An article recently in the Daily Mail highlighted the importance of seeing your GP to discuss health concerns and to look beyond the obvious when treating incontinence and dementia.
When Carole Smith started tripping over more often, she started to worry. ‘ ‘I’d often bruise myself quite badly, but I never mentioned it to anyone. My walking had become more laboured and slower, too.’
There was another problem as well in that often she couldn’t reach the toilet in time.
‘It started ten years ago. I was so embarrassed and upset. I didn’t tell anyone — not even my GP.’
Then in 2006, when she was 67, Carole tripped on a kerb while carrying some shopping home and broke her ribs. She was taken to hospital, badly bruised and after that, a team of six physios came to my house for a week. She realised while they were there that the assumption was that dementia was setting in.
‘They were quite patronising and started trying to tell me things like how to cross roads safely and how to step up kerbs, as though I’d forgotten how to do it. But as far I was concerned, I still had all my marbles and was perfectly able to navigate around my house.’
Three months after the physio, Carole went to her GP to seek an explanation who asked to see her walk across the room. ‘She commented on the fact that my gait was wide and I was unable to keep my knees near each other and said she wanted to refer me to a neurologist for further tests.’
Her GP told Carole she thought the problem was hydrocephalus and said the incontinence and the way Carole was walking and falling were classic signs.
Hydrocephalus is an abnormal increase of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain.
When this fluid builds up it starts to affect the brain’s function, causing symptoms such as gait disturbance (a wide, slow, shuffling gait with unsteadiness, particularly when turning); cognitive impairment such as memory loss, confusion and urinary incontinence .
‘The result was instantaneous. ‘I was in (hospital) for three days having the fluid drained off through a small tube in my back,’ said Carole, who was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus.
‘Of these three symptoms, the gait disturbance is the one that always appears,’ says Richard Edwards, consultant neurosurgeon at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol. ‘The cognitive problems and incontinence usually accompany it, but not always.’
Carole was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), where the cause of the build-up is unknown.
Acquired hydrocephalus is caused by damage to the brain after a head injury or after conditions such as stroke, brain haemorrhage, brain tumour or meningitis. The condition is most common in people aged 60 or older and its trio of symptoms are also classic signs of other conditions, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, so it often goes misdiagnosed.
Incredibly, it’s estimated that 2 per cent of all people over 60 who’ve been diagnosed with dementia actually have normal pressure hydrocephalus, which equates to about 10,000 people in the UK.
‘One study showed that NPH affects about five people per 100,000,’ says Mr Edwards, ‘which means we should be treating about 3,000 new cases a year. Instead, we’re treating about 300.’ He stresses the need for better awareness and testing, so fewer people are misdiagnosed. With a proper diagnosis, the symptoms of this kind of hydrocephalus can be alleviated.
For GPs and the public alike, there can be other indications to watch out for. ‘For example, if a person has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but they’re not responding to medication, then hydrocephalus should be considered,’ says Mr Edwards. Carole is thankful her GP spotted the signs so quickly.
The full article can be found at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2097376/How-dementia-beaten-drain-brain.html#ixzz1lnHYT7nL
An article recently in the Daily Mail highlighted the importance of seeing your GP to discuss health concerns and to look beyond the obvious when treating incontinence and dementia.
When Carole Smith started tripping over more often, she started to worry. ‘ ‘I’d often bruise myself quite badly, but I never mentioned it to anyone. My walking had become more laboured and slower, too.’
There was another problem as well in that often she couldn’t reach the toilet in time.
‘It started ten years ago. I was so embarrassed and upset. I didn’t tell anyone — not even my GP.’
Then in 2006, when she was 67, Carole tripped on a kerb while carrying some shopping home and broke her ribs. She was taken to hospital, badly bruised and after that, a team of six physios came to my house for a week. She realised while they were there that the assumption was that dementia was setting in.
‘They were quite patronising and started trying to tell me things like how to cross roads safely and how to step up kerbs, as though I’d forgotten how to do it. But as far I was concerned, I still had all my marbles and was perfectly able to navigate around my house.’
Three months after the physio, Carole went to her GP to seek an explanation who asked to see her walk across the room. ‘She commented on the fact that my gait was wide and I was unable to keep my knees near each other and said she wanted to refer me to a neurologist for further tests.’
Her GP told Carole she thought the problem was hydrocephalus and said the incontinence and the way Carole was walking and falling were classic signs.
Hydrocephalus is an abnormal increase of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain.
When this fluid builds up it starts to affect the brain’s function, causing symptoms such as gait disturbance (a wide, slow, shuffling gait with unsteadiness, particularly when turning); cognitive impairment such as memory loss, confusion and urinary incontinence .
‘The result was instantaneous. ‘I was in (hospital) for three days having the fluid drained off through a small tube in my back,’ said Carole, who was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus.
‘Of these three symptoms, the gait disturbance is the one that always appears,’ says Richard Edwards, consultant neurosurgeon at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol. ‘The cognitive problems and incontinence usually accompany it, but not always.’
Carole was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), where the cause of the build-up is unknown.
Acquired hydrocephalus is caused by damage to the brain after a head injury or after conditions such as stroke, brain haemorrhage, brain tumour or meningitis. The condition is most common in people aged 60 or older and its trio of symptoms are also classic signs of other conditions, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, so it often goes misdiagnosed.
Incredibly, it’s estimated that 2 per cent of all people over 60 who’ve been diagnosed with dementia actually have normal pressure hydrocephalus, which equates to about 10,000 people in the UK.
‘One study showed that NPH affects about five people per 100,000,’ says Mr Edwards, ‘which means we should be treating about 3,000 new cases a year. Instead, we’re treating about 300.’ He stresses the need for better awareness and testing, so fewer people are misdiagnosed. With a proper diagnosis, the symptoms of this kind of hydrocephalus can be alleviated.
For GPs and the public alike, there can be other indications to watch out for. ‘For example, if a person has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, but they’re not responding to medication, then hydrocephalus should be considered,’ says Mr Edwards. Carole is thankful her GP spotted the signs so quickly.
The full article can be found at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2097376/How-dementia-beaten-drain-brain.html#ixzz1lnHYT7nL