One of the most remarkable things I have ever seen happened in a nursing home in Western Brisbane. I had been asked to see an elderly gentleman - let's call him Hans - with advanced dementia. He was a lovely fellow but could become irascible when staff approached as he did not understand who they were. In fact, he did not even know where he ... |
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How can you tell when someone's forgetfulness is more than just the product of getting older? After all, age is associated with "normal" changes when it comes to memory and other thinking skills, and these don't necessarily mean anything serious is going on. Brain scans go some way to explaining why our brain loses its ef... |
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Over the last ten+ years of seeing patients in my private practice, I have seen a number of people who have erroneously been diagnosed with a form of dementia. Many have radically changed their lives – say, by resigning from their job, or moving house – because they have been told their cognition and ability to function day to day wi... |
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One of the main challenges for those living with dementia is social withdrawal. This is not good for anyone, let alone someone whose psychological vulnerability is magnified by the experience of dementia. Disengagement of this kind leads to a loss of confidence, which becomes a vicious cycle, and there comes a point when it can be near impossi... |
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One thing that has repeatedly struck me in my years working with people with dementia and their loved ones and carers is that the process of evaluating cognitive impairment, including dementia, is somewhat of a mystery to those I see.
Sometimes, this uncertainty about ... |
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