Worried

[kstevenson]

I have been on anti-depressants for nearly 2 years for panic attacks although i do not get the panic attacks at all now, over the past 4 weeks i have lowered my medication as i am gradually cutting down as i am coming off them.

I am not depressed and my wife agrees with me on this.

I have been asking my wife lately whether she has seen any changes in me but she keeps saying she hasn't seen any changes not even little ones.

But i know my memory is abit sluggish but i would not say it was terrible.

As mentioned by someone above only a handful of people around my age in the whole country develop dementia and there is usually a family history of early onset dementia or an inherited condition, but there is no family history of dementia or any neurological illness in my family.

As mentioned above my mum's mum and dad are 63 and 67, my dad's mum is 68 years old and my dad's dad died aged 70 from cancer, so my family history is known and is clear so surely for someone my age to develop dementia would be very highly unlikely? almost impossible?

I am doing afew stupid things lately and it is really worrying me, i am as mentioned above looking into every mistake that i make recently and it's making me worry myself alot.

I seem to get my words muddled up quite alot as well, and sometimes i forget my words as well and i know this can be quite normal but also i know that it can be a sign of dementia

I have got a doctor's appointment but it is not until just over 2 weeks time, but i cannot see the doctor doing much because of my age, they will probably dismiss everything and i don't have much faith in doctor's either because i feel they do not do enough for people.

My wife seems to think it is impossible that i could have dementia or a brain disease or neurological disease and is not being very supportive because she just thinks i am being really stupid but i don't think that i am.

 

[kstevenson]

As i have said before i used to smoke around 10 a day but i gave this up afew years ago now, i hardly ever drink alcohol, i would say i drink maybe a pint of beer every couple of months if that and i have never touched any kind of drugs, my blood pressure is 130/80 which is totally normal and i used to have high cholestrol but it has come down quite alot now so that should rule out vascular dementia.

There is no family history of early onset dementia or alzheimer's or any other dementia like pick's diesease or any other neurological illness.

I am still looking into every little mistake i make which is something that i have got to try and stop doing.

But hopefully i do not have dementia, as someone said there are very few cases in the country where people my age have dementia and that is usually caused by something that has been inherited.

 

[kstevenson]

When i say i look into every single mistake i make take yesterday for example i was supposed to say to my wife "i still have afew things coming" and i ended up saying "i still have afew stuff coming" which to me seems very stupid and looks like my language skills and intelligence is not as good, i know any normal person could possible do the same thing.

And also yesterday on the computer i was supposed to type windows media centre and instead i typed windows media center center.

When i do things like this it really worried me especially when i am doing things like 3-5 times per day.

 

[Sheila]

Hiya, you are doing the right thing in getting it checked out. There are loads of reasons why you could be experiencing this lack of concentration and memory gliches. Try not to worry too much. When you speak to the GP, just explain whats been happening and let them take it from there. Make notes to take if you think you will dry up or forget something important, I always do. Theres loads of tests they can do and loads of treatments for problems that could cause this, not just dementia. Even stress and worrying can do it, does for me! Please let us know how you get on, thinking of you and sending you a big hug. Love She. XX

 

[kstevenson]

Thanks for your reply,

I have been looking at a report from the imperial college and dementia research group based on young onset dementia.

It is interesting but some of it worries me slightly, you have probably seen
this report before, the report shows:-

CASES OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE

35-39 years old 1%
40-44 years old 5%
45-49 years old 3%
50-54 years old 18%
55-59 years old 35%
60-64 years old 37%

CASES OF VASCULAR DEMENTIA

35-39 years old 1%
40-44 years old 5%
45-49 years old 3%
50-54 years old 18%
55-59 years old 35%
60-64 years old 37%

CASES OF FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA

40-44 years old 13%
45-49 years old 22%
50-54 years old 9%
55-59 years old 26%
60-64 years old 30%

CASES OF DEMENTIA WITH LEWY BODIES

Under 35 years old 8%
40-44 years old 8%
50-54 years old 17%
55-59 years old 17%
60-64 years old 50%

ALCOHOL RELATED DEMENTIA

40-44 years old 11%
45-49 years old 21%
50-54 years old 28%
55-59 years old 26%
60-64 years old 16%

OTHER CAUSES OF DEMENTIA

Under 35 years old 29%
35-39 years old 6%
40-44 years old 9%
45-49 years old 9%
50-54 years old 11%
55-59 years old 17%
60-64 years old 20%

When this study was done these are the estimated number of cases of dementia
in each age group.

30-34 years old 558 CASES
35-39 years old 308 CASES
40-44 years old 614 CASES
45-49 years old 1257 CASES
50-54 years old 1924 CASES
55-59 years old 4473 CASES
60-64 years old 4768 CASES

THE OTHER CAUSES OF DEMENTIA ARE:-

Huntington's Disease
Multiple Sclerosis
Down's Syndrome
Corticobasal Degeneration
Prion Disease
Parkinson's Disease
Presenile Dementia

RATE PER 100,000 AT RISK

Huntington's Disease 4.7 per 100,000
Multiple Sclerosis 4.1 per 100,000
Down's Syndrome 1.6 per 100,000
Corticobasal Degeneration 1.0 per 100,000
Prion Disease 1.0 per 100,000
Parkinson's Disease 1.0 per 100,000
Presenile Dementia 4.1 per 100,000

What worries me on this report is that it shows that in other causes of dementia
in 29% of cases the patients were under 35 years old and this percentage
was higher than any other age group which is a worry.

It does show however that hardly anyone below the age of 39 develops alzheimers
or vascular dementia.

But however in 8% of cases of dementia with lewy bodies the patients were
under 35 years old and again that percentage is quite high.

What is the rate of progression of dementia in younger people? does it develop
more rapidly than it does in older people say people over 65 years old?

Thank you for your time.

 

[Sheila]

Hi K, I'm afraid I cant be much help there as I dont know the answers to your question, sorry. Your GP may have information though. Please do try not to read too many things into these figures,its like reading a medical dictionary, you can get yourself in a right old state. Have you made an appointment yet? Love She. XX

 

[kstevenson]

I am just waiting to see my doctor now, my wife will not come with me to the appointment because she thinks that i am being totally stupid and that there is no chance of me having some kind of brain disease or dementia etc.

I don't think i am being stupid, but would someone tell me if you had dementia surely you wouldn't notice your memory lapses and things that you do wrong, isn't it others around you who notice it first like close friends and family?

I have geniunely been having problems with memory and sometimes i have difficulty getting words out and sometimes i have slowed thinking.

I am terrified that i have got dementia or something, i am only 24 years old i feel it is way too young to have something like that.

I know for sure that if i did have dementia especially at this age then i would not want to live i would rather get a gun to my head and that is something i am very serious about because i would not want to suffer like that.

I could cope better maybe if i was in my 60's and 70's and have lived my life but i am only at the beginning of my life and there would be no life for me if i had dementia at this age.

 

[kstevenson]

I think that i have already more or less convinced myself that i have dementia or something very similair and that my life will be over maybe before i am 30 years old or maybe before i am 35 years old.

I am very very scared, but i thought that people with dementia especially at the beginning are not aware that something is wrong and it is down to relatives to point it out and encourage the person to go to the doctors?

But the fact is i am very aware of my memory and thinking problems and afew other problems that i have as well.

So i dont know whether that means i could have dementia or not.

 

[Amy]

Hiya K

I have geniunely been having problems with memory and sometimes i have difficulty getting words out and sometimes i have slowed thinking.

I could have written that, I put it down to stress.
See your doctor and hopefully he will be able to put your mind at rest.
Amy

 

[kstevenson]

Hiya K

I could have written that, I put it down to stress.
See your doctor and hopefully he will be able to put your mind at rest.
Amy

Thanks for your reply amy, alot of people in the early stages put the dementia down to stress and it ends up not being that, i don't think i would put my problems down to stress because i don't feel stressed out, i am very worried that it is dementia, i really hope it isn't.

 

[kstevenson]

Does anyone on here think that i am being stupid thinking that i may have dementia? honestly if any of you do then i would really like to know.

I know that it is rare for someone my age to have it but it is not impossible although no-one in my family has had any kind of dementia so i don't know whether that makes my risks any less.

I am just really hoping that i have not got it, as i have said before if i had to have it i would rather have it in my 60's or 70's but not in my early-mid 20's.

I don't think it would be fair on me or my wife or kids because my wife has enough to deal with having 3 young kids, 2 of which have cystic fibrosis and we have another child due any day now.

But one thing that i am doing alot of recently is looking alot into every little mistake i make whether it be a memoy lapse or saying the wrong word or forgetting what i was going to say or if i did not understand what someone has said.

I have got to admit that i am very very worried about having dementia and i am almost convinced that i have it.

 

[Brucie]

Does anyone on here think that i am being stupid thinking that i may have dementia? honestly if any of you do then i would really like to know.

No, not stupid, but where is all the worrying getting you?

Have you visited the doctor yet? If not, then wait until you do that. If you have, and they have given a diagnosis of some sort, think on that.

You might find that focusing on others may help distract you from worrying too much about something that might not be going to happen to you.

You have a wife who is expecting a baby. You have other children.

I'd be concentrating on making sure they are ok.

Just my thoughts, of course. Carpe diem.

 

[noelphobic]

Does anyone on here think that i am being stupid thinking that i may have dementia? honestly if any of you do then i would really like to know.

very very worried about having dementia and i am almost convinced that i have it.

I think your biggest problem is anxiety and, as Bruce says, the best thing you can do is get yourself to the GP and arrange for whatever tests need to be done to rule dementia out.

Anxiety can cause forgetfulness etc so it's a vicious circle.

 

[kstevenson]

I downloaded a mini mental state examination test off the internet, apparently doctors use these to assess or to see if someone has dementia and i got all the questions right, i got my wife to ask me the questions such as where are you and what is the date and day and what season is it and what county and country do you live in etc and also some memory questions which i got all right as well.

I don't know whether this proves anything or not regarding dementia.

 

[Brucie]

I don't know whether this proves anything or not regarding dementia.

The MMSE is one of the tests that is used most frequently. If you answered all the questions correctly, I'd be inclined to feel a bit easier about my situation, if I were you. The questions in the MMSE are more indicative of memory problems of the serious kind than are even quite frequent forgetting of things, in a situation where there is stress, and preoccupation with things.

Well done for trying it - I know it must have been hard for you.

Did you ever see the doctor?

 

[Lynne]

Does anyone on here think that i am being stupid thinking that i may have dementia? honestly if any of you do then i would really like to know.

I know that it is rare for someone my age to have it but it is not impossible although no-one in my family has had any kind of dementia so i don't know whether that makes my risks any less.

Well KS, you asked for an honest opinion, so I'll give you one (but I'm not calling you stupid). I think you are right to be concerned about your health, but I think you are barking up the wrong tree with dementia. You breezed through the MME test without a hitch, your general physical health & lifestyle are good (from what you have told us) and there seems to be no family history of dementia.

On 28-3-06, you said "I have got a doctor's appointment but it is not until just over 2 weeks time, but i cannot see the doctor doing much because of my age, they will probably dismiss everything and i don't have much faith in doctor's either because i feel they do not do enough for people."
By my reckoning, you should be seeing your doctor this week then. As for "I don't have much faith in doctors either ..." well, that is something I do think is stupid. Who else is going to be able to diagnose anything wrong with you? (unless you lean towards voodoo).
Oh sure, if you go swanning in there specifically insisting on tests for dementia, your doctor may well dismiss what you say, and rightly so. That's the wrong end of the stick to start with. The way it works is signs & symptoms = possible diagnosis, not the other way around.
SO, quietly & calmly tell your doctor about everything which is going on in your life right now. (Writing down all your concerns & symptoms before you see the doctor is a good idea. It's so annoying to remember "Oh, I meant to ask ...." after you come out!!) Let the doctor analyse everything from an objective viewpoint; you are "too close to the action" to be able to be objective about it in my opinion. I'm not saying that in a critical way, but it just seems to me that you are too wound up about everything to be able to look at it cooly.

Another thing which caught my eye was "I have been on anti-depressants for nearly 2 years for panic attacks although i do not get the panic attacks at all now, over the past 4 weeks i have lowered my medication as i am gradually cutting down as i am coming off them." It seems that you have not been consulting your doctor for some time, so this reduction in medication is unsupervised. Having been on anti-depressants myself, I know you have to come off them gradually (especially if you were on a high dose) or else you are likely to experience feelings of being unable to cope, anxiety states and illogical fears and worries. Now does that sound familiar to you?

You have already told us of your history of depression & anxiety, and either or both of these can give rise to the various signs & symptoms you have described in this thread. Now you seem to be whipping yourself up into an even more anxious state. Do you think this is likely to be because you will soon have a new baby to be responsible for? You have said that you & your wife alreeady have 2 other children who have their own health problems, and that must be tough for both of you to cope with. From what you have told us of her, your wife sounds very level-headed, BUT ... she is about to have your 3rd child any day now. She needs you to be looking after HER, not looking for unlikely ailments or diseases to fit YOUR symptoms. And, statistically, dementia for someone your age IS unlikely, as you have quoted yourself in several of your posts here.

So, deep breath, talk sensibly with your doctor and LISTEN to what is said back to you; if the doctor thinks that now is not the right time to be reducing your anti-depressants, take the dose which is prescribed for you (You know yourself that they take several weeks to take full effect). Think hard about whether you might be stressing about the baby which will soon be here. Could it be that you are afraid that the extra attention which your wife will have to give it will reduce the attention she gives to you? That's usually something which growing families adjust to naturally, although you may have to help out a little more than usual with the other 2 children for a while. But that's what Dad's DO, and I'm sure that once the excitement of the birth is over you will be fine, and a very proud father.

Best wishes to you all (& please drop back in and tell us if you have a boy or a girl!)

 

[kstevenson]

As probably most of you know the mini mental state examination attempts to quantify a patients capability in five fields, these are:-

orientation
registration
attention and calculation
recall
language

The highest score that can be gained is 30, results in the 0-23 range indicate disturbance of cognition.

The questions are like this:-

age - must be correct

time, without looking at a timepiece, correct to the nearest hour

42, West Street - given as at test of immediate memory and retested at the end

month - must be exact

year - exact, except in Jan or Feb when last year is OK

name of place, or type of place or town

date of birth - exact

start of WWI, exact - 1914

name of the present monarch

counting backwards from 20 to 0, can prompt to 18 and patient may self-correct or hesitate

check the address


When doing this test (my wife was reading the questions to me) i scored 30 out of 30 which is totally normal, as it says above it is only if you score 23 or lower than you are considered to have cognitive problems.

Quoted from www.alzheimers.org.uk, people with alzheimers usually score 26 points or less.

It also says that the MMSE is the most commonly used test for complaints of memory problems or when a diganosis of dementia is being considered.

So i guess this should reassure me alittle, but i don't know whether it totally means that i do not have dementia.

 

[kstevenson]

Well KS, you asked for an honest opinion, so I'll give you one (but I'm not calling you stupid). I think you are right to be concerned about your health, but I think you are barking up the wrong tree with dementia. You breezed through the MME test without a hitch, your general physical health & lifestyle are good (from what you have told us) and there seems to be no family history of dementia.

On 28-3-06, you said "I have got a doctor's appointment but it is not until just over 2 weeks time, but i cannot see the doctor doing much because of my age, they will probably dismiss everything and i don't have much faith in doctor's either because i feel they do not do enough for people."
By my reckoning, you should be seeing your doctor this week then. As for "I don't have much faith in doctors either ..." well, that is something I do think is stupid. Who else is going to be able to diagnose anything wrong with you? (unless you lean towards voodoo).
Oh sure, if you go swanning in there specifically insisting on tests for dementia, your doctor may well dismiss what you say, and rightly so. That's the wrong end of the stick to start with. The way it works is signs & symptoms = possible diagnosis, not the other way around.
SO, quietly & calmly tell your doctor about everything which is going on in your life right now. (Writing down all your concerns & symptoms before you see the doctor is a good idea. It's so annoying to remember "Oh, I meant to ask ...." after you come out!!) Let the doctor analyse everything from an objective viewpoint; you are "too close to the action" to be able to be objective about it in my opinion. I'm not saying that in a critical way, but it just seems to me that you are too wound up about everything to be able to look at it cooly.

Another thing which caught my eye was "I have been on anti-depressants for nearly 2 years for panic attacks although i do not get the panic attacks at all now, over the past 4 weeks i have lowered my medication as i am gradually cutting down as i am coming off them." It seems that you have not been consulting your doctor for some time, so this reduction in medication is unsupervised. Having been on anti-depressants myself, I know you have to come off them gradually (especially if you were on a high dose) or else you are likely to experience feelings of being unable to cope, anxiety states and illogical fears and worries. Now does that sound familiar to you?

You have already told us of your history of depression & anxiety, and either or both of these can give rise to the various signs & symptoms you have described in this thread. Now you seem to be whipping yourself up into an even more anxious state. Do you think this is likely to be because you will soon have a new baby to be responsible for? You have said that you & your wife alreeady have 2 other children who have their own health problems, and that must be tough for both of you to cope with. From what you have told us of her, your wife sounds very level-headed, BUT ... she is about to have your 3rd child any day now. She needs you to be looking after HER, not looking for unlikely ailments or diseases to fit YOUR symptoms. And, statistically, dementia for someone your age IS unlikely, as you have quoted yourself in several of your posts here.

So, deep breath, talk sensibly with your doctor and LISTEN to what is said back to you; if the doctor thinks that now is not the right time to be reducing your anti-depressants, take the dose which is prescribed for you (You know yourself that they take several weeks to take full effect). Think hard about whether you might be stressing about the baby which will soon be here. Could it be that you are afraid that the extra attention which your wife will have to give it will reduce the attention she gives to you? That's usually something which growing families adjust to naturally, although you may have to help out a little more than usual with the other 2 children for a while. But that's what Dad's DO, and I'm sure that once the excitement of the birth is over you will be fine, and a very proud father.

Best wishes to you all (& please drop back in and tell us if you have a boy or a girl!)

Lynne,

Thanks for your reply, how comes you think that i am barking up the wrong tree regarding dementia?

There is definately no family history of any kind of dementia in my family, my mum's mum and dad are 64 and 68 years old and fairly healthy, my dad's mum is nearly 69 years old and my dad's dad died aged 70 from cancer.

I am due to see the doctor this week yes, i am abit nervous about it but i am sure it will be ok and hopefully the GP can put my mind at rest alittle.

I did not lower the anti-depressants myself i was told by my doctor awhile ago to reduce my dose but as i have been struggling abit it will probably be upped again when i go and see the doctor.

Regarding the MMSE, it is agood thing i guess that i scored 30 out of 30 but i don't know whether that proves that i do not have dementia or not, what do you think.

My wife was due to have her baby on friday but it still does not look like it's going to come out, obviously it is a lazy girl hehe.

 

[kstevenson]

Another symptom that i get that i have totally forgot to mention is that i get restlessness alot of the time where my body does not want to sit still and i have to keep getting up, i know that this is also a symptom of dementia.

I have tried excercising more to try and combat this but so far it has not made any difference.

 

[kstevenson]

The MMSE is one of the tests that is used most frequently. If you answered all the questions correctly, I'd be inclined to feel a bit easier about my situation, if I were you. The questions in the MMSE are more indicative of memory problems of the serious kind than are even quite frequent forgetting of things, in a situation where there is stress, and preoccupation with things.

Well done for trying it - I know it must have been hard for you.

Did you ever see the doctor?

Brucie,

Thanks for your reply, i appreciate it very much.

A feel alittle better because of the MMSE but i am not sure whether that totally proves whether i have dementia or not, but i have read that doctors use the MMSE for patients complaining of memory problems and also it is used to decide whether someone has dementia or not.

I am seeing the doctor this week