Brain injury and dementia links?

[Jaec]

I have heard that if you have suffered a tbi you are 4 times more likely to get dementia. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Kirk5w7]

Whats the point of worrying Jaec, no one really knows. You need to move on forward, eat well and keep your brain active. All anyone can do unless a genetic or lifestyle link is proved beyond doubt.

Stree is no good for a variety of reasons so don’t torture yourself with this.

Janet xx

[paxo05]

I must agrew with Kirk5w7 worrying about what may happen leads to stress and distracts you from living your life.

We did have someone from the dementia society give a talk at our local headway about looking out for early signs.

At the end we all explained we already had most of the symptoms of early onset dementia yet none of us had been diagnosed as dementia sufferers.

Basically many conditions share simular symptoms and worrying just adds another symptom.

Yes you may be more likely to develop dementia then again you may not. Without long studies no one really knows.

Live your life to your fullest ability.....whatever that is.

Pax

[Shushy]

My husband had a TBI 29 years ago. I was told there was increased chance of dementia but I decided that I could not worry about this as I had no idea whether he would have developed dementia anyway, regardless of having a brain injury. At the time there were so many things to be worried about that dementia seemed to be the least of our problems! I never told him as I felt it would give him yet another thing to cope with. 29 years on, he is forgetful at times and gets confused easily. But that could be due to his brain injury, his age, his situation (home on his own alot while I work) or any number of things. Of course I’m concerned about dementia, but it happens it may have happened anyway. There is no way of telling.

[StrawberryCream]

None of us would know if we would have dementia even if we didn't have a brain injury. We can't predict whats ahead and have to live life in the now and keep ourselves as healthy as we can.

[Padmeister]

Here is one piece of evidence.

nhs.uk/conditions/dementia/...

I have this and care not.

[1949liz]

Hi Jaec, I truley hope NOT but as the other lovely people have said why worry, it won’t change anything so enjoy what you have and embrace your life today.

Love Liz x🌹🙏

[David2019]

I was worried about the EXACT Same thing having had a tbi and worrying about developing a case of dementia because the brain's ALREADY BEEN INJURED the link confirms that due to stroke and CUT OFF blood supply to the BRAIN THEN dementia could be developed. I'll just keep on taking my cod liver oil LIQUIDS and eat well in the hopes for NO inconvenience later in LIFE due to tbi. And keep my MIND active that's all I can do.

[Matt2584 in reply to David2019]

I am a strong believer that what a person consumes reflects their health.

I am glad to see that you take cod liver oil tablets. Get that omega 3 into you. There are other ways of getting omega 3 into you as well as the tablets. Hemps seeds, chia seeds. Sunflower seed have vitamin E in them which benefits the brain and blueberries are packed with antioxidents that protect the brain from toxins :).

[Matt2584]

Hi,

I have not heard about brain injury likely to speed up demenria risk before but I have heard that consuming aspartame from diet fizzy drinks could lead to dementia or other health risks.

After doing some of my own research, the government/mainstream media don’t tell you a lot at all and as I say, consuming aspartame can lead to a lot of problems.

There will be a lot of people that wouldn’t agree with me here, because they are likely set in their ways, but I would not be surprised at all if my terrible diet I had as a kid was the biggest reason that brought on my neuro problems. I used to consume so much sugar, including aspartame and rarely ate fruit or veg.

According to studies, one of the health problems brought on by aspartame are tumours and I just happened to have 1 in 1996 and 1 in 1998.

So I am a strong believer of what you consume reflects your health.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”

[Hidden]

Tbi, stroke, migraines controlled with epilepsy drugs, dementia in the family...I've been seriously concerned about early onset dementia...but the symptoms are virtually identical to tbi ones so how would you know?

I read that you are 20% more likely to get dementia after a tbi, but you can mitigate this by looking after the basics.

Sleep is critical as the brain only cleans itself of plaques (associated with dementia) when you are asleep, as it doesn't use the lymph system, so key factor in minimising risk.

Exercise increases blood flow to brain, ensuring maximum oxygen and healing power.

Diet provides things like omega 3, which can be found in plants or fish, for healthy brain.

Stress management will reduce the amount of time your body spends in fight or flight mode which suppresses your immune system as well as triggering dysfunctional reactions in all your other systems if it becomes chronic.

Brain activity is important apparently too as the more you use your brain, the more links there are in place, the greater it's ability to find work arounds to deficits when they occur, ie delays symptoms.

It's a boring answer, but managing the basics seems to give you the best chance of keeping dementia away.

If you are 20% more likely to get it after tbi, but you are 30% less likely if you manage the basics properly, then your awareness could actually be a good thing?!

Who knows...life can change in an instant can't it? If you think about it too much you'll get depressed, isolated etc and they're now saying that this has as high a chance of finishing you off as a heart attack!

I try to avoid google now!!!

[magdolna]

I have worked with people with dementia for many years and it seems that anyone can get it, a bit like getting a BI - 'pot luck'. So no point worrying because you will deal with it if necessary if it should occur. What people think will happen invariably does not happen.

[RogerCMerriman]

There appears to be a mildly higher risk, for most folks but as others have said worrying about what might come to be, isn't worth it.

I did worry about Epilepsy for a few years since if I did get it, but i've stopped worrying though the risk apparently is still there.