditions/dementia/about

www.dementiauk.org