Simulation shows just how heartbreaking suffering with dementia can be
An erringly accurate simulation video shows what it can look like to live with dementia.
Approximately, more than six million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common type of dementia.
It kills more people than breast and prostate cancer.
Take a look at Alzheimer’s Research UK's simulation below:
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Although the UK charity released the footage back in 2016, it still holds value to this day.
In the video, we see a woman walking home through the streets and coming across numerous obstacles along the way.
She takes the wrong directions, mistakes strangers for people she knows and suffers from a host of familiar symptoms, such as difficulty concentrating and being confused about where she is.
On their website, Alzheimer’s Research UK explained how it all works.
They wrote: “Dementia is a misunderstood condition.
“Many people believe it’s just a by-product of ageing.
“We tend to not think beyond memory loss when it comes to symptoms.
“The reality is that dementia is a condition caused by diseases, most commonly Alzheimer’s, that damage different areas of the brain leading to a variety of challenging symptoms.
“Because dementia is so complex, and each person’s experience of it is unique, we can’t tell every story, but we hope the one we tell through A Walk Through Dementia will help you think a little differently about dementia.”
In a new study, scientists have explained how they discovered subtle signs of dementia up to nine years before diagnosis.
If at-risk patients are screened early enough, it is possible to reduce their risk of developing further issues.
Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, researchers looked at the past history of patients and 'it became clear that they were showing some cognitive impairment several years before their symptoms became obvious enough to prompt a diagnosis'.
"The impairments were often subtle, but across a number of aspects of cognition," study author Nol Swaddiwudhipong, a junior doctor at the University of Cambridge, explained.
"This is a step towards us being able to screen people who are at greatest risk - for example, people over 50 or those who have high blood pressure or do not do enough exercise - and intervene at an earlier stage to help them reduce their risk."
Problem solving and number recall were two examples of the early signs of developing dementia, UK Biobank database data, used in the study, suggested.
Senior author, Dr Tim Rittman, added: “People should not be unduly worried if, for example, they are not good at recalling numbers.
“Even some healthy individuals will naturally score better or worse than their peers.
“But we would encourage anyone who has any concerns or notices that their memory or recall is getting worse to speak to their GP.”
Topics: Health
Anish Vij