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Vascular dementia and type 1

F

First Officer

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
A salutary warning to all type ones.

My wife was diagnosed age one with diabetes in 1964. So she has had it for near on six decades. She is probably one of the longest diagnosed diabetics around. For the past forty years since we met and fell in love we have been aware of the dangers of diabetes in terms of retinopathy, renal failure, loss of nerve function in toes etc. Up till last year we thought we were all clear.

NO ONE EVER EVER TALKED ABOUT VASCULAR DEMENTIA!!!

Two years ago I noticed something was wrong. She was a Chartered Accountant running her own practice with me as her PA. She was getting a bit slow at her work. I thought it was simply lock down depression. How wrong I was! Long story short, she is presently on an endocrine ward with vascular dementia awaiting transfer to a nursing home. I doubt she will ever come home. I have lost my wife.

It seems there is a well established correlation between small vessel disease (SVD) and diabetes. Hence the focus on retinopathy and renal issues. The silent killer is dementia, which as I say, no one ever mentions.

It is too late to do anything for my lovely wife. And I don’t know what can be done to prevent SVD. But I do know that if no pne ever talks about a very real threat and it is completely ignored by the entire health system, you have absolutely no chance of preventing it.
 
First Officer said:
Thank you.
I can not change what has happened. What I want is to save someone from suffering what I am going through.
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I feel your pain. My T2 father in law eventually died of vascular dementia and it is a cruel illness. I hope that doctors will eventually have some sort of treatment but until then all we diabetics can do is recognise that we may be at greater risk because of our diabetes and try to control our bgs.

Though my father-in-law was non verbal at the end and in a home he still enjoyed visits from his loved ones.

I am so sorry for you and your wife.
 
First Officer said:
A salutary warning to all type ones.

My wife was diagnosed age one with diabetes in 1964. So she has had it for near on six decades. She is probably one of the longest diagnosed diabetics around. For the past forty years since we met and fell in love we have been aware of the dangers of diabetes in terms of retinopathy, renal failure, loss of nerve function in toes etc. Up till last year we thought we were all clear.

NO ONE EVER EVER TALKED ABOUT VASCULAR DEMENTIA!!!

Two years ago I noticed something was wrong. She was a Chartered Accountant running her own practice with me as her PA. She was getting a bit slow at her work. I thought it was simply lock down depression. How wrong I was! Long story short, she is presently on an endocrine ward with vascular dementia awaiting transfer to a nursing home. I doubt she will ever come home. I have lost my wife.

It seems there is a well established correlation between small vessel disease (SVD) and diabetes. Hence the focus on retinopathy and renal issues. The silent killer is dementia, which as I say, no one ever mentions.

It is too late to do anything for my lovely wife. And I don’t know what can be done to prevent SVD. But I do know that if no pne ever talks about a very real threat and it is completely ignored by the entire health system, you have absolutely no chance of preventing it.
Click to expand...

First Officer, I'm so sorry to hear your wife's story. It must be an incredible hard time for you both.

Unfortunately, dementia of all types can be a bit of an elephant in the room. Thankfully, more is being understood about it and with luck, in time stories such as your wife's will become less common.

The harsh reality is that tighter management of diabetes (of all sorts) has changed seismically in recent years - even in the time since my own diagnosis in 2013, and before this people living with diabetes really were in a bit of a lottery, in terms of "getting things right" (whatever that even means). Those of us more recently diagnosed should be very thankful for that.

Close to my diagnosis, someone once said to me,...... "Don't ever ignore your diabetes, because it will never be ignoring you." That stuck with me, even in the times when I could happily have turned my heel on self-care.

I am a passionate advocate of research and encourage anyone who is able to to take part in research, even if they think it won't apply to them. It is only by helping the curious people learn that change and advances happen.

I doubt any of that gives you comfort, but I am sure your wife is helping someone, somewhere learn a little more about the cruelty of her condition.

Good luck to you both.
 
Many thanks to all for your sympathy. But nice as it is, that is not what I am after. I am trying to raise awareness (My gawd I have actually used that awful phrase)

All of you who have type 1 are at risk of a disease that is being ignored by the system because no one talks about it.

When you next see your health worker for your diabetes…. Ask about vascular dementia and demand to know the warning signs and what to do to keep you safe.
 
My mum's T1 friend passed away from vascular dementia last year. She was in her mid 70s.

I was diagnosed T1 as an adult 6 years ago and got very little support let alone sympathy from my parents because as far as they were concerned they had a friend in her 70s who had no hassle or issues from diabetes (two stillbirths obviously didn't count.....). I used to assume that either their friend was very lucky or she did that very British thing of saying "I'm fine" if they ever asked how she was!!

The VD diagnosis and her sad subsequent death was a real shock to them. Less so to me because I know how much this awful condition affects my body but I do find medical services are so under pressure there's little they can do apart from blood tests and eye checks. We have better technology to support us than your wife had through most of her life so let's hope in time we can reduce the impact of T1

I'm very sorry you're in this situation and you're absolutely right to raise awareness
 
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