KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

Dementia costs Singapore $1.4b a year
"Study highlights urgency of need to tackle problem as nation ages"
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/h ... 14b-a-year

starlight1968sg wrote:Dementia costs Singapore $1.4b a year
"Study highlights urgency of need to tackle problem as nation ages"
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/h ... 14b-a-year

V surprise - din dawn on me tat the numbers is high

How to prevent dementia
Do more maths sums -

Just like in the "cancer" thread, I believe that this is also partially due to better diagnosis and longer lifespans. In the past, many old people's gradual loss of mental faculties was accepted as "they're getting old" and not diagnosed as dementia. And many would pass on for other reasons before they exhibited dementia to a serious degree. I actually think the onset of dementia is delayed these days compared to the past, it's just that people are just living longer and there are more older people around. I'm not making light of the issue - my grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's for the last 10-15yrs of her life, so I've seen it up close.

Frankly, living longer is not really a good thing, in my opinion. The human body isn't designed to last that long, and for most people, living past 70 or 80 simply means that you are likely to be living with some degee of ill health.

slmkhoo wrote:
Frankly, living longer is not really a good thing, in my opinion. The human body isn't designed to last that long, and for most people, living past 70 or 80 simply means that you are likely to be living with some degee of ill health.

a PD once told me that in the past, people always wish the elderly
长命百岁...but if the elderly is stricken with illnesses or having dementia which renders them incapable of doing the basic functions and depending on caretakers 24/7, it is not a good thing.

human body is just like a machine...once it has past its peak, parts are worn...machine parts can be changed but it is not possible to change the heart or the lungs.

slmkhoo wrote:
Frankly, living longer is not really a good thing, in my opinion. The human body isn't designed to last that long, and for most people, living past 70 or 80 simply means that you are likely to be living with some degee of ill health.

I am not in favor in living longer if there is no quality of life. Advancement in medicine and technology only prolong the human body but the mind is suffering.

A lot of old folks would rather live out whatever life left in peace and happiness with the family than being tortured by chemo which is not guaranteed to remove cancer cells completely.

zbear wrote:
I am not in favor in living longer if there is no quality of life. Advancement in medicine and technology only prolong the human body but the mind is suffering.

A lot of old folks would rather live out whatever life left in peace and happiness with the family than being tortured by chemo which is not guaranteed to remove cancer cells completely.

my grandmother has opted out of assisted medical...she didn't want to be kept alive on a machine and fortunately signed it before her dementia set in.

I guess the issue of dementia is it has no obvious signs.
As we grow old, we tend to forget this and that etc and are these signs of dementia?

We have no decision when we came to this world. Do we have a decision when to exit (excluding the suicide)?

Even if the old and fragile body is suffering, there is no legalized way to end the torture before the end is reached.

When young, we studied "all living things grow old and die". It is so easy to say but in reality, it is so difficult to accept and learn that death is just part of living.

I think for those with Dementia, they would be in their own world, perhaps as happy as a 3yo. It is the caregiver or children who will suffer.

Perhaps best to settle all matters regarding estate succession, including leaving a will and making known the contents before Dementia sets in.

starlight1968sg wrote:I guess the issue of dementia is it has no obvious signs.
As we grow old, we tend to forget this and that etc and are these signs of dementia?

We have no decision when we came to this world. Do we have a decision when to exit (excluding the suicide)?

Even if the old and fragile body is suffering, there is no legalized way to end the torture before the end is reached.

When young, we studied "all living things grow old and die". It is so easy to say but in reality, it is so difficult to accept and learn that death is just part of living.

It's a gradual process, and unfortunately, there is nothing much that can be done about it except to (hopefully) slow it down. I guess it helps to tell ourselves that it will happen and accept it rather than think that if we try hard enough, it won't.

lee_yl wrote:I think for those with Dementia, they would be in their own world, perhaps as happy as a 3yo. It is the caregiver or children who will suffer.

Perhaps best to settle all matters regarding estate succession, including leaving a will and making known the contents before Dementia sets in.

For the sufferer, the hardest part is the early stages when they realise that their memory etc is failing, but they are not able to accept it, or are confused. They can become very stressed, paranoid, bad-tempered, resistant to care etc. That is the toughest part for both the person and the carers, from my experience with my grandmother. When they no longer aware, they are quite happy in their own world and are also easier to care for in a way, but their health may be more of a problem then. For me, what really helped in coping was the understanding that life was a full circle, from childhood to "2nd childhood", and not to expect that the trajectory is always upward. My mother found it very hard to transition from daughter to "mother".