DEMENTIA IN SOCIETY
Exercise and dementia – Petri Lampinen’s story
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The most important piece of advice my neurologist gave to me was: ‘The best thing you can do in this situation is to Petri Lampinen, a member of the European Working Group start exercising actively.’”
of People with Dementia (EWGPWD), shares his thoughts on life since his diagnosis of Frontotemporal Dementia and on what exercise, a healthy diet and careful planning have done to help him. I was diagnosed with FTD (Frontotemporal Dementia) at Tampere University Hospital in 2015. Receiving the diagnosis was a great relief for me as well as my family and friends. It meant I was finally able to connect many of my symptoms and personality changes to an underlying issue. When I received the diagnosis, my neurologist gave me some instructions on how to slow down the progression of the disorder. People with FTD don’t usually receive any medication, since there really aren’t any drugs for this slightly rarer form of dementia. However, after some careful thought, I was prescribed a type of drug used for treating Alzheimer’s disease, in order to help boost my cognition. The most important piece of advice my neurologist gave to me was: “The best thing you can do in this situation is to start exercising actively.” I am happy I paid attention and marked the doctor’s words. I have been living by these instructions for a few years now, and it has worked out very well for me.
Rediscovering my youth
At the first meeting of this new programme, I set myself a goal to improve my ability organised by the Social Insurance Institution to function through new forms of exercise of Finland, Kela. That is when I really under- and occupational therapy. With some excelstood the importance of exercise. I started lent guidance from the staff, I was able to exercising a lot more after the training, going rediscover activities from my youth. When on long walks and cycling. I was young, I used to play table tennis and badminton quite often. The rehabilitation After a few months, I applied for another train- brought the sports back into my life. As I got ing programme from Kela. At that point, I was older, I had forgotten about them. given the wrong advice by a number of healthcare experts, who said that I could not apply On the last day of rehabilitation, I felt a bit for this ‘multidisciplinary medical (neurolog- sad that it was all coming to an end. I had ical) rehabilitation for the severely disabled’. come to realise how much I was getting out Luckily I was proactive and figured things of this programme. I also remember thinkout myself. I contacted Kela’s rehabilitation ing that the rehabilitation would only be services directly and was told that I could, in useful if I continued actively taking care of fact, apply for the training. I found a doctor myself. An active approach to rehabilitation who knew about these things and drew up a would allow me to reap the benefits at a rehabilitation plan for me. He understood how later stage and leave no room for second vital exercise was for my well-being, so I sent guessing about the possible advantages of the application to Kela and was fairly quickly exercise later on. The decision to take care of granted access to a 13-day rehabilitation pro- myself has been one of the best life choices gramme. Once again, my proactivity paid off! I have ever made!
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FTD has made me impulsive, and exercise allows me to get rid of any excess energy I may have. It also improves my psychological well-being.” Understanding the importance of exercise
After the diagnosis, my wife and I were allowed to attend an adjustment training programme for people with memory-related diseases and their families, which was
Petri enjoys playing table tennis
Dementia in Europe 33
