vascular Dementia

[kay67]

Having had a TIA and being left with small areas of damage to my brain, i'm left wondering if it is now possible for me to get vascular Dementia, i'm on warfarin for life but probably like most people my INR levels go up and down so doesn't that make you at risk still of more TIA'S and hence the start of Dementia eventually? I work in a care home for the elderly with the start of dementia and have also worked in a nursing home with residents with dementia and i do not want to go through what they go through.

[GinaD]

I had a number of TIAS before my diagnosis. My Mother passed after 3.5 years in a nursing home. My Father was a doctor, so I am well aware that brain leisions make it much more likely that I will fall victim to a dementia.

However -- the good news: After 6 months on warfarin, follow up MRIS showed a dramatic level of "repair." From having dozens of white spider webby looking lesions, I was down to 1 -- in the visual cortex. So. . . don't despair. The brain can repair itself to some degree. Follow those life style recommendations and with you, as with me (?) -- all may be well?

[MaryF Administrator]

I notice you have already had quite a reassuring reply, we are all different as is often the case with our response to this disease, all the best. MaryF

[Mollie38]

I had a TIA which unfortunately started Alzheimer's disease .... Yes I was distraught at first (age 73). I lived in the North of England by daughter lived South... So I sold my home which enabled us to but a larger home ... I have two Grandsons ... One at home and one at Uni but we all live very happily under one roof. Being dizgnozed with Alzheimer's doesn't mean your world has come to an end ... You have to grab all the opportunities going and enjoy life.

[Lure2 in reply to Mollie38]

Hi Molly38,

I wonder if you have got a diagnose of APS (Hughes Syndrome) as you talk of Alzheimer ......? All of us here have APS.

I also had TIA or mini-stroke 13 years ago and among other neurological issues also probleme with my memory. I found a paper in my car that I had been to a party on an Island one year earlier and I could not remember I had been there. Another time i could not remember if my parents were dead. I am 71.

We have too thick blood and when our blood is thinned properly and stable we feel ok.

Alzheimer is a special disease and not helped by thinning the blood.

Best wishes to you from Kerstin in Stockholm

[Hidden]

I must say, I would not be shocked if there's association. Mollie, thank you for sharing.