Definition of dementia
Dementia is a problem that develops in old age. This is not a disease, but the name of a symptom that occurs when a person’s behavior changes after the brain are damage. People with dementia are weaker mentally than physically. He also needs help from others in his day-to-day work.
Dementia itself is not a disease. This problem occurs when the brain is damage due to Alzheimer’s disease/stress/depression/stress or some kind of shock. Alzheimer’s disease is consider to be the leading cause of this disease.
There is a lack of public awareness of dementia. So, in this article, I will explain what dementia is. We also inform you about the symptoms, causes, types, treatments, and precautions of this disease .
What is dementia?
The word dementia is a compound word of ‘de’ meaning ‘not’ and ‘mentia’ meaning ‘reason’. Most people know that dementia is a matter of forgetting the little things. However, forgetfulness or memory loss is not the only symptom.
The dementia problem is much more serious. There may be many other alarming symptoms as well. These symptoms also affect the patient’s daily life. These problems increase with age.
Many people confuse from this disease with insanity. However, it is very important to know that the presence of dementia does not mean that the patient is mentally retard. Not typhoid, frenzy, or delirium. Dementia doesn’t mean insanity either. this disease is not actually forgetfulness, but amnesia.
Symptoms of dementia
Dementia can affect 1 in 10 people over the age of 65, while 1 in 4 people under the age of 85 may have the problem. However, if someone started complaining of this disease before age 65, it can be assume that this is the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Here are the main symptoms of dementia:
- If you keep repeating this over and over, the problem is getting to the point.
- Forget social habits and do weird things.
- Use of rude language, insults, and obscene behavior
- Even after a lot of effort, I don’t remember the work.
- Your ability to think is reduce and you constantly make bad decisions.
- Get lost in yourself
- Shouting, crying, etc. for no reason
- Uncertainty about taking the initiative
- Forget in the morning whether you ate breakfast or not.
- The problem of remembering people’s names, the problem of solving small problems.
- Wrong or flipped clothes, cleanliness issues
- Forget the day, date, month, and year.
- Forget your own home, city, and country.
- I have difficulty understanding or describing images.
- They can’t solve even the smallest math problems.
- Say or write the wrong word. I am having trouble understanding the meaning of words.
- Do not place items in the wrong place, such as putting your watch in the refrigerator or locker.
- I ran a task and forgot what to do.
This disease is getting progressively worse. At its peak, the patient becomes completely dependent on someone else. Problems with memory may also be related to hallucinations or (amnesia). Do not confuse this with Alzheimer’s or dementia. This difference can only be detect by a doctor after a proper examination.
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Causes of dementia
There are many parts in our brain or brain. All of these parts work together in different ways. Brain cells can be damage by certain diseases or injuries. This damage can also result from head trauma, stroke, brain tumor, or HIV infection.
Dementia can occur when brain cells are damage. This damage affects the brain’s ability to communicate between cells. For this reason, the thoughts, behaviors, and emotions of people with this disease are also affect.
Types of dementia
The symptoms and severity of dementia depend on the type of dementia. Some types of this disease can be diagnose and others remain incurable. Here are the types of this disease that can be diagnose:
1. Alzheimer’s disease:
This is the most common type of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is cause by changes in the brain. As a result of chemical reactions in the brain, certain proteins are produce, which increase the size of the veins. This reduces the size of the patient’s brain.
2. Lewy body dementia:
This is another form of dementia cause by the accumulation of the protein alpha-synuclein in the cerebral cortex. Because of this disease , patients may complain of memory loss and confusion. They also have trouble sleeping, confusion, inability to balance the body, and problems going to the bathroom.
3. Parkinson’s Disease Dementia:
In fact, it is a neurodegenerative disease. This is a condition in which the nervous system is damage. This loss can later lead to dementia. It may later take the form of Alzheimer’s disease. People with this condition may lose their ability to drive and make small decisions.
4. Mixed dementia:
In this type of dementia, patients develop many diseases simultaneously, such as Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. It is also likely that there are many other types of this disease associate with this problem.
5. Frontotemporal dementia:
This type of dementia has changes in the personality and conversation as well as the behavior of people with this type of dementia. He has trouble understanding and speaking his language. This disease is usually the result of another disease. These diseases mainly include Pick’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.
6. Vascular Dementia:
Vascular dementia also called post-stroke or multi-infarct dementia. It occurs in about 10 percent of dementia cases. It occurs due to blockage of blood vessels, as well as due to stroke or any other type of injury to the brain.
Stages of dementia
There are 7 stages of dementia, which are as follows –
Stage 1: No cognitive deficit
In stage 1, the person functions normally have no mental impairment, is mentally sound. People who do not have dementia are place in this stage.
Stage 2: Very mild cognitive deficit
Stage 2 consists of general amnesia, which has associating with age. For example, forgetting names and forgetting familiar objects. Usually, its symptoms are not obvious even to loved ones, family, or the patient’s doctor.
Stage 3: Mild cognitive deficit
This stage includes increasing amnesia problem, as well as difficulty concentrating, and decreased work performance. In this stage, people often keep forgetting things and are not able to choose the right words.
After reaching this stage, the patient’s loved ones and family comes to know about the problems associated with it when he moves to a new place. Note that researchers will include this stage in either the first stage or the first stage of the third stage (early, moderate or severe staging systems).
Stage 4 Moderate cognitive deficits
In this condition, people with dementia have difficulty concentrating, can’t remember recent events, and have difficulty with tasks such as managing money, traveling to new places alone. Concerned people have trouble completing complex tasks because their mental abilities refuse them.
Such people start keeping themselves away from friends and family because of this because socializing becomes difficult for them. During the interview of the patient, the doctor can diagnose his disease by taking his speech, physical examination, and dementia test.
Stage 5: Moderately profound cognitive deficit
People in stage 5 begin to have severe memory deficits that require them to seek the help of another person to carry out their activities (for example, dressing, bathing, and cooking).
Loss of memory is the main reason for this and in the future, problems like loss of memory can also arise in it. For example, the affected person may not remember their address or phone number and may not even remember the day or time or where they are at present.
Stage 6: Severe cognitive deficit (moderate dementia)
In people in this stage, extensive support is need to carry out daily activities such as dressing themselves. In such a situation, patients start forgetting even the names of their close relatives and are able to remember very little about the recent incidents.
Some patients simply remember the details of their earlier life. They also have difficulty counting counts below 10. Urinary incontinence (loss of bladder or bowel control) is also a problem in this stage.
The ability to speak properly also decreases. Changes in personality may include narcissism (perceiving something that is not true), compulsion (repeating a task over and over, such as cleaning), or anxiety and excitement.
Stage 7: Very severe cognitive deficit
People at this stage actually lose the ability to speak or interact. They need an assistant to carry out all normal daily activities (such as using the toilet, eating). They often lose psychomotor skills, for example, the ability to walk or sit in a chair.
Diagnosis of dementia
There is no simple test available to tell if a person has Alzheimer’s. Diagnosis of the disease requires an overall medical evaluation, which may include:
- Your family medical history
- Neurological test
- Cognitive tests to assess memory and thinking
- Doing Blood tests (to find and rule out other causes of symptoms)
- Brain imaging
- Although doctors can determine whether a person has dementia, it can be difficult to determine what type of dementia they have. Misdiagnosis of symptoms is more common in early-stage Alzheimer’s.
- It is important to get an accurate diagnosis early in the disease process because it can:
- Increases the more chances of benefiting from available treatments, which can improve quality of life
- Opportunity to receive ancillary services
- Opportunity to participate in clinical trials i.e. clinical trials and clinical studies
- Have the opportunity to express their wishes about future care and living arrangements
- A person can make his financial and legal plans in time
Treatment of dementia
Unfortunately, there is no cure for this disease yet and scientists are still searching for the causes of this disease. If cells in the brain stop working and this cannot be stop, there is no cure yet for degenerative dementia.
Management of disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease focuses on care and treatment of the symptoms, rather than its underlying cause. Therefore, the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease can be reduce by certain medicines.
Dementia is usually cause by disturbances in the cerebral cortex, which is a part of the brain. It also serves to think, decide and maintain the personality. When brain cells in these areas are destroy, it causes cognitive impairment, which is characteristic of dementia.
Injuries to the head, brain tumors, infections, hormone disorders such as thyroid disease, hypoxia (poor oxygen in the blood), metabolic disorders, drug addiction are some of the factors that increase the risk of developing this disease.
Prevention of dementia
Here are some of the following points to prevent dementia:
- Don’t smoke and use alcohol.
- Atherosclerosis (heart disease that causes the arteries to narrow)
- High levels of “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein)
- Maintaining the above-average blood levels of homocysteine is a type of amino acid.
- Get diabetes under control.
- Some Mild cognitive impairment is raise sometimes, but not always, they lead to dementia.
