Does anybody else live in fear of having a stroke and dementia?

[genericuser]

I worry about this constantly. I'm only 24 so if I suddenly had a stroke and gotten vascular dementia because of it, I could well live 60+ years in that condition. Who knows what my personal experience of it would be? It sounds like an inescapable nightmare. How do you manage not to think about it?

[tiredOfOcd]

Play the odds.

At 24, the chances of you having a strong are really remote. If you went to your dr, they'd likely say avoidance is your best bet. So start watching your diet, cholesterol levels and exercise.

If it helps, my father in law had vascular dementia. His blood pressure and cholesterol were outrageously high for a good 20 years, his diet was high salt/high fat and he got little exercise. It took 10 years of strokes to give him dementia.

If he had been serious about getting and keeping his blood pressure and cholesterol under control then he could have avoided all of it.

So stock up on fruits and vegetables, get your levels tested every year and lift weights/run/swim/join a gym/something where you break a sweat.