YES, IT’S FRIGHTENING – SO SAVOUR EVERY DAY

DEMENTIA frightens most people. Unlike other fatal or life-threatening illnesses, it doesn’t only damage someone’s physical health, it can really change their personality.

It is, without doubt, a destructive disease — and a case like Madge’s is unusual. But I’ve known many people who have found the diagnosis liberating. They’ve made a conscious decision to live as well as possible, and drawn up lists of things that they’ve always wanted to do. For others, an early dementia diagnosis is a wake-up call. It’s important to get your affairs in order, and then a good life can go on.

I always tell patients: Don’t switch off. Carry on doing the things you enjoy and do them for as long as you possibly can. For many with dementia, a personality change isn’t a deliberate choice but more due to the physiological effects of the disease itself. The part of the brain that governs inhibitions can be damaged, and this can change the way a person behaves.

Some experience mood swings. For others, it can mean they’re unusually happy, at least part of the time. In rare instances, I’ve known patients who have found a new freedom of expression that they were too shy to exhibit before.

Dementia, for a while at least, gave them a fresh appreciation of life, totally unfettered by the expectations of others. The shackles were off. Of course, this disease only gets worse and, ultimately, all patients will be profoundly affected.

It’s time to savour every day, even if you never did before.

Dementia: The One-Stop Guide, by June Andrews, is published by

Profile Books, priced €8.50.