Dementia is not a specific disease but is rather a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interferes with doing everyday activities. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. Though dementia mostly affects older adults, it is not a part of normal aging.
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, behavior and feelings can be affected.
The brain has many distinct regions, each of which is responsible for different functions (for example, memory, judgment and movement). When cells in a particular region are damaged, that region cannot carry out its functions normally.
Dementia is caused by damage to the brain. There are many causes of dementia. The causes of dementia can be generally grouped as follows:
Degenerative neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal lobar dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson's disease dementia and Huntington's disease
Vascular disorders, such as multi-infarct dementia, which is caused by multiple strokes in the brain
Infections that affect the central nervous system, such as HIV dementia complex and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a quickly worsening and fatal disease that is recognized by its symptoms of dementia and muscle twitching and spasm (myoclonus)
Long term drug or alcohol use
Depression
Certain types of hydrocephalus, a build-up of fluid within the brain that can result from developmental abnormalities, infections, injury, or brain tumours
Symptoms of Dementia
Early symptoms of dementia include :
Forgetting recent events or information
Repeating comments or questions over a very short period of time
Misplacing commonly used items or placing them in usual spots
Not knowing the date or time
Having difficulty coming up with the right words
Experiencing a change in mood, behavior or interests
Signs that dementia is getting worse include:
Ability to remember and make decisions further declines
Talking and finding the right words becomes more difficult
Daily complex tasks, such as brushing teeth, making a cup of coffee, working a tv remote, cooking, and paying bills become more challenging
Rational thinking and behavior and ability to problem solve lessen
More help with activities of daily living – grooming, toileting, bathing, eating – is needed
Hallucinations (seeing people or objects that aren’t there) may develop
The symptoms mentioned above are general symptoms of dementia. Each person diagnosed with dementia has different symptoms, depending on what area of the brain is damaged. Additional symptoms and/or unique symptoms occur with specific types of dementia.
Management of Dementia
The management of dementia discusses the needs of people in both the early and later stages of dementia, focusing on social and environmental aspects as well as physical and psychological. The main management tasks in early dementia are helping the person with dementia and their family come to terms with the diagnosis, optimising quality of life in the present, and planning for the future. In later dementia we deal with maintaining person-hood, the emergence of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, making decisions for a person who no longer has capacity to do so for themselves, and end of life care in people who are increasingly frail and have limited ability to communicate their needs. Underpinning all of these is the need for respect and communication, and to provide person-centred and relationship-centred care for people with dementia and their carers.
Team of Psychiatrists and Clinical Psychologists at Nirvan Hospital are expert in management of Dementia. Nirvan Hospital has India’s First Department of Geriatric Mental Health in Pvt. Sector in India.
