Dementia on the increase due to the ageing population

[dave50]

If medicine and science enables people to live longer and longer with all the associated mental health problems associated with it, how is society going to cope with people having dementia towards the end of their lives for perhaps twenty or thirty years? How long is it practical to keep people alive without considering the consequences of care? To take it to an extreme, you may be able to keep someone alive on medication until they are say 130 years old but the may have had dementia for the last thirty or even forty years, is that really practical or even humane? Where will it all end?

[woofgang]

Have you worked with folk with dementia? The majority of people who get it don't have it for long because part of the problem tends to be that they wont or can't eat and drink enough resulting in UTI's (drink) and malnutrition (food) yes we are seeing an increase in folk with dementia surviving for longer but IMO, its not the "epidemic" claimed by the gutter press.

[carolegif]

Is dementia because people live longer? My mother died last August from Alzheimer's at the age of 87. Her mother lived until she was 88 and only lost her short term memory at the end. Her grandmother lived until she was 94 and was as sharp as a knife until the day she died.
I think there must be another reason people get dementia, but they haven't found it yet.

[woofgang]

carole there are all sorts of reasons. True Alzheimers is a condition where aluminium IIRC gets deposited in the brain. Some people get vascular dementia (lots of little strokes) Some dementias are linked to drinking and smoking. Some people have problems because of a mix of these. We know why in most case, what we can't do is cure it or even halt its progress.

[Edger]

Hi Dave

I know somebody who went into care with dementia in 2007 and we were told she was unlikely to live for more than 12 months.
She was certainly still alive last Friday when I visited.

John

[jake-the-peg]

Lets put it this way

There are 12,000 people in the UK over 100

There are only 5 over 110

There have only ever been 15 confirmed over 115 worldwide

I think that should answer your question about where it will all end.

110 is a pretty tough hurdle to reach even with medical advances

[Mosaic]

Just a thought - is dementia actually increasing, or is it the diagnosis that's more common now? In the past it might have been that grandad had gone forgetful. Empirical evidence please!

[keyplus90]

Living longer and living better are two different things. Where no one wants his/her loved ones to die at any age let alone young, one has to believe that death is the biggest reality. I personally would only want to live as long as I can take care of myself. Having said that, it is not entirely in our control and your loved ones "the same who do not want you to die" should be able to take care of you. But that can only happen if they had seen you taking care of your elders. Unfortunately what is happening right now is that people want their loved ones to live but do not want to care for them. Because they are either too busy or their love has boundaries.

People tell a tale where I am from. That in time gone by when parents were old people would take them and dump them in the jungle. Once a man put his mother in wheel barrow and asked his son to help him. Once in the jungle, he dumped his mother their and as he was turning away he saw that his son was trying to drag the wheel barrow. Man said, “Son, leave it we would not need it any more”. Son replied, “No dad, it would save me looking for another one once it is time for me to dump you or my mother”. That did put some thought into that man’s head.

[woofgang]

Indeed jake, and the ones who reach great age tend not to have done it on the back of massive medical support.

[jake-the-peg]

I thinkthere's a couple of things happening Mosaic

For example - my father has vascular dementia which is the second most common type - it's associated with high cholesterol - which has been increasing as our diets have deteriorated.

But also he had some unrelated health issues some years ago which without medical intervention would have killed him.

As we live longer due to better treatment for what were the killer diseases we see an increase in the diseases of old age simply because we live long enough to get them.

In the end something's going to get you