Dementia

The Baby Boomers are ageing and many face some problems ahead like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease that they know so little about. But it’s not just the ageing that needs to know. Everyone needs to increase their knowledge just in case someone in their family or close to them develops dementia, and perhaps later Alzheimer’s or some other debilitating mental disorder.

Usually dementia is considered a late-life disease because it tends to develop mostly in elderly people, but can strike earlier. As a matter of fact, about 5-8% of all people over the age of 65 have some form of dementia, and this number doubles every five years above that age.

At the root, dementia is loss of mental functions, thought processes deteriorate, as well as memory and reasoning are impaired enough to interfere with a person’s daily functioning.

Perhaps one of the key factors in educating yourself about dementia is to learn what it is not as much as what it is: it is not a syndrome itself, but a group of symptoms caused by various diseases or conditions. These symptoms can alter a person’s personality, mood, and behavior.

Areas of the brain that are the most affected have to do with learning, memory, decision-making, and language. Dementia comes from as many 50 or more causes from a variety of infections and diseases. However, most of these causes are very rare. The most common, and well known, is Alzheimer’s.

Because about 10% of all the forms of dementia can be treated or cured, you want to make sure your doctor is very careful in his or her diagnosis. There are several things that can cause dementia:

*Diseases that cause degeneration or loss of nerve cells in the brain such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s.

*Diseases that affect blood vessels, such as stroke, which can cause a disorder known as multi-infarct dementia.

*Toxic reactions, like excessive alcohol or drug use.

*Nutritional deficiencies, like vitamin B12 and folate deficiency.

*Infections that affect the brain and spinal cord, such as AIDS dementia complex and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

*Certain types of hydrocephalus, an accumulation of fluid in the brain that can result from developmental abnormalities, infections, injury, or brain tumors.

*Head injury–either a single severe head injury or longer term smaller injuries, like in boxers.

*Illness other than in the brain–kidney, liver, and lung diseases can all lead to dementia.

In some cases, dementia can be treated and cured because the cause is treatable. For examples, dementia caused by substance abuse (illicit drugs and alcohol), combinations of prescription medications, and hormone or vitamin imbalances are some of the disorders that are treatable. But it takes care to diagnose dementia when some of the symptoms, like depression, are underlying and treatable. However, cases of true dementia cannot be cured and are progressive.

Pets can be helpful in the care of people with dementia.

So your question is probably, “What are the types of dementia that are treatable and what is not? Treatable dementia forms include:

*Dementia due to long-term substance abuse.

*Tumors that can be removed.

*Subdural hematoma, accumulation of blood beneath the outer covering of the brain that result from a broken blood vessel, usually as a result of a head injury.

*Normal-pressure hydrocephalus.

*Metabolic disorders, such as a vitamin B12 deficiency.

*Hypothyroidism, a condition that results from an under-active thyroid.

*Hypoglycemia, a condition that results from low blood sugar.

Non-treatable causes of dementia include:

*Alzheimer’s disease. While Alzheimer’s is not curable, there are now medications that can aid in cognition.

*Multi-infarct dementia that is due to multiple small strokes.

*Dementias associated with Parkinson’s disease and similar disorders.

*AIDS dementia complex.

* Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a quickly progressing and fatal disease that consists of dementia and muscle twitching and spasm.

Ever forget why you went into a room? How about misplacing your car keys? Or have you missed an appointment? What about forgetting the name of someone you’ve met only a couple of times? Don’t worry, that more than likely it’s not dementia. Those kinds of things happen to everyone.

So when does it go from just common forgetfulness and progress into dementia and possibly Alzheimer’s? There are signs and symptoms, like:

*Extreme and chronic forgetfulness

*Orientation problems, like getting lost walking in familiar places

*Difficulty making plans and thinking ahead

*Difficulty with common actions such as dressing or making phone calls

*Difficulty with language and calculating, although dyslexia and calclexia in the elderly can be confused for dementia. As most everyone knows, dyslexia and calclexia usually start at a very young age, or can be manifest due to brain injury or stroke.

*Changing character traits, like increased agitation and/or aggression. This one is one of the key indicators that things have progressed pretty far.

But don’t overreact. These are things that can and do happen to every one of us, but it’s when it becomes severe enough to impair daily activities is when there is need for concern, and time to visit your doctor, or a specialist.

Tomorrow’s column is about Alzheimer’s Disease…

© 2009, Ric Morgan and SimpleWords Communications. All rights reserved.