Birds Of A Feather star Pauline Quirke is to ‘step back’ from all professional obligations due to struggles with the memory-robbing disease dementia, which she was diagnosed with in 2021.
The actor, now 65, plans to spend time with her family, children and grandchildren during this ‘difficult period’, her husband Steve Sheen said.
A diagnosis of the disease under the age of 65 is deemed young-onset dementia, which is caused by genetics in about one in 10 cases, according to Alzheimer’s Research UK.
According to experts, the disease’s first brain alterations take place decades before symptoms appear.
However, some red flag signs may occur far earlier than others—and should be looked out for, especially in those with a family history.
According to Dr Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist based in California, one indicative sign is a significantly shortened attention span.
He says of this characteristic in a recent TikTok video: ‘[It is] not like ADHD, that you’ve had it your whole life, but it seems to be accelerating.’
Touching on why this happens Ruth Drew, the director of client and information services for the Alzheimer’s Association in the US, explains: ‘Alzheimer’s disease attacks the brain, and it tends to start in the hippocampus where new memory and new learning are stored.
‘So anything that disrupts that could certainly make it more difficult for a person to hold on to a train of thought.
‘It is different for each person. Certainly, by the middle stages [of the disease], focus is definitely going to be impacted.’
Another easily missed sign is what appears to be depression, Dr Amen says.
Watch out for ‘low mood’, he warns.
‘Depression doubles the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in women and quadruples the risk in men.’
The Alzheimer’s Society says it is hard to know what causes depression in dementia.
It adds: ‘For many people, the challenges of living with dementia can lead to feelings of deep sadness or hopelessness.
‘In addition, the diseases that cause dementia may damage parts of the brain involved in emotions and behaviour.’
A discernible deterioration in your memory is another more overt indication that dementia may have taken hold.
He explains: ‘Eighty percent of people who say their memory is worse than it was 10 years ago have an 80 percent chance it will continue to get worse.’
The National Institute of Aging says memory problems associated with the early stages of Alzheimer’s include ‘a decline in non-memory aspects of cognition, such as finding the right word, trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships, and impaired reasoning or judgment.’
It adds: ‘As the disease progresses, symptoms become more severe and include increased confusion and behaviour changes.’
Dr Amen’s next early alarm bell is ‘poor judgment and impulsivity’. For example, this could include making poor financial decisions or engaging in excessive arguments.
This is because the frontal lobes—the largest lobes of the brain found directly behind the forehead responsible for behaviour and emotions—are ‘decreasing in activity’ due to the disease, which is ‘sort of like your brain going offline’, according to Dr Amen.
Only around 1 in 50 people with Alzheimer’s disease find their frontal lobes are affected early on.
After describing the major warning signs, Dr Amen ran through some factors that can increase the chance of your developing the disease.
He said: ‘Being overweight or obese [increases the risk]. As your weight goes up, the size and function of your brain goes down.
‘That’s why I’m trim. I do not want to purposely do anything that damages my brain.’
He also points out a few more conditions that could lead to poor brain health, including erectile dysfunction – ‘because if you have blood flow problems anywhere, it means they’re everywhere’ – chronic insomnia, and sleep apnoea.
Memory problems, thinking and reasoning difficulties and language problems are typical early manifestations of the condition, which then deteriorate over time.
A separate Alzheimer’s Research UK study found 74,261 people passed away from dementia in 2022 compared with 69,178 a year earlier, making it the country’s biggest killer.
In 2022, Marvel actor Chris Hemsworth, 40, found out he was likely to develop the disease, after going through genetic testing.
He has gained notoriety in the battle against dementia.
He urges others to go to the doctor regularly and freely offers information about his well-being and health practices.
Dementia is such a vicious disease and it deprives people of their families, even long before they’ve passed away, and it’s cruel what they have to endure.
Since I was a child, Pauline Quirke has been on my television screen. She was witty and direct, and I hope the best for her and her family.
Care homes must be rubbing their hands together, but then I guess foresightedness for those who spotted an opportunity.
I do hope that they discover a cure for this evil disease.
Hearing about Pauline Quirke’s dementia makes me very sad because my mother tragically suffered from vascular dementia, which isn’t mentioned in the piece at all.
All forms of dementia are extremely severe, and further research and comprehension are needed.
The public coffers have long been burdened by this sickness, but Margaret Thatcher and all subsequent leaders have reduced spending while ignoring the ageing of our population.
They have cut funding to our councils and in numerous regions of the UK, which means good quality council-run homes do not exist. They have even ignored the fact that even privately run homes are in short supply and there is a bed crisis. So, we have to rely on stressed-out family members to care for our elderly and dementia-suffering patients.
If you are given care by Social Services, you’ll be lucky if you get 2 or three calls a day from private care companies.
What is the purpose of research and development if there is new medication to slow the progress yet it is generally too costly to provide to NHS patients? I’m furious about it!
Additionally, it is abhorrent to have to sell your parent’s house to pay for the care expenses, and the law needs to be amended right away.
If you get early-onset Alzheimers, don’t expect any financial support.
Try applying for Personal Independence Payments (PIP). You have to leap through hoops with numerous complex questions, it would be challenging enough for a person whose brain is still intact, but for a person whose brain isn’t, it’s traumatic and confusing. Basically after the age of 50 years old, you’re thrown on the scrap heap.
I truly believe that the government should cover all costs of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Numerous patients are just left to get on with it and families cannot always assist because they either live too far away or have young children of their own. In addition to the fact that nursing these patients is demanding and relentless, and may need specialist care.
While any illness can be awful, I believe dementia or Alzheimer’s to be the worst because it is cruel and heartbreaking to all those affected.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 