Margot Saito was diagnosed with dementia that changed her life

climax Stress Margot Godinho Saito, 42, led the search for a psychiatrist. At the time, she was 38 years old and I thought it was because of her job as a logistics analyst. But the psychiatrist raised doubts about the possibility of something greater.

The expert was right. After several tests and consultations with several doctors, Margot discovered that she had frontotemporal dementia, also known by the acronym DFT.

unlike Alzheimer’s diseaseThis type of dementia often does not affect memory. The disease mainly causes a change in behavior – it is as if the person is changing his personality. Age is also a difference: FTD affects a very active part of the population, generally between the ages of 45 and 65, while the risk of Alzheimer’s disease increases from 65 onwards.

“Because of illness, the doctors said this part of my brain looked like a 90-year-old,” Margot says. According to experts, this measurement used is caused by dementia frontotemporal It causes atrophy of the frontal and temporal regions of the brain, reducing the size of the organ – something that occurs naturally and gradually after the age of 70.

There is no cure for FTD, the medications are only meant to control symptoms, which vary (we’ll explain later). However, it is possible to enjoy a quality of life, and that is exactly what Margot strives for.