(Extract from the Mind Publication "Understanding Dementia ")

'I first realised something was wrong when she started to ring me at work 10 or 11times in a single afternoon.  Also around that time she would get up in the middle of the night and announce it was time to go shopping'. 'What worries me most is his smoking.  His clothes are peppered with holes, and he's already started a fire at the local hospital by throwing a lighted match into a waste paper bin'.

'It's such a shock when your own wife fails to recognize you.  "Where's John?" she used to say.  "Here I am!" I would answer.  "Not you, the other one", she would reply.  It breaks your heart.

'It's put Mum under so much stress.  It's like having another child to look after.  Sometimes though you have to laugh.  I mean, Grand really believes I want to steal her underwear."

'My mother died from a hereditary form of dementia, so yes, I'm at risk.  It's a daily anxiety, a daily worry.  Most days go by fine, then you drop something, or hesitate over a word, and all the fears come tumbling back'.

Dementia is a term riddled with misunderstanding.  Most people think of it as an inevitable part of the ageing process – an illness which causes forgetfulness in elderly people.  Yet it is a myth that memory loss inevitably accompanies ageing: the fact that one in five people over 80 will develop dementia also means that four out of five will not.  It is also a myth that dementia is restricted to elderly people. Within the umbrella term ‘dementia’ there are many different diseases, some of which can occur in people as young as 35.

What Dementia Is

Dementia is the name given to a group of diseases that affect the normal working functions of the brain.  Although the causes are largely unknown, the effects are all to familiar: a progressive, irreversible and relentless destruction of brain cells leads to loss of memory, confusion, and personality and behaviour changes.

The biological and irreversible nature of dementia makes it fundamentally different from other forms of mental distress.  The illness cannot be halted or reversed.  Those affected cannot get better.

Also, unlike many other illnesses, dementia does not appear to be linked with social class, ethnic group or geographical location.

Topics also included in this leaflet are: