Myth busting dementia

Welcome to my regular column on dementia. With the growing number of people living with dementia (forecast to be 1.6m in the UK by 2040) more and more of us will be affected by dementia in one way or another. This month I want to focus on myth busting.

Myth 1 - Dementia is what happens when you get older. Actually, dementia is caused by diseases of the brain, the risk of developing many of these diseases does increase with age however it is not inevitable by any means.

Myth 2 - Dementia is a mild form of Alzheimer’s Disease. In reality, dementia is the umbrella term to describe a set of symptoms which can be caused by a large number of different diseases of the brain. Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common of these (over 70% of people with dementia have Alzheimer’s Disease). Other common types you may hear of are Lewy Body Dementia and Vascular Dementia.

Myth 3 - There is no point in getting a diagnosis. It is important to get a diagnosis. For some types of dementia there are treatments which can be very beneficial and slow down the progression of the disease significantly. Support is often only available to those who have a diagnosis. 

Myth 4 - People with dementia are aggressive. There are times when people with dementia get frustrated because people do not understand them or because they have forgotten something and this might come out as anger. There is also one (fairly uncommon) form of dementia which does affect people’s personality and this can make people behave in an aggressive manner. In my experience people living with dementia are not aggressive.

Myth 5 - Dementia is just losing your memory. Memory loss is a common symptom of dementia, in particular, of Alzheimer’s Disease where it usually affects people’s short-term memory first. However, people with dementia don’t always have memory loss and there are other symptoms, like confusion and changes in your perception. A bit of memory loss does not necessarily mean you are developing dementia.

Dementia is a very frightening thought, however I do want to reassure that many people live very happily with dementia for many years. Next month I will start to focus on living well with dementia.

Alastair Shanks, Owner Right at Home GF and Dementia Friends Champion