The Indian Summer of Dementia

There is no doubt that people find the idea of dementia terrifying. It is a disease that scares people for a lot of reasons. Unlike many other diseases, there is no cure and no real prospect of a cure on the horizon.

Compared with other conditions it carries a lot of stigma and the financial cost for the family can be massive.

It’s also depressing because it’s usually associated with old age. We find it hard to think of the end of life, and we very rarely speak about dying. People assume that dementia will rob them of the things that make each of us individuals. It’s very sad if someone becomes unable to recognise those they love. The idea of a decaying memory and becoming dependent on others is very hard for many people.

For some very unusual people dementia appears initially to have a positive effect. Although the diagnosis predicts that they will at some stage lose many of their abilities, they go through a period of freedom of expression they have not enjoyed before. It may have been they were too shy before to exhibit it. It may be that dementia has given them a new appreciation of life. It’s like an Indian summer, which is short period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that comes after the first killing frost of autumn. That’s used as a metaphor for a time when one may recover some of the happiness of youth. People with dementia sometimes speak of the joy they’ve found doing things they forgot they enjoyed, and getting on with their bucket list before it’s too late.

People with dementia may simply resolve to be as resilient as possible. They want to avoid making things any harder than they already are for loved ones who will have to see them through it. For others, there may be personality changes which are due to the physiological effects of the disease itself. Vascular dementia cuts the blood supply to the brain. This includes the part of the brain that drives your inhibitions. It’s almost like having a long series of mini strokes and each time it happens, you instantly lose another little bit of the brain. This kind of acquired brain damage from vascular dementia can change someone’s personality – and not always for the worse.

Many mood changes are common in the early stages of the disease – not just depression. The mood swings may be rapid and include being unusually happy as well as tearful.  Disinhibition can be difficult for family members to cope with, especially if it manifests itself as offensive behaviour.  But dementia is not always and only dreadful.  There is still life to be lived.

So to have a situation where dementia puts anyone in a positive, care-free, uninhibited state-of-mind where they are largely free of worry is – make no mistake – a bit of a blessing. It does show dementia is not only about doom and gloom.  No one wants dementia.  But life doesn’t stop with the diagnosis.   In some well publicised cases, it even got better.

More research is needed into the case of those people diagnosed with dementia who go on to enjoy this Indian summer for years, long after the majority of people with dementia have become unable to speak publicly, write, or travel. We have much to learn from their journey.