Dementia

Dementia

Dementia is the name given to a group of symptoms caused by disorders that affect a person’s brain and can be best described as a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental process. People with dementia may not be able to think well enough to allow them to do normal activities or control their emotions. Identifiers of dementia are, memory disorders, sudden personality changes and impaired reasoning. There are various diseases then can lead to someone having dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease and suffering a stroke.

Signs and symptoms of Dementia

Symptoms of dementia can vary greatly, at least two of the following core mental functions must be significantly impaired for it to be considered dementia:

• Memory,
• Communication and language,
• Ability to focus and pay attention,
• Reasoning and judgment,
• Visual perception.

Causes of Dementia:

• Dementia is caused by damage to brain cells.
• This damage interferes with the ability of brain cells to communicate with each other.
• When brain cells cannot communicate normally, thinking, behaviour and feelings can be affected.
• The brain has many distinct regions, each of which is responsible for different functions such as memory, judgment, and movement.

The following conditions may improve when the conditions are treated or addressed.

• Depression,
• Medication side effects,
• Excess use of alcohol,
• Thyroid problems,
• Vitamin deficiencies.

Treatment and care for Dementia:

• Treatment of dementia depends on its cause. In the case of most progressive dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease, there is no cure and no treatment that slows or stops its progression.
• There are drug treatments that temporarily improve symptoms.
• Non-drug therapies can also alleviate some symptoms of dementia.