Dementia is a term used to describe a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking, and social skills. severe enough to interfere with your daily life. These changes are severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning.
Dementia is not a specific disease, but a group of symptoms caused by other conditions.
About 5% to 8% of adults over 65 have some type of dementia. This percentage doubles every 5 years after age 65. Up to half of people in their 80s have some dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in older people, but there are other causes of dementia.
Symptoms of dementia may improve with treatment, but many of the diseases that cause dementia are not curable.
Symptoms
Some of its symptoms include:
- Short-term memory loss
- Difficulty communicating or finding words.
- Difficulty with visual and spatial skills, such as getting lost while driving
- Problems with complex but familiar tasks, such as preparing a meal or paying bills
- Personality changes, such as depression, agitation, paranoia, and mood swings.
Causes and types
These types of dementia can be controlled but are not reversible:
- Alzheimer disease. This is the most common cause of dementia.
- Vascular dementia. This can happen in people who have long-term high blood pressure, severe hardening of the arteries, or several small strokes. Strokes are the second most common cause of dementia.
- Parkinson’s disease. Dementia is common in people with this condition.
- Lewy body dementia. It is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. It can cause short-term memory loss.
- Frontotemporal dementia. This is a group of diseases that includes Pick’s disease.
- Huntington’s disease. This is caused by a genetic mutation.
- Leukoencephalopathies. These are diseases that affect the deeper white matter brain tissue.
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This is a rare and fatal condition that destroys brain tissue.
- Some cases of multiple sclerosis (MS) or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Some reversible types are:
- Alcohol or substance use disorder
- Brain tumors
- Subdural hematomas, blood clots under the outer layer of the brain.
- Normal pressure hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain
- Metabolic disorders such as vitamin B12 deficiency
- Low levels of thyroid hormones, called hypothyroidism.
- Low blood sugar, called hypoglycemia.
- HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND)
Stages
- Level 1: No deterioration. The patient has no problems.
- Stage 2: Questionable disability. The patient begins to have some difficulties, but is still able to function independently.
- Stage 3: Mild disability The patient has obvious, but still mild, difficulty with daily activities.
- Stage 4: Moderate disability. The patient needs help to take care of himself and to carry out his daily activities.
- Stage 5: Moderate to severe disability
- Stage 6: Severe deficiency; patients cannot function independently.
- Stage 7: Very severe deterioration. The bodily and mental functions begin to fail.
Risk factor’s
These are factors that increase your chances of developing dementia:
- Age
- Genetics
- Family history
- Diseases including diabetes, Down syndrome, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and sleep apnea
- Depression
- Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet and lack of exercise
- Brain damage
- Strokes
- Vitamin and nutritional deficiencies.
- Brain infection (for example, meningitis and syphilis)
Treatment
To treat dementia, doctors will treat what is causing it. About 20% of the causes of dementia are reversible. If the cause of a person’s dementia is not reversible, treatment will focus on managing symptoms, particularly agitation and other emotional concerns.
Prevention
There is no sure way to prevent dementia, but there are steps you can take that can help. More research is needed, but it could be beneficial to do the following:
- Keep your mind active
- Be physically and socially active
- Give up smoking
- Get enough vitamins
- Manage cardiovascular risk factors
- Treat health conditions
- Maintain a healthy diet.
- Get good quality sleep