Dementia Friends: diseases of the brain

Saddleworth Dementia Friends Champion Helen Morris, from Dobcross, shares some thoughts on how dementia is caused by diseases of the brainVLUU L200  / Samsung L200

Dementia Friends Champion Helen Morris, shares some thoughts on how dementia iscaused by diseases of the brain

AS I seek out new ways to more accurately portray the experience of dementia in my Dementia Friends Information Sessions, my attendance at a research conference shed some new insights on the complexity of the condition.

Every single person living with dementia is different, with a unique brain, personality, belief system and living with one of the many different forms of disease which result in dementia.

It is however always caused by disease and is not a result of frailty in age. The most common diagnosis is Alzheimer’s disease but there are more than 100 different sub-variants and this makes it impossible to generalize about how any one person will experience dementia.

This fact was brought home to me very strongly as I worked alongside two amazing ambassadors for the dementia movement, who are both living with dementia and speaking in public about how it affects them and what we can do to make life better.

One lady was a nurse and has Alzheimer’s and she described how she knows she can get her message over but will not recall what she has said five minutes later.

The other is a retired psychiatrist with vascular dementia (blood circulation issues in the brain), who does not have short-term memory issues but mourns the loss of her memory-based skills.She had perfect recall of patient names and faces but cannot recognise people she has known a long time.

One common experience which makes them both angry is when people say, trying to beempathetic, “Oh I often lose the thread” or “I’ve never been good at names and faces.”

The lady psychiatrist commented: “This is like telling a consummate concert pianist with newly injured hands that you’ve never been able to play the piano.”

These ladies have two different diseases causing dementia yet they share a common experience of kindly-meant dismissal of something sorely missed which they experience in a very personal way.

So we can apply a good general rule – do not try to normalize a person with dementia’s sense of loss – but at the same time understand each person’s experience will be unique and so demandsour full attention.

Learning these things now may help us all as we live our longer lives. By living longer it is likely that many of us will learn to live with Dementia ourselves and / or support someone else who is close to us.

All are welcome to Helen’s Dementia Friends Information Sessions, which will next be held on:
Tuesday, February 11 at 8pm Holy Trinity Church hosted by Dobcross Ladies Group
Wednesday, February 19 at 8pm at Uppermill Sports Club hosted by Uppermill Bowling Club

For more details of local Dementia Friends Sessions please visit http://www.close-communications.com/dementia-friends