Dementia
Our anxious journey to find peace of mind
My husband’s father was academically gifted. Brian Wallas was head boy of Lancing, read law at Oxford and became a successful businessman. Sadly, I never met him – he died of dementia, aged 83, three years before I married his son, Andrew.
The illness began in his mid-70s and he spent the final 18 months of his life in a nursing home. “What was difficult was seeing an intelligent and articulate man talking about furry animals invading his bedroom or the fact that a nurse had severed his finger in the night,” recalls Andrew. “It was very upsetting. He had been a formal father, so his rapid decline at the end caused many mixed emotions. It was humbling, disturbing and heartbreaking, as he had been a man of great dignity.”
About 850,000 Britons suffer from dementia, a figure that is expected to balloon due to our ageing population. More than 225,000 people, two thirds of whom are women, develop the illness in the UK every year. Dementia is an umbrella term for a set of symptoms that include impaired thinking and memory.
While there is still no cure for dementia, the earlier the likelihood of developing the disease is made clear, the better. Those at risk can start to take low-level doses of medication, and can adapt diet and lifestyle to reduce the symptoms. One of the biggest problems of dementia is that it is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, making it harder for doctors to manage brain deterioration.
Last week, scientists at University College London revealed they were trialling a brain scan that can spot dementia 15 years before symptoms appear. So when I heard about a medical spa in Austria that offers the most sophisticated test for dementia available, I persuaded my husband, who has just turned 60, to join me there and undergo the test. He was keen. It’s an interesting question – would you want to know if you were going to get the disease? Most people I mentioned it to said that they wouldn’t – yet if dementia runs in the family, and if early detection can reduce symptoms, doesn’t it make sense to run the gauntlet and find out?
Parkhotel Igls is a diagnostic detox spa that offers the “Modern Mayr Cure”, devised by Austrian doctor Franz Xaver Mayr (18751965), who believed that good health begins with a properly functioning digestive system. Dr Peter Gartner, the medical director, says that there is considerable research into a connection between an overtaxed and toxic system and the development of neurological problems, especially Parkinson’s disease.
Today’s guests – half of whom are over the age of 60 – visit because of the outstanding level of health analysis. It is like staying at an exclusive private hospital where the emphasis is on preventive medicine. The spa uses a well-established MRI institute in Innsbruck, which scans the brain using magnetic resonance tomography. The results are sent to a research centre in Hamburg, where the findings are calibrated.
The procedure can be done privately in the UK for about £1,500, but in Innsbruck, instead of waiting months, the results come back in three days. The diagnosis is clear – yes, you are likely to get the disease within the next seven to 10 years; or, no, you definitely will not get the disease in the same time frame.
Most checks are unable to rule out dementia completely, but peace of mind does not come cheap – the spa’s test costs €1,750 (£1,370).
Andrew and I are typically British, full of faux cheeriness in the taxi to Innsbruck, where he will take
‘It was very upsetting. His rapid decline at the end caused many mixed emotions’
the test. We joke that because he is a self-employed psychotherapist, his earnings will be dramatically reduced if we discover he is to get dementia. But, really, it isn’t a joke, as this would be a reality.
We arrive at a nondescript office block, where the top floor opens up into a modern futuristic clinic, like something out of Blade Runner, all glass, slate and steel ceilings.
Andrew is taken into the scanner for about 15 minutes and I sit next door listening to ominous bleeping noises. I think how devastating it would be if the result came back positive. One of the things I most love about Andrew is his quick wit and intelligence, so, selfishly, it would be unimaginable for me to be with him while being unable to access “him”.
Andrew returns from the scan shaky. He had to wear a Hannibal Lectertype mask over his face and felt on the edge of a panic attack. Prof Benedikt Czermak talks us through the immediate results, which are promising and reassuring. He explains that a MRI scan does no harm to the brain. Andrew is delighted to discover that his brain has no scars, which, says Prof Czermak, is unusual for a 60-yearold. Most brains, he says, have some sort of scarring, the result of past trauma, infection or circulatory disorders, but this is not linked to dementia.
We return to Parkhotel to spend three days detoxing. We chew on stale bread to stimulate saliva, and Dr Gartner performs a stomach treatment, unique to the Mayr cure, which unblocks the abdominal lymphatic system.
Dr Gartner is an advocate of the intestinal detox. “Many problems such as MS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are connected to mucosal intestinal disorder,” he says. “When the bacteria in the intestine is out of balance, it is much easier for degenerative neurological diseases to develop.”
He also tests Andrew for vitamin D since there is a link between low levels of vitamins A and D and poor brain function.
The morning that the test results are due, I feel anxious. Andrew is philosophical, calm even. However, isn’t dementia ultimately worse for the family and carer? Dr Gartner takes us through the test results, showing us 3D photographs of Andrew’s brain, which looks like a walnut. “Everything is normal inside,” he says. I feel the most monumental relief that we – fingers crossed – have a decade of good health ahead of us. Andrew feels immensely reassured. I instantly think that he should take the test again in 10 years, so that we can foresee his 70s.
“I think I feel even more relieved than he does,” says Dr Gartner. “I’ve been awaiting the result with tension as it is awful to have to tell someone that it is obvious that dementia has begun. We can treat it, but we can’t heal it. However, the great advantage is that if you treat it early, you can make a huge difference to the symptoms.”
In the two years since Parkhotel began offering the test, 10 patients have undertaken it. Only one man discovered he had dementia. “He was an artist who thought he might have the illness anyway,” says Dr Gartner. “He adapted his lifestyle to hide his dementia behind a certain eccentricity. However, if you know that you are going to get the disease, you can start mental training much earlier with special mental exercises known as brain jogging. You can also stop smoking, eat a balanced diet, and keep blood pressure and cholesterol in check.” On the flight home, I read about the latest Dutch research, published in The
Lancet Psychiatry medical journal, which links depression in middle age with the later onset of dementia. I ask Andrew if he thinks his father became depressed in retirement? “Without doubt,” he replies. “I think he missed his work terribly and it was as if he switched off. We couldn’t believe that a man of his discipline and formality watched daytime television all day, so little kept his brain truly active for more than a decade.”
In contrast to his father, Andrew has no plans to retire and – who knows? – together, we may just take up brain jogging.