Fiona Phillips ‘not sure if drugs are working’ in update on ‘awful’ Alzheimer’s

Fiona Phillips has opened up about her “awful” brain fog and being a part of cognitive tests to see if trial drugs could stabilise or even reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s . The 62-year-old, who is married to This Morning editor Martin Frizell, said she isn’t sure if the drugs are working, but says: “I don’t think anyone would know there is anything wrong with me.. but who knows? Would they?” Fiona is being regularly monitored by doctors at University College Hospital in London, but neither of them know if she is on an actual trial drug or a placebo, which according to The Mirror , “is necessary for a wide-scale experiment”. They add the information has to remain a secret so data from drug test volunteers can be “properly compared”. Two months on from going public with her diagnosis, Fiona has vowed to not let her condition “ruin things” with the added help of anti-depressants, but has inevitably experienced symptoms such as brain fog and losing interest in day-to-day activities. Fiona Phillips opened up about her young onset Alzheimer’s in July (Image: PHILIPCOBURN) Fiona seemingly experienced brain fog in her latest interview, in which she said: “My eldest son Nat has taken great.. great…” and then paused. She added: “Oh, er, oh it’s awful but I keep having these moments where I think, ‘What’s the word?’ It doesn’t happen all the time.. just occasionally. And that’s just not me at all. “I can normally talk until next Christmas . It is just weird when it happens because I’m thinking, ‘Why has my mouth stopped and I’m still thinking about the sentence’. It’s really weird.” The ex host also told how not being able to find her beauty therapist’s new address recently left her “upset”. “I felt like a little girl again and I was wishing I had my mum there to tell me where we were going,” she explained of the moment. Fiona Phillips opened up on ‘awful’ memory loss which happens occasionally (Image: PHILIPCOBURN) Fiona also revealed she had started being “anxious” about simple things such as going out, worlds away from her old self as a busy journalist and mum. She spilled: “I haven’t been out much recently to be honest with you.. I just don’t seem to fancy it. “Martin says I’m lethargic but what does he want me to do.. Go running round the park shouting, ‘Look I’ve got Alzheimer’s’.” As well as this, the mother-of-two said she’s noticed she’s lost “all interest in cooking and food” which makes her feel “guilty” towards her spouse. “It’s another pressure on him but I just can’t be bothered. There are some days I can’t be bothered to do anything… It’s partly this malaise that I’m in I suppose,” she explained. Elsewhere, Fiona Phillips, who has been a long-term Alzheimer’s Society Ambassador, is calling for research funding for the charity on World Alzheimer’s Day. Both of the television presenter’s parents died after suffering from Dementia, her mother in 2006 followed by her father in 2012. A new survey has found that the disease is the most feared health condition in people over 65, and the second overall. 82 percent have said Dementia is a significant health and social care issue, while over half of those surveyed believe urgent action is needed to provide more support for those living with Dementia. Fiona said: ‘I’ve always spoken out about Alzheimer’s whether through a book, a documentary or lobbying Prime Ministers and now that it’s turned up on my doorstep I’m not for stopping. ‘It’s devastated my family and it’s the biggest health and social care challenge we face as a country. ‘It already costs the UK £37bn, set to rise to £94bn by 2040, and yet our brilliant doctors and scientists still struggle for funding.” She added: ‘It’s not just funding for a cure that’s being sought but simply treatments that prolong quality of life. I’m on a drug trial with UCLH myself; researchers desperately need more funding and if me speaking out about it concentrates minds, then all the better.’