Rye Medical Centre and the Ferry Road Surgery’s Patient Participation Groups hosted a talk, chaired by Jacky Dudfield, at Rye County Primary School on dementia, presented by Dr Lindsay Hadley of the Memory Assessment Service. She said dementia is a combination of symptoms and has various causes, most commonly Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. People living with dementia have difficulty with their memory, with reasoning and thinking clearly and also with perception and communication. But, though many people have the same symptoms, everyone’s experience of dementia is unique.
Over 800,000 people in the UK have dementia and this number is expected to rise to over a million by 2021. There are several types of dementia , she said, including Alzheimer’s disease and one associated with Parkinson’s disease. Mention was also made of “mild cognitive impairment” when people have some problems with their memory, but do not actually have dementia.
Her talk progressed to describe the many symptoms that may be associated with dementia ranging through memory loss, loss of initiative, personality change, and many others – and her final advice was that, if you are concerned, go and see your GP and seek an early diagnosis.
Hastings and Rother are fortunate in having a Memory Assessment Service embedded within the Primary Care Trust and available through GP referral, and Dr Hadley outlined the scope of this valuable resource before moving on to answer the question: “Is there any treatment?” This led to advice on the various drugs available such as Cholinesterase inhibitors, Memantine, AChEIs and their applications and limitations.
In interacting with dementia sufferers we were warned that rational arguments do not work and advised to let things go to avoid upsetting them. Do not remind them of things that they have forgotten as it may re-open an old unhappy situation, and never make someone with dementia feel foolish for getting lost or losing track. And finally, make time to be with them and to listen.
At the end of her interesting talk Dr. Hadley introduced Gemma Avery, a dementia adviser, who described the service that is available to people with dementia and their families whether it has been already diagnosed or is on the way to diagnosis. As dementia often requires the use of legal services, the organisers had arranged for two people from Heringtons Solicitors to be available for questions.
Photo: Kenneth Bird
Image Credits: Rye News Library .