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Anyone who wants to know more about dementia but is bamboozled by the amount of information online, should consider attending a talk this month at Whangaparāoa Library for some clear and well researched advice.
Auckland Dementia advisor Brendan Hallam has a PhD in the topic, with a special interest in risk factors for the disease. He has worked in the field for more than a decade. The talk he will bring to the library is called Understanding Dementia and will include signs and symptoms, management and preventative measures.
He says the focus is to provide positive, practical information and advice.
Hallam says there could be as many as 200 types of dementia, some very rare. However, a handful of the most common ones, including Alzheimers, vascular dementia and frontal temporal dementia, account for 95 to 99 percent of cases. All have slightly different changes that happen initially, which can make diagnosis challenging, and treatments can vary too.
“Walking into a room and forgetting why you’re there, forgetting where you put something or repeating yourself occasionally, happens to everyone and is normal,” he says. “However, sometimes people experience changes in their memory, language, thinking and judgement that are serious enough for family and friends to notice something is wrong. There could be many reasons for these changes, but one of them could be the onset of dementia.”
If friends or family notice a change in someone’s memory, language, thinking or judgement, it might be time to seek a memory (cognitive) assessment from a GP. This will first consider whether there are potential causes, other than dementia, that could be treated. However, if the doctor cannot find any other reasons for the changes, the patient may be referred to a specialist. This would typically include a brain scan, to see if there are physical changes in the brain that may be caused by dementia.
Hallam is particularly interested in the risk factors that might affect an individual’s chance of developing dementia.
They can be a combination of age, genetics, physical, environmental or social and include obesity, smoking, high alcohol intake, high blood pressure and some less obvious ones such as air pollution, hearing loss, social isolation and head injuries.
Physically, Hallam says anything that is good for the heart is also good for the brain.
“So physical activity, diet and keeping socially active can reduce the risk, as well as keeping your brain active,” he says.
It’s an illness where the journey can be short, or long. Hallam knows of people who have had dementia for 15 years, with subtle changes over that time while others have a faster decline over only a few years. He says a lot depends on the type of dementia, the age you get it and a person’s general health.
There is a huge impact on carers, and the talk will also touch on practical things to assist them, such as communication and dealing with anger and frustration.
Understanding Dementia is at Whangaparāoa Library on July 30, 11am. RSVP WhangaparaoaLibraryEvents@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz For info about risk factors and brain health: https://alzheimers.org.nz/about-dementia/reducing-the-risk/
