Fiona Phillips: TV presenter reveals she has Alzheimer’s illness on the age of 62
TV presenter Fiona Phillips has revealed she has been identified with Alzheimer’s illness.
The 62-year-old star, who’s greatest generally known as the previous host of ITV breakfast programme GMTV, was informed she had the sickness over a yr in the past after experiencing months of mind fog and anxiousness.
In an unique interview with the Mirror the place she works as a columnist, she stated: “This disease has ravaged my family and now it has come for me.
“And all around the nation there are individuals of all completely different ages whose lives are being affected by it – it is heartbreaking. I simply hope I can assist discover a remedy which could make issues higher for others sooner or later.”
Phillips, who’s an Alzheimer’s Society ambassador, stated she at all times feared she could be identified with the situation as a result of her relations had the illness.
She continued: “It’s something I might have thought I’d get at 80… But I was still only 61 years old.
“I felt extra offended than anything as a result of this illness has already impacted my life in so some ways; my poor mum was crippled with it, then my dad, my grandparents, my uncle. It simply retains coming again for us.”
Phillips, who took half in Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, stated she has nervous individuals will “judge me and put labels” on me, including: “It’s a horrible bloody secret to divulge.”
The mother-of-two’s husband Martin Frizell has stated the analysis got here after she began feeling “crippling anxiety towards the end of 2021”.
“We thought maybe it was the menopause because all the symptoms were there; brain fog, anxiety and confusion,” he stated.
“We got in touch with a menopause specialist who took her under their wing and put her on HRT (hormone replacement therapy) but while that improved some symptoms, the brain fog remained.”
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Menopause specialists then prompt Phillips ought to search additional assist to elucidate why she was struggling to recollect issues.
She then had months of cognitive checks earlier than she obtained the analysis she had dreaded.
Phillips is now a part of a trial for the drug Miridesap which is being carried out by the University College Hospital in London.
It is hoped the drug can gradual or reverse the progress of the illness.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive illness that causes gentle reminiscence loss in its early phases.
In late-stage Alzheimer’s, people lose the power to hold on a dialog and reply to their surroundings.