How to Take Care of Dementia PatientBACK

How to Take Care of Dementia Patient Dementia is the loss of mental functions like thinking, memory, and reasoning that's severe enough to interfere with an individual's daily functioning. Dementia isn't an illness itself, but manifests in old age and can be a symptom of underlying disease.

What Causes Dementia?

• Vascular dementia earlier called as multi-infarct or post-stroke dementia, Vascular dementia is not common.

Symptoms: Vascular dementia symptoms vary from person to person, depending on the part of brain where blood flow is reduced. Symptoms often overlap with those of different sorts of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease. Vascular dementia symptoms are clear-cut when they occur suddenly following a stroke.

• Injury - post-traumatic dementia is due to brain cell death caused by injury.

Symptoms: The seriousness of dementia depends on severity and extent of injury.

• Depression Depression makes it difficult for a individual with dementia to memorize things and enjoy their life. Depressive symptoms have been reported to occur in approximately 40 to 50 people out of 100 with Alzheimer's disease. People in long-term housing care appear to be particularly at risk of depression.

Symptoms: We all feel low many times which is not the same as being depressed. Depression is a more continuous situation in which various emotions, such as hopelessness and sadness, dominate an individual's life and make it hard for them to cope. Individuals with depression may also experience physical symptoms, such as loss of vitality and appetite changes. Physical manifestations are more common in elderly people with depression.

Dementia can also be caused by:

• HIV infection - While it has been shown that HIV does not specifically infect nerve cells, it is thought that it can somehow infect them indirectly. Immune cells that are present in the brain act as HIV reservoirs and are the source of indirect harm to nerve cells.How the virus harms brain cells is not clear.
• Reversible factors - some dementias can be treated by reversing the effects of underlying causes, including medication interactions, depression and vitamin deficiencies and thyroid abnormalities.

Cure of Dementia Management of dementia depends on its cause. In case of most progressive dementias, including Alzheimer's disease, there is no cure and no treatment that can slow down or stops its progression. However, there are some special cases, including dementia caused by vitamin and thyroid hormone deficiency, which can be treated with supplements. Some causes like brain tumour and head injury can be managed surgically. For neurodegenerative types of dementia, it is important to prevent additional damage by modifying risk factors, such as treating high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 1 diabetes, and stopping of smoking.