NHS trial - test to predict your risk of Alzheimer's - would you take it?

Kali2

If you know you are at risk, there are some things you can do already, like taking Turmeric daily.

You can take turmeric even if you don't know you are at risk and it's good for arthritis and other conditions too.

If there were a cure for it, yes.

But since there isn’t, no. Who on earth wants to know that they’re going to have a horrible disease with no cure?

When it comes to illness I will cross that bridge when I come to it. What I don't want is to have symptoms which are ignored. I hope my two daughters would notice, but neither of my parents had it so I hope I will be okay.

If you know you are at risk, there are some things you can do already, like taking Turmeric daily.

Good point foxie, if there was a treatment then yes to the test, no brainer really.

I already know I am at a higher risk of getting dementia.
It makes no difference at all to my day to day life.
Why would it?
I can't change it.

No, not whilst there is little in the way of treatment. If there was something that would help slow down the progress of the disease or stop it completely, then I would but as far as I know nothing is available ATM.

More than 850,000 people in the UK have dementia, which affects one in 14 people over the age of 65 and one in six people over 80. I'll be 72 in two months.

My mother had it and my father struggled to look after her. The strain on him was tremendous as she deteriorated really quickly. Because of this, I've discussed it with my DH (who I met 7 years ago) as I don't want him or my family to have any extra stress when deciding what to do. We both have POA in place.

Peter's wife, in the article, may have been less anxious if she had known she was likely to get dementia.

As someone say in the article: “Also, it might stop me worrying that I have dementia every time I forget something.”

Not sure if I'd would have want the test at a young age but from the age of 60, my answer would have been "Yes".

Definitely NOT

No I wouldn't take a test - there's very little you can do and at our age we should have affairs and instructions in order anyway.

From the article:

Despite his experience, he believes a test for the disease may not be helpful. He says his wife was full of anxiety once she was diagnosed, and concerned about the impact it would have on both of them. “She got very stressed out and worried about things, including that I might leave her,” he says. “All I could do was try to reassure her that I wouldn’t. It was very distressing.”

As there is no cure for dementia, Peter also questions the point of such a test. “It’s one thing getting a test for something like cancer that’s treatable. But why put yourself through 10 or 15 years of worry for something that you might not get anyway? I think it’s a really cruel thing to do.”

I would my mum had vascular dementia.

Esspee

Yes, of course I would. I have already had my DNA analysed and know I don’t carry the Alzheimer’s gene but am happy to take any test going which would give me an insight into my future health.

Can I ask though what you would do differently if you had been told you carried the Alzheimers gene? (thankfully you don't). Would you be depressed? Would you worry that every forgetful moment was the start of your life changing? Would you plan anything differently to how you are planning for old age now? I am just curious.
I suppose I think we all know how to live for a healthy life and sometimes life throws us a curved ball but I wouldn't want to see it coming if I could do nothing about it. Also sadly although the test could give you a result on Alzheimers sadly there are other dementias out there which could affect us.

Yes, of course I would. I have already had my DNA analysed and know I don’t carry the Alzheimer’s gene but am happy to take any test going which would give me an insight into my future health.

No. I would rather not know. Have made will and put POA in place. Ignorance is bliss.

No. There is little that you can do to prepare. We should all have things in place for old age anyway eg getting power of attorney in place, will in order etc.
I worked with people who had been assessed and given the diagnosis of dementia and so many asked what will happen to me? To that there is no one answer. Depression and anxiety can easily occur. So I feel unlike some other conditions, in this case, it is not good to see into the future and to be brutally honest something else may take you before you reach the stage of any symptoms.

I discussed this possibility ten years ago with my GP. My mother had dementia and now my younger sister is in a home with it.
I decided I’d rather not know for now. I have made all the necessary arrangements and discussed it with my family just in case.
Taking the test and having a good result would free me from the worry but a bad result would have had me agonising over it for years, being terrified every time a word wouldn’t come to me or I couldn’t remember where I’d left my specs.
So far, I’ve chosen to just get on with life, prepare for the worst but hope for the best.
There was a good point in the article about mortgages and insurance, a further slippery slope to the powers that be denying us security.

Yes.
Forewarned is forearmed.

Yes

Definitely

I once asked my doctor to do a test for Alzheimers as my Dad had it at 59 and I was terrified I was going to get it too. There is a genetic sequencing that they can do to find out if you carry the gene. My doctor said he didn't want to but if I insisted he would but I would have to pay. Having discussed it with my husband his take on it was "If you have the gene, it doesn't mean you will definitely get it. You are going to worry every time you forget something. If you don't have the gene then that also doesn't mean you wont get some other form of dementia" . Made sense to me so I didn't go for the test. So my answer is probably no, coz I am 15 years older than I was then so if I'm going to get either I don't really want to know as I'm OK at the moment.

Sure, why not?

Hmmmmmm…….. not at all sure about this…

Yes.