Dr. Patricia Macnair: Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, it’s a progressive disease that affects the brain and damages the person’s ability to think, to remember things, to do all the activities that we normally need to do every day.

Dr. Sean Knox: Typically you might see that someone is losing interest in things they may have had interest in like you might notice that they are doing less housework or they are not so keen to do their activities or hobbies that they previously really liked doing.

Fiona Phillips: I remember my mother just forgot all her pin numbers...couldn't get money out of the machine...always had to ask people to go to the bank with her. We just thought she was getting older and didn't understand how to use these things but it was actually Alzheimer's.

Dr. Patricia Macnair: Getting a diagnosis is critical because it gives you something to work with; it gives you an answer to why some problems are occurring.  It will give the patient and their carers and family an idea of what to expect.

Dr. Ruth Hargreaves: I think the reason it's so important to get a diagnosis is to allow patients and their families and carers to actually do some planning around Alzheimer's disease. They know there will be a deterioration in the condition and it's important to allow them the opportunity to be able to do as much planning while they're as fit and well as possible.

Dr. Patricia Macnair: It doesn't work for everyone and it may not be dramatic but if you get treatment early you're more likely to get to be able to go on living independently in your own way for longer.

It can be quite difficult to talk to someone if you are worried about them and if you're thinking things aren't quite right. Because often you only have a very vague non-specific idea of things aren't quite right but how so, and people can feel quite defensive often the person who's involved in the very early stages is aware that something's up and they easily get upset if you approach them.

Fiona Phillips: I think the one big thing that you need to remember with someone with Alzheimer's is that you cannot bombard them with questions, because questions are the most difficult things for them to answer. You need to sort of present them with statement really and just so they can say yes or no.

Dr. Patricia Macnair: You might want to get them or yourselves together to keep a diary of what's been going on and any problems that have cropped up and then if you think that there are some specific memory problems then that might be the time to go and see a GP to get more expert help.

Fiona Phillips: An online resource that you can go to to learn about memory problems is www.aboutmemoryproblems.com.

Dr. Patricia Macnair: That website’s got lots of great examples and suggestions and descriptions that will help people actually understand a little more yeah this isn't quite right I need to get further help.

Fiona Phillips: There are the symptoms of aging forgetfulness as well so that you can compare the two and decide whether it actually is just a function of you getting older or whether actually is more serious than that and that you actually do have a brain disease. So it sets that up but the thing I found most useful on there was how to talk to your doctor. There's a brilliant list of all the questions you should ask your doctor which is really really worth it.

If you have a friend or a relative and you're worried they may have memory problems or Alzheimer's disease then get on the internet and go to www.aboutmemoryproblems.com.

www.aboutmemoryproblems.com is funded and initiated by Eisai Europe Ltd. and Pfizer Limited

Date of preparation: March 2010

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