Dementia is an umbrella term for conditions associated with loss of brain action severe enough to interfere with one’s daily activities. Persons at risk of showing dementia symptoms are seniors and the risk increases as one gets older.
Injury, damage, drugs, or disease in the body may cause dementia to be static or progressive as well as reversible or nonreversible. Most types are nonreversible thus persons exhibiting dementia may require life-long care.
Types of irreversible dementia
The syndrome can be caused by small strokes, Lewy body disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, progressive supranucear palsy, multiple sclerosis, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia and semantic dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Alzheimer’s disease, Pick disease, Wernicke-Korsakoff and infections that affect the brain such as Lyme disease and HIV/AIDS.
Types that can be reversed
If diagnosed early these causes can be stopped. They include brain tumor, normal pressure hydrocephalus, chronic alcohol abuse, brain injury, use of certain medication, infections, hormone disorders, metabolic disorders, nutritional deficiencies, hypoxia and toxic exposures.
Symptoms
Symptoms of dementia vary from mild to severe. You may have difficulty in language, personality or emotional behavior, memory, judgment, and thinking.
Dementia causes one to have problems with travelling, preparing and meal planning, paying bills, misplacing things, short-term memory and remembering appointments among other everyday activities. You may also experience difficulty in solving problems, loss of social skills, change in sleep pattern, forgetting events, hallucinations, difficulty reading and writing, swallowing and violent behavior inclusive of may others.
Severe symptoms can include difficulty in recognizing family members, health complications, and complete dependence on others for daily care, inability to move unaided and understand language.
Prevention
Prevention of the causes of dementia can be carried out on the reversible types. Decreasing the risk can include medication and lifestyle changes. Mental activity, diet, sleep pattern, physical activity can be considered for prevention of dementia. Medication such as anti-diabetic drugs, NSAIDs and hypertension medications can also assist in reducing developing dementia.
Treatment
Once diagnosed with the condition you may require health and social care since there is no cure for the condition. Treatment depends on the type of dementia. Treatable conditions can be attended to and you may recover. Those that are irreversible may require management which can include medication for persistent pain, cognitive and behavioral symptoms. You may require mental and physical exercises as well as dementia services such as fast and competent assessment, access to peer support groups and immediate care to receive the right treatment.
