What is Dementia
Dementia is an umbrella term that includes many different types of cognitive impairment that can impact one’s function. Dementia affects over 55 million people around the world and is increasingly common as we age. Gaining a better understanding of dementia will help us all in our journey to prevent dementia and delay progression for those with the disease.
Here is an overview of dementia that covers many aspects to help you Prevent, Preserve, and Prosper.
Page contents
About Dementia
Dementia, otherwise known as ‘Major neurocognitive disorder’, is a progressive condition that affects cognitive function and impairs one’s ability to function independently. People suffering from dementia face difficulties in all aspects of their life. These difficulties from dementia mainly emerge as memory loss, slurry speech, forgetfulness, inability to make decisions and inhibited creative thinking.
Gradually, the effects of dementia start to affect daily lives hence inhibiting a person from behaving as a normal and healthy individual. Now when it comes to understanding Dementia on a deeper level, it is not a single disease but rather a collection of symptoms that combine to alter a person’s whole personality.
Alzheimer’s is also a part of dementia disease and is generally the main cause of Dementia too. It is classified as one of the types of Dementia because people suffering from Alzheimer’s slowly develop dementia too.
Those suffering from dementia also face a decline in their social life, lose their ability to keep and maintain relationships and suffer from temperament issues which are harder to understand. Therefore, early dementia care is the only way to prevent your loved ones from losing their personality to this painful disease.
To ensure that you can offer the right Dementia treatment options to the people you love, one must educate themselves completely about Dementia, its causes, symptoms and treatment options.
Early Care for People with Dementia (Other than Medical Treatment)
Treatment Options for Dementia.
Symptoms of Dementia
In most cases, people with dementia start to show symptoms such as general memory loss. This includes the inability to recall past events, asking the same question several times, or seeming confused. This memory loss is termed as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). This is due to changes in the size of the brain’s memory centre hippocampus.
However, besides MCI, functional limitations or challenges are an integral part of dementia. Without functional impact, one would not label a cognitive disorder as dementia. Rather, cognitive impairment with retention of functional abilities is usually termed Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). MCI is much more common than dementia and does not always progress to dementia over time. Using preventive strategies can help those with MCI reduce their risk of developing dementia in the coming years.
Gradually the symptoms of MCI worsen and affect the other parts of the brain. Here are some signs of mild cognitive impairment getting worse:
- Inability to recall things
- Struggling to find keys, wallet, and other items
- Forgetting to perform routine tasks such as bill payment
- Loss of focus
- Perceptual difficulty (i.e. visuospatial difficulty)
- Language problems (speaking or understanding)
- Difficulty in planning (i.e. executive function)
- Impaired social cognition (understanding and responding appropriately to social cues)
- Struggling with preparing meals
The indicators of cognitive impairment that precede dementia are progressive, meaning that they progressively worsen over time. Don’t dismiss memory loss or other changes in cognitive abilities if you or someone you know is experiencing them. Rather, visiting a doctor at the first sign of memory loss or changes in normal brain function can save yourself or a loved one from unfortunate progress in disease.
Remember that early diagnosis of dementia is half of the dementia treatment, for more assistance, call the Dementia care helpline to get an initial plan.
Causes of Dementia
It is hard to pin down the causes of dementia as dementia is a result of damage to the brain cells. This disease can happen to anyone; therefore, an early diagnosis is the key to a successful treatment. However, some risk factors are known to progress the disease or may increase the likelihood of developing dementia:
| Depression: | people with a history of depression are more likely to develop dementia due to the damage caused to the brain by depressive episodes. |
| Age: | people over 65 or older are at a greater risk of developing dementia. |
| Poor heart health: | hypertension, high cholesterol levels and poor diet increase the risk of developing dementia. |
| Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): | a severe injury to the brain leads to prolonged damage to the brain which can cause dementia |
| High-dose medications: | pain medications, heartburn medications and overactive hormonal medications cause a greater risk of dementia. |
| Excessive Alcohol Use: | excessive use of alcohol or drugs is likely to compromise the brain’s normal functions hence increasing the chance of developing dementia. |
| Vitamin deficiencies: | severe and consistent vitamin deficiencies can compromise brain functions and lead to dementia. |
Types of Dementia
There are several types of Dementia classified based on the onset symptoms, care and treatment options. Knowing the right type of dementia ensures that you can get the right care and hence target the affected part of the brain before dementia gets worse.
As a general idea, Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia, hence the reason why many people use Alzheimer’s and Dementia interchangeably. Over 80% of dementia causes are caused by Alzheimer’s whereas the rest 20% are due to the other types, Vascular or mixed dementia.
Here is an outline of the different types of Dementia:
Alzheimer’s Disease
The most common type of dementia is known as Alzheimer’s Disease. This condition comprises anywhere from 60-80% of all dementias and is characterized by a gradual progressive decline in cognition, usually short-term memory. Under the microscope, Alzheimer’s is characterized as having an increased number of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. While scientists originally thought these pathologies were causing the disease, there is now some discussion and debate about whether they are the cause of the disease or an effect of other pathological processes that reduce brain function.
Vascular Dementia
This is also a common form of dementia (about 10-20%) and is caused primarily by damage to blood vessels supplying oxygen and nutrition to the brain. A frequent reason for this decline in blood flow is due to a stroke (cerebrovascular accident). Due to this cause, its onset is often sudden (around the time of a stroke) but is not usually as progressive as Alzheimer’s if appropriate prevention strategies are implemented. This reminds us why managing our vascular health (blood pressure, diabetes, etc) is crucial in deterring dementia.
Vascular Dementia
This is also a common form of dementia (about 10-20%) and is caused primarily by damage to blood vessels supplying oxygen and nutrition to the brain. A frequent reason for this decline in blood flow is due to a stroke (cerebrovascular accident). Due to this cause, its onset is often sudden (around the time of a stroke) but is not usually as progressive as Alzheimer’s if appropriate prevention strategies are implemented. This reminds us why managing our vascular health (blood pressure, diabetes, etc) is crucial in deterring dementia.
Vascular Dementia
This is also a common form of dementia (about 10-20%) and is caused primarily by damage to blood vessels supplying oxygen and nutrition to the brain. A frequent reason for this decline in blood flow is due to a stroke (cerebrovascular accident). Due to this cause, its onset is often sudden (around the time of a stroke) but is not usually as progressive as Alzheimer’s if appropriate prevention strategies are implemented. This reminds us why managing our vascular health (blood pressure, diabetes, etc) is crucial in deterring dementia.
Mixed Dementia
This can include any subtypes of dementia but most often is a combination of Alzheimer’s and Vascular dementia. Prevention involves looking at risk factors for all types of dementia and working to reduce our exposure to these risks.
Frontotemporal Dementia
This is a much less common form of dementia and usually involves significant changes in personality, behaviour, or language. It can often occur in younger individuals (in their 50s and 60s). It may often be mistaken for a primarily psychiatric condition due to its common features of apathy (lack of interest), disinhibition, unusual eating habits (hyperorality), lack of empathy, and other features.
Frontotemporal Dementia
This is a much less common form of dementia and usually involves significant changes in personality, behaviour, or language. It can often occur in younger individuals (in their 50s and 60s). It may often be mistaken for a primarily psychiatric condition due to its common features of apathy (lack of interest), disinhibition, unusual eating habits (hyperorality), lack of empathy, and other features.
Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson’s Disease Dementia
These conditions are caused by similar pathologic depositions of alpha-synuclein in the brain but differ based on the timing of symptom onset. Both conditions involve symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease which include slowness of movement (bradykinesia) and often a tremor, stiffness in muscles (rigidity), and trouble with balance. The cognitive aspect is characterized by a fluctuating nature of cognitive deficits that often affect planning (executive function) more than short-term memory. Visual hallucinations are often common but usually not distressing for individuals.
Early Care for People with Dementia (Other than Medical Treatment)
A disease such as dementia which slowly eats the person’s ability to live and function normally, requires proper treatment. But to underestimate the care of a loved one during dementia couldn’t be more wrong. For a loved one suffering from dementia, there are lots of routine and life changes that you can bring to help them revert towards life a lot quicker and better!
Role as a Partner
As a partner of someone with dementia, there is nothing more fulfilling than your love for them. People with dementia might seem avoidant, detached, upset or frustrated most of the time, but the truth is they are unable to navigate so many changes happening internally with no rational sense.
Read About challenging behavior of he people with dementia.
Therefore, a caregiver should eagerly offer care, support, kindness and love to a dementia sufferer. This includes meaningful chats, sticking to a routine, reminiscing old times or exchanging gifts that are helpful for dementia too.
Discover the 3 essential caregiver tips that can help prevent hurt feelings when caring for someone with dementia.
Encouraging Physical Activity
A dementia sufferer feels tired and demotivated all the time. Due to the brain changes, they are likely to lose interest in routine activities no matter how integral they were to them. Therefore, lifestyle changes that are both motivating and refreshing can help a dementia sufferer on their road to recovery. This includes practising hobbies like cycling, jogging, walking or light exercise (make sure to consult a healthcare professional before exercising with dementia).
Therapy
Therapy is a given part of early dementia care which is recurrent even in the later stages. However, as a personal dementia care guide, you must hire a personal therapist to fight the feelings of loneliness, boredom and hopelessness in dementia sufferers.
Promoting Independent Behaviour
Get yourself Diagnosed Now! There is no said test to diagnose dementia. Physicians use a thorough medical history, physical examination, lab testing, and the distinctive behavioural, cognitive, and daily functioning abnormalities associated with each kind of dementia to diagnose Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. A person’s diagnosis of dementia can be made with high certainty by medical professionals. However, because different dementias might have similar symptoms and brain abnormalities, it can be challenging to identify the precise type of dementia. A physician may occasionally diagnose “dementia” without naming the specific kind. If you are at risk of any dementia symptoms, get yourself checked immediately by a neurologist psychiatrist, or psychologist. |
A person with dementia faces dependency and it causes them frustration. Therefore, promoting independence in people with Dementia is a wise step towards their recovery. Presume that the person suffering from dementia can finish the assignment. Before acting, attempt to determine what is causing the frustration if you sense it. Instead of thinking about the future, concentrate on his or her immediate requirements.
Treatment Options for Dementia
The treatment options for dementia depend on the type of dementia and the progress of the disease. However, there is no dementia cure but with regular treatment, it is possible to diminish the dementia symptoms to some extent. Most treatment plans require continuous medication whereas some treatment options also include corrective surgical methods such as the removal of beta-amyloid from brain cells, the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
The great news is that most of the types of dementia are highly preventable and can be deterred with a thorough, proactive plan. We highlight a lot of these features throughout our website and are delighted to provide even more advice and tips to our members.
