Jason Foo, the CEO of ADA (Alzheimer’s Disease Association), Singapore, shares his views on the rising levels of the disease, how personalised treatment can help and also how spreading awareness can remove the existing stigma.
What are the possible reasons for increase in Young onset dementia? (Is there a difference between Young onset dementia and early onset dementia?)
Young Onset Dementia (YOD) and Early Onset Dementia (EOD) refer to the same condition which is dementia affecting people…
Dementia
Dr. Sridhar Vaitheswaran explains how supporting a person with dementia effectively in a dementia friendly community can improve not only their wellbeing but also improve caregiver satisfaction, decrease burden and contribute to the society’s progress. The story of Mr Arun Mr Arun is a seventy-year old retired government employee. He lives with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren in Chennai. He helps with the chores such as shopping and paying bills. He also visits a…
Every three seconds one person in the world develops dementia. Dr Amit Dias, an epidemiologist and geriatrician who is one of the leaders of the dementia awareness movement in India, throws light on ADI’s ‘Remember Me’ campaign as the World observes the Alzheimer’s Awareness month in September. What does the ‘Remember Me’ campaign mean to you? ‘Remember Me’ is a global campaign initiated by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), UK that reminds me that I need to step up my efforts…
Dr Sudhir Kumar, a consultant with specialisation in old age psychiatry and neuropsychiatric disorders discusses his views on the importance of Dementia Friendly Communities (DFCs) and how India needs to work more towards it Dementia-friendly communities help people with dementia feel included and supported in the day to day surrounding – the places they work, live and play A dementia-friendly community focuses on spreading awareness about dementia and providing a safe and supportive…
With a palliative care policy formulated in 2008, Kerala has become a path-breaker and a model for the rest of the country. Professor Devi Vijay of IIM Calcutta provides some insights into this community-based aspect of health care. 1. What can the rest of the country learn from the success of the Kerala palliative care story?How can other countries and communities leverage this community-based model? There are several elements of the Kerala palliative care movement worth examining…
Misconceptions, early warning signs and the latest reseach that offers hope… PatientsEngage interviews Dr.Jacob Roy Kuriakose, Vice President, Alzheimer’s Disease International on the occasion of World Alzheimer’s Month. 62% of people with dementia live in low- and middle-income countries. Why is this? Is it due to lifestyle, diet or lack of awareness? What can be done to lower the numbers? With increasing life expectancy, number of people with dementia is going up. …
Swapna Kishore was a caregiver for her mother for many years. She has created many online resources for dementia caregivers in India, including an English website, Dementia Care Notes and its Hindi version Dementia Hindi. Here, she answers some questions by PatientsEngage. Please tell us about your mother's early dementia symptoms and how her condition progressed. My mother's early symptoms included mild disorientation, memory problems, and repeating herself…
A review of "Still Alice" by Ekta Hattangady, from India who was 13 when her mother was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's at 43. Ekta became her Primary Caregiver at the age of 16. My final verdict would be…it’s a great movie. It’s not reality. Not every person with Alzheimer’s would be like this…some may be a lot worse…especially in the case of Early Onset Dementia. Everything you saw in this movie, multiply it by 10,000 times and then you may be somewhere close to what it is like…
Nytol, Benadryl, Ditropan and Piriton among the medications identified by scientists as raising likelihood of dementia A report published online this week in JAMA Internal Medicine offers compelling evidence of a link between long-term use of anticholinergic medications like Benadryl and dementia. Anticholinergic drugs block the action of acetylcholine. This substance transmits messages in the nervous system. In the brain, acetylcholine is involved in learning and memory. In the…
