Dementia For Dummies - UK

Chapter 1

Checking Out the Facts on Dementia

In This Chapter

Defining dementia

Looking at the scale of the problem

Understanding the link between age and dementia

Recognising the four main types of dementia

Considering other diseases that can cause dementia

If you’re reading a book about dementia, you first need to understand what the term means. In my work as a family doctor I meet people with a whole heap of different ideas about what sort of condition the word ‘dementia’ suggests. For some, it’s the diagnostic label you give to people who keep having ‘senior moments’ and regularly forget what they’ve been up to, where they put their spectacles and the names of their grandchildren. To others, it refers to people who are old and confused, have urine-drenched armchairs, and spend all day shouting at the telly and letting their friends and neighbours know exactly what they think of them.

While some of the above symptoms clearly can be part of the picture, neither of the people described ...