Another fit

When I went to get S into a position so that I could give her her breakfast yesterday morning she winced and clutched the top of the arm that she had probably been sleeping on and then almost immediately went rigid. I got her into the recovery position quickly. She was breathing noisily through her nose. I tried hard to see if her tongue was obstructing her throat but her teeth were clamped tightly together. All S's fits have lasted longer than most I've read about but when it got up to 10 mins I decided it was time to try the Buccolam medication which you squirt inside the cheek. I did this at about 11 or 12 mins. It was easier to squeeze than I thought and all went in on one side with some coming out and there was some choking that quickly subsided.

What I hadn't realised was that it's a sedative - the GP told me this when I phoned after I'd given it - so it was difficult to know initially whether/when the fit had morphed into a pretty deep sleep. She eventually did sleep for a long time. I told him the GP that the oxymeter was showing fluctuations and was mostly in the low nineties which I'd read was a cause for concern but he was happy that it hadn't gone below 90. I'd managed to contact a friend of S's who lives a few streets away and who has given me her number for this purpose. She came round fairly promptly and it was a great help having her there. I phoned the GP again and was reassured that the sleeping was OK - I even got him to listen to her breathing.

Daughter and baby came later and this was also a great help. Things returned to somethings like normal. The only after-effect seemed to be extreme tiredness. She ate and drank and used the commode as normal. We also had a couple of smiles. I think she slept pretty well and had her breakfast as normal so I'm hoping we'll get her to our 'Singing for the Brain' group this afternoon.

But these things are scary when you're on your own.....

The recent drop in the number of people developing dementia

It has recently become clear that in the UK dementia has fallen by a fifth over the past 20 years. This is possibly down to lifestyle and education changes. If so this highlights the potential benefits of preventative action:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/19/drop-in-dementia-rates-suggests-disease-can-be-prevented-researchers-say

However a letter published in the Guardian suggests another possible reason for the reduction:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/21/perhaps-unleaded-petrol-heads-are-less-susceptible-to-dementia

I think most people know what a healthy lifestyle involves and it obviously makes sense to try to live healthily. However it is important to realise that there can be no guarantee that a healthy lifestyle will stop the development of dementia in an individual case. And therefore the fact that some people who live a healthy life still develop dementia should not discourage people from taking the steps that may well improve their chances of avoiding dementia.

Reasons for getting a diagnosis

I have always been somewhat somewhat sceptical about the push for more people to get an early diagnosis and I've posted about this before. It took a long time for S's diagnosis to be arrived at, more than a decade. We knew fairly early on that she probably had some form of dementia but nothing more specific.

I know some people and their carers deliberately avoid diagnosis and I can understand this.

However, there are some arguments for seeking a diagnosis:

1) There are drugs available which might help (they may not though and may have side-effects). And some forms of dementia do not really respond to any medication.

2) A diagnosis ought to give you access to a lot of valuable support. But people often report that this desirable result is not forthcoming.

3) Blood tests might show that dementia-like symptoms may be caused by a number of conditions which can often be cured or kept at bay:

http://www.helpguide.org/harvard/whats-causing-your-memory-loss.htm