Did it start with anxiety?

[Rosie Apple]

Hi
I'm a new member. My husband received a diagnosis of vascular dementia a week ago, so it's still early days for us, on what could be a long journey. I am already grateful to have found such a wealth of advice and support here.

I was very interested to read about the first signs that people noticed of their loved ones dementia. I felt like shouting 'Yesss...' to everything I was reading!


My OH has been on medication for anxiety for about 5 years which just got worse and worse , each 'worry' was more irrational than the previous one. Then I started to notice some confusion too. He still has a good memory, which I believe is often the case with vascular.

I just wondered if anyone knows how common it is for anxiety to be the first symptom?

 

[Canadian Joanne]

I don't know if anxiety would be the first symptom but I think it is a fairly common early one. Yes, the worry can be quite irrational but pointing that out won't get you brownie points.

Have you spoken to his doctor regarding a possible change in medication?

 

[Rosie Apple]

Thank you for the suggestion,Joanne. The doctor from the Assessment Service said he would recommend changing the medication to our G.P. Maybe my next step must be to contact him . At the moment the anxiety is the biggest problem for him. He has been saying for ages that he knows there is something wrong, so actually having a diagnosis has been almost a bit of a relief. At least we know what is happening now and can start to try and deal with it.