Hi, my name is Chris, male aged 52.
Three years ago i had a small stoke and was left with just some balance problems. When i was in hospital the doctor said i was having multiple tia's and considered that i had multi-infarct vascular dementia.
I had several tests and a spec and MRI scan, the neurologist said i had substantial damage in the middle of my brain and prodominent shrinkage to the frontal lobe.
Over the next year the tia's kept coming and several visits to the hospital. Two years ago my stroke consultant confirmed formally that i had vascular dementia. I then had a series of tests with a neurophsycoligist to test my cognitive function and agreed with the diagnosis. Basically i have had all the tests that i could think of. The tia's over more recent times have dramatically reduced due to the blood thining medication i take.
So coming to my problem........ I have a very poor short term memory and keep asking the same questions about something that my wife has said, forget how to do simple tasks, get confused, get exhausted even without exercise, forget how to spell, if talking to someone get lost as to what the original question was, but after two years of diagnosis i can still basically hold a conversation as if there was nothing wrong with me ?? People think i seem fine and can't understand when i tell them what is wrong with me. So i wonder have i really got dementia ?? Is there anyone who is the same as me or can give me some help. Thank you for reading my thread.
Three years ago i had a small stoke and was left with just some balance problems. When i was in hospital the doctor said i was having multiple tia's and considered that i had multi-infarct vascular dementia.
I had several tests and a spec and MRI scan, the neurologist said i had substantial damage in the middle of my brain and prodominent shrinkage to the frontal lobe.
Over the next year the tia's kept coming and several visits to the hospital. Two years ago my stroke consultant confirmed formally that i had vascular dementia. I then had a series of tests with a neurophsycoligist to test my cognitive function and agreed with the diagnosis. Basically i have had all the tests that i could think of. The tia's over more recent times have dramatically reduced due to the blood thining medication i take.
So coming to my problem........ I have a very poor short term memory and keep asking the same questions about something that my wife has said, forget how to do simple tasks, get confused, get exhausted even without exercise, forget how to spell, if talking to someone get lost as to what the original question was, but after two years of diagnosis i can still basically hold a conversation as if there was nothing wrong with me ?? People think i seem fine and can't understand when i tell them what is wrong with me. So i wonder have i really got dementia ?? Is there anyone who is the same as me or can give me some help. Thank you for reading my thread.