What is dementia? Dementia: causes, forms, diagnosis, treatment

What is dementia, what are the manifestations of this disease and how to treat it? Another name for this ailment is dementia, which covers a large group of symptoms. These manifestations affect the intellectual and social abilities of patients, seriously affecting their daily lives. Today we learn what constitutes senile dementia, symptoms, treatment of this ailment. And also help you figure out how to behave with such a person, how you can help and what is desirable to protect.

Symptomatic, depending on the stage of the disease

To understand what is dementia, you need to find out what the manifestations of this disease are. Depending on the period of development of the disease symptoms are of this nature:

At stage 1, the signs of ailment are:

- Absence.

- Loss of time.

- Loss of orientation in the usual place.

In 2 stages, the symptoms of dementia are as follows:

- Loss of memory in respect of even those events that have occurred recently.

- Loss of orientation.

- Difficulty in communicating.

- Helplessness (a person can not service himself: dress, eat, etc.).

Senile dementia, its signs At the third stage are the following:

- There is a violation and loss of orientation in time, as well as in space.

- A person ceases to recognize even the closest people.

- He stops doing elementary things about himself (dress, eat, etc.).

A stricken person can not move independently.

- He has urinary and fecal incontinence.

- There is behavior unusual for an ordinary elderly person (aggressiveness, fits of fury, nervousness).

Disease Recognition

If you have the first symptoms of memory impairment, attention, behavior, you need to hurry to see a specialist who will guide you through a series of tests to exclude a disease called dementia. Diagnosis of the disease consists in the following procedures:

- CT scan.

- Radioisotope check of the brain.

- An electroencephalogram is a method for studying the electrical activity of the brain.

- Checking blood vessels.

- Bacteriological study of cerebrospinal fluid, circulating in the ventricles of the brain.

- Biopsy of the medulla.

- General analysis of blood and urine.

- Inspection of a neurologist, a psychiatrist, an ophthalmologist.

Types and types of the disease

There are two forms of dementia:

1. The total.
2. Partial.

The second point is characterized by serious deviations in the process of short-term memory, while emotional changes are not particularly pronounced. There is only tearfulness and excessive sensitivity.

Total dementia is characterized by complete personal degradation. A person is disturbed by the intellectual, cognitive, emotional sphere of life, his feelings and emotions are changing radically. For example, a patient lacks the sense of shame, duty, lost vital interests and spiritual values.

Now go to the categories of the disease, in this case, dementia of the brain is divided into:

- Ailment of atrophic type (these are Alzheimer's and Pick 's diseases ). It occurs against the background of the primary degeneration reactions occurring in the cells of the central nervous system.

- Vascular dementia develops due to improper circulation in the system of blood vessels of the brain.

- Mixed type illness is a combination of the first two types of disease.

Causes

The problems of dementia have been studied for a long time, but until now some people do not know that this disease is not at all an effect of evil spirits on the person (as individual people believe). Also, people do not understand the risk factors for this disease, saying that it's just old age. However, this is not so. Dementia develops as a result of certain circumstances. The reasons for the appearance of this sickness are as follows:

- Heredity.

- The presence of pathologies that lead to the death or degeneration of brain cells.

- Traumas of the skull.

- Tumor in the brain.

- Alcoholism.

- Multiple sclerosis.

- Viral encephalitis.

- Chronic meningitis.

- Neurosyphilis.

Pick's disease

Another name for the disease - frontal dementia suggests the presence of degenerative abnormalities that have affected the temporal and frontal parts of the brain. In 50% of cases, Pick's disease appears due to a genetic factor. The beginning of the disease is characterized by such changes as:

- passivity and isolation from society;

- Taciturnity;

- apathy;

- ignoring the norms of decency;

- sexual immorality;

- urinary incontinence;

- Bulimia - a mental disorder associated with eating. This sharpness is characterized by a sharp increase in appetite, which begins with agonizing hunger.

People who were struck by this ailment live no more than 10 years. They die from immobility or development of urogenital, pulmonary infection.

Alcohol Dementia: Features

This kind of dementia occurs as a result of prolonged exposure to alcohol on the brain (for 15-20 years). The state of alcoholic dementia may worsen after the patient completely refuses from hot drinks. This kind of dementia occurs in the elderly, who regularly drink alcohol. The amount of consumption usually increases from four glasses of wine per week and to an unlimited amount per day. With alcoholic dementia, the patient has various mental disorders, including psychosis, depression, anxiety, apathy. There is also a lack of sleep, night confusion, irritability, anxiety. If a person does not stop on time and does not begin treatment, then he may have a stroke. Therefore, in this case it is necessary not to start the disease and not to ignore the patient.

Treatment of ailment

To date, scientists have not created the miracle pill that could cure the disease. What is dementia, know not by hearsay 35 million families around the world. That's how many patients the World Health Organization counted. But nevertheless it is possible to improve a condition of the amazed person, knowing and strictly observing following points:

1. Provision of care, compliance with safety in relation to this category of persons.
2. Identification and timely treatment of concomitant diseases.
3. Not belated detection and correction of mental disorders and sleep disorders.
4. Drug therapy.

Treatment with medication for Alzheimer's disease, for example, includes tablets such as Amiridin, Memantine, Seleginil. And for the treatment of vascular dementia apply solutions such as "Galantamine", "Nicergoline".

To prevent stroke, as a possible cause of dementia, a doctor can prescribe anti-thrombotic drugs that lower blood pressure, reducing cholesterol. The specialist also prescribes medicines so that the patient sleeps better. And with behavioral disorders, a doctor can prescribe sedatives, antidepressants, etc.
The treatment of dementia, therefore, is aimed at eliminating the symptoms of the disease, improving memory, mental abilities, motor functions.

Prevention

What is dementia, found out, now is the time to learn about measures to prevent the development of this ailment:

1. Compliance with a healthy lifestyle, without drinking.
2. It is necessary to conduct daily mental exercises (guessing crossword puzzles, puzzles, reading the book and its further discussion, etc.)
3. Normal recovery after a stroke, encephalitis and other diseases, after which dementia may develop.
4. Timely therapy of internal diseases in elderly people.
5. Mandatory blood glucose control.
6. Prevention of the appearance of atherosclerosis (nutrition and annual definition of a lipidogram - a study of venous blood).
7. Work in non-toxic production.
8. Controlling the level of cholesterol in the blood.
9. To give up smoking.

but It is a mistake to believe that by carrying out all the above points, this disease will not start. Dementia mostly has a hereditary factor, because many diseases can be transmitted from generation to generation and they can cause dementia. Therefore, it is necessary to know how to behave towards a stricken person and what should be paid attention.

Tips for patients and their close relatives

Older dementia, the signs of which move from one stage to another, thus, progressing, should be adequately perceived by the relatives of the sick person. And for this it is necessary to help your stricken relative, improve the quality of his life, and also safety. In this case, you can use the following tips:

1. Prepare a care plan for the patient. Such a task must be carried out and for themselves to understand what are the goals of supervision of the elderly. To create such a plan, you need to consult with doctors, lawyers, and other family members. Here are the main points on which the relative should give an answer:

- What is the prognosis of treatment? What to expect from such therapy?

- Is it compulsory for a person to care for him or can he live alone?

- Which of the family members will be the main person in charge of the patient?

- Is there a need to help a person eat, drink medicine, take a bath?

- Do you need to install security devices in the house where the patient is (for example, put soft appliances on the corners of furniture, buy a special bed, make locks on windows, mount CCTV cameras, etc.)?

- Is it necessary to limit a person from driving a car?

- What are the wishes of the patient about his treatment and care for him?

2. Purchase a special calendar for each day.

In such a diary it will be necessary to note all kinds of activities that a stricken person can forget, up to brushing his teeth. And opposite each item will need to put a tick about what was done. Close people will thus be able to check everything that the patient does by the calendar, which, in turn, will better orient oneself in everyday affairs and cares.

3. Keep the order and the immutability of the home circle of persons.

A constant, quiet and familiar environment will eliminate the feeling of anxiety, excitement, confusion. But the new situations, things and orders will only interfere with the sick with dementia, and then they will badly learn and remember new things for them.

4. Lay the injured person in time to sleep.

Actions and actions of elderly people can worsen in the evening because of fatigue or, for example, because of anxiety, anxiety caused by diminished illumination. Therefore, people caring for the patient, you want to introduce a clear order for a timely night's rest. To do this, you need to take the patient away from the TV or active family members. It is forbidden to give an elderly person coffee, especially in the afternoon.

The sad experience of people with regard to caring for the sick

People who personally faced with the problem, saw and looked after a sick family member, quite often share their experiences and emotional impulses on the Internet. After all, it is unusual and very scary to see how an adult, successful person turns into a child who is not responsible for his words or actions. Therefore, many people support each other, share experiences in the treatment and prevention of a disease such as dementia. Reviews of people who had to be with a weak-minded person, the forums say that it is very difficult to cope with yourself when there is a native, but at the same time, a stranger. Some pour out their soul, they cry and weep because their beloved grandfather, grandmother, mom, dad overtook this sickness. However, they nevertheless take care of their beloved relatives and do not lose hope that they will become better. And this is quite a normal reaction, because everyone wants their loved ones to be healthy and happy. But there are also negative reviews, which are simply unflattering and abusive. People simply do not stand such a fate of their relative, they are already waiting and will not wait for his death to relieve himself of such a burden.

But this is fundamentally wrong. After all, the patient is not to blame for being a victim of a disease such as dementia. Therefore, the task of close people is to treat such mental changes with understanding, it is impossible to argue and curse the weak-minded person, it is also important to control his behavior. It must be remembered that he does not realize his actions and words, so he does not need to prove anything to him, to assure something in any way, and especially to be offended. Also, relatives at the first symptoms of an illness must show their affected family member to doctors. And experts will help to choose drugs that would improve metabolic processes in the brain, and due to this, the illness will not worsen.

I want to wish my relatives and friends who have such patients, patience, calmness and understanding in their hands. You need to communicate more often with a weak-minded person, because he needs verbal communication. It is good, if the whole family will support the one who carries out the full-fledged care for the patient, and also who is actually affected, and will also help and monitor his behavior.

Now you know what constitutes senile dementia, symptoms, treatment of dementia in the elderly. It was determined that if a person has primary signs of a disease, then one should not postpone a trip to specialists, otherwise the ailment will only progress. And at the first stage of the disease, doctors will be able to help the patient as much as possible by prescribing medicines that improve memory and metabolic processes in the brain. It is also important to provide proper care for such a member of the family, because he himself clearly does not help himself in this situation.