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We are not authorised to provide clinical information or advice to patients with neurological conditions or their carers but we have listed all known national and local peer support groups below and on the Information page we list a selection of publicly available relevant articles. 

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Contact details of local and national support groups for specific neurological conditions:

Acquired brain injury (ABI) is any damage to the brain that occurs after birth and is not related to a congenital or a degenerative diseaseABI can be caused by events such as infection, disease, lack of oxygen, tumour, stroke, brain haemorrhage, encephalitis, or a blow to the head. ABI can result in cognitive, physical, emotional, or behavioural impairments that lead to permanent or temporary changes in functioning. ​Headway Thames Valley is a charity helping people to live life after brain injury in Berkshire and South Oxfordshire.Headway Thames Valley can be contacted by phone at 01491 411469 or by e-mail at info@headwaythamesvalley.org.ukThey are based in Henley on Thames at Brunner Hall and their website is headwaythamesvalley.org.uk​

Estimates of incidence are conservatively 12 per 100,000 per year.  Based on this, around 8,000 new diagnoses of FND are made per year in the UK and around 50,000–100,000 people have it in the community.

Dystonia UK  can be contacted here 
The local support group can contacted here or by email at dysberksgroup@yahoo.co.uk  

There are over half a million people with epilepsy in the UK, so around 1 in 100 people.

Epilepsy Action can be contacted here but there are no local branches. 

There is, however, an independent epilepsy support group in Reading which can be contacted via Mr Peter Clunie at pclunie@go-plus.net

Peter has asked us to draw to your attention a program run at Exeter University. Details can be accessed in the poster below



The epilepsy society can be contacted here

Face Blindness

Prosopagnosia (also known as face blindness) is a neurological condition that affects an individual’s ability to reliably recognise familiar faces – acquaintances, friends, colleagues, well-known people, and even close family members.

For some people this is caused by a trauma to the brain.  However, the majority of people with prosopagnosia will have lived all their life with the condition but may well be unaware that they have a neurological deficit, and that for other people face recognition is automatic.

Some well known people who have this condition include Stephen Fry, Jane Goodall (Anthropologist), Joanna Lumley and Emily Maitlis, the journalist & TV presenter.

To find out more please click here

Hereditary Brain Aneurysm Support

Hereditary Brain Aneurysm Support (HBA Support) estimates that there are approximately 2 million people in the UK living with an unruptured brain aneurysm, and that 16% of these individuals could have a strong family history, indicating a familial or genetic pattern. This means there could be over 320,000 people in the UK that could be helped and supported by HBA Support.

Hereditary Brain Aneurysm Support (HBA Support) is the UK's first patient-centred organisation to provide information and support for people affected by hereditary brain aneurysms and their families.

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They support people affected by hereditary brain aneurysms, building a community for families that have been given a hereditary brain aneurysm diagnosis or suspect there is a pattern or cluster in their family.

 

Since 2022, they've been supporting hundreds of people affected, working with the medical, research, and policy communities to improve information and research.

 

To find out more please click here

The lifetime prevalence of migraine has been reported as 33% in women and 13% in men though before puberty migraine frequency is the same in both sexes. These figures are estimates.

A recent survey of about 4,000 adults in England reported that 7.6% of males and 18.3% of females had migraine within the last year.

 
The Migraine Trust can be contacted here 

The lifetime prevalence of migraine has been reported as 33% in women and 13% in men though before puberty migraine frequency is the same in both sexes. These figures are estimates.

A recent survey of about 4,000 adults in England reported that 7.6% of males and 18.3% of females had migraine within the last year.

 
The Migraine Trust can be contacted here 

Six people are diagnosed with MND every day in the UK. There are around 5,000 adults with MND in the UK at any one time. It can affect any adult at any age. Most people are diagnosed over the age of 50. Men are at higher risk than women.

The MND Association can be contacted here 
The nearest local group is North Hampshire  which can be contacted here

More than 130,000 people in the UK have MS. In the UK people are most likely to find out they have MS in their thirties, forties and fifties. But the first signs of MS often start years earlier. Many people notice their first symptoms years before they get their diagnosis.

MS affects almost three times as many women as men. People from many different ethnic backgrounds can get MS. Read the latest statistics on MS in the UK.

The Reading and Wokingham MS support group can be contacted here. Their chair is Rose Tocock. 0118 986 2591.

The Newbury and District Group can be contacted here 

The excellent MS Therapy Centre is based on the Oxford Road in Reading and can be contacted here

Around 153,000 people live with Parkinson’s in the UK. It is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world.

The Reading branch can be contacted here

The Newbury branch can be contacted here

There is no dedicated Wokingham branch, but many Wokingham residents attend Reading Branch events (some of which are based in Wokingham), or visit the nearby Bracknell Branch, which can be contacted here

Parkinsons UK can be contacted here

There are around 100,000 strokes every year in the UK. The incidence of first-ever transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is approximately 50 per 100,000 people per year.In the UK there are approximately 1.3 million people living with stroke.

The Stroke Association can be contacted here

Their Newbury branch can be contacted here

The Tilehurst (Reading ) group can be contacted here

There is another Reading support group here and one in Earley here

In Wokingham the support group can be contacted here

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Headway in Henley provide a number of services  for people with brain injuries including stroke. They can be contacted here

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