Dementia - Symptoms, causes and treatment

Dementia or dEmmentia is disease which result in dropmemory and thinking. This condition has an impact on the lifestyle, social skills, and daily activities of the sufferer.

The most common types of dementia are Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Alzheimer's is a dementia associated with genetic changes and protein changes in the brain. Meanwhile, vascular dementia is a type of dementia due to disorders in the blood vessels of the brain.

Keep in mind, dementia is different from senile dementia. senile dementia is a change in the ability to think and remember that is usually experienced with age. These changes can affect memory, but are not significant and do not cause a person to depend on others.

Causes of Dementia

Dementia is caused by damage to nerve cells and connections between nerves in the brain. Based on the changes that occur, there are several types of dementia, namely:

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia. The cause of Alzheimer's is still unknown, but genetic changes that are passed down from parents are thought to increase the risk of developing this disease. In addition to genetic factors, protein abnormalities in the brain are also thought to damage healthy nerve cells in the brain.

Vascular dementia

Vascular dementia is caused by disorders of the blood vessels in the brain. Recurrent stroke is the most common cause of this type of dementia.

Other conditions that cause dementia symptoms

In addition to Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, there are other conditions that can cause dementia symptoms, but are temporary. These conditions include:

  • Metabolic or endocrine disorders.
  • Multiple sclerosis.
  • Subdural hematoma.
  • Brain tumor.
  • Side effects of medications, such as sedatives and pain medications.
  • Lack of certain vitamins and minerals, such as lack of vitamin B1, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin E, and iron in the body.
  • Poisoning due to exposure to heavy metals, pesticides, and alcohol consumption.

Risk Factor

There are factors that can increase the risk of dementia, namely increasing age, a family history of dementia, and an unhealthy lifestyle, such as unhealthy eating patterns, not exercising regularly, smoking, and alcohol addiction.

In addition, there are several diseases that are also at risk of causing dementia, including:

  • Down syndrome
  • Depression
  • Sleep apnea
  • High cholesterol
  • Obesity
  • Hypertension
  • Diabetes

Symptoms of Dementia

The main symptoms of dementia are memory loss and changes in thinking, resulting in changes in behavior and speech. These symptoms may worsen over time. To be clear, here are the stages of symptoms that appear in people with dementia:

Stage 1

At this stage, the patient's brain function is still in a normal stage, so there are no visible symptoms.

Stage 2

Disorders that occur at this stage have not affected the patient's daily activities. For example, sufferers may find it difficult to carry out various activities at one time, have difficulty making decisions or solving problems, easily forget about recent activities, and have difficulty choosing the right words.

Stage 3

At this stage, organic mental disorders begin to occur. Sufferers can get lost when passing through the usual path, have difficulty learning new things, the mood looks flat and lackluster, as well as personality changes and decreased social skills.

Stage 4

When entering this stage, sufferers begin to need the help of others in carrying out daily activities, such as dressing and bathing. Patients also experience changes in sleep patterns, difficulty in reading and writing, being apathetic, withdrawing from social circles, hallucinating, irritable, and being rude.

Stage 5

When you have entered this stage, a person can be said to have severe dementia. Dementia at this stage causes the patient to be unable to live independently. Sufferers will lose basic abilities, such as walking or sitting, not recognizing family members, and not understanding language.

When to go to the doctor

Consultation with a neurologist or psychiatrist should be done if a person experiences one or more of the symptoms of dementia, in order to get further examination.

Dementia is often equated with senile dementia in the elderly, because they are both associated with memory loss. However, if memory loss continues to worsen to the point where it is difficult for the patient to carry out daily activities, a dementia examination should be performed immediately.

An examination by a doctor needs to be done immediately if you experience all or some of the symptoms suspected as early symptoms of dementia, including:

  • Easy to forget.
  • Difficult to learn new things.
  • Difficulty concentrating.
  • Difficult to remember time and place.
  • Uncertain mood.
  • Often loses things due to forgetting where to put them.
  • It is difficult to find the right words when speaking.
  • Apathy or do not care about the surrounding environment.
  • Often repeats the same activity without realizing it.
  • Difficulty carrying out usual daily activities.

Some diseases, such as diabetes, cholesterol, and hypertension, can increase the risk of dementia. If you suffer from this disease, it is advisable to regularly consult a doctor to monitor the progress of the disease and get the right treatment.

Dementia Diagnosis

Diagnosis of dementia is quite difficult because the symptoms are similar to other diseases. Therefore, doctors need to perform a series of examinations to determine the cause.

As a first step, the doctor will ask the patient's symptoms to find out how much these symptoms affect daily activities. The doctor will also ask the patient's and family's medical history to find out if there is a family history of dementia.

After that, the doctor will perform several additional examinations which include:

  • Inspection saraf

    Nerve examination is done to assess muscle strength and see body reflexes.

  • Inspection mthick

    This examination was carried out using the mini-mental state examination (MMSE), which is a series of questions that will be given a score by the doctor to measure how much cognitive impairment is experienced.

  • f testevacuate luhur

    This test aims to measure a person's thinking ability, for example by asking the patient to count backwards from 100 or draw a clock hand to show a certain time.  

Other tests also need to be done if there are other diseases that cause dementia symptoms, such as stroke, brain tumor, or thyroid disorder. The inspection includes:

  • Imaging of the brain with a CT scan, MRI, or PET scan.
  • Electrical examination of the brain with EEG.
  • Blood test.

Dementia Treatment

Dementia treatment aims to help sufferers adapt to their condition, reduce symptoms, and avoid complications. Following are the procedures that can be used as a treatment for dementia:

Therapykspecial

There are several therapies that can be done to manage the symptoms and behaviors that arise due to dementia, namely:

  • Cognitive stimulation therapy

    This therapy aims to stimulate memory, problem-solving skills, and language skills, by doing group activities or sports.

  • Occupational therapy

    This therapy aims to teach sufferers how to safely carry out daily activities according to their condition, as well as teach how to control emotions in dealing with the development of symptoms.

  • memory therapy

    This therapy is useful for helping sufferers remember their life history, such as hometown, school, work, to hobbies.

  • Cognitive rehabilitation

    This therapy aims to train the part of the brain that is not functioning, using the part of the brain that is still healthy.

Family support

In addition to the therapies above, to maintain the quality of life of people with dementia, support from family or relatives is needed. Such support or assistance may include:

  • Communicate with the patient using short and easy-to-understand sentences, accompanied by gestures, gestures and eye contact.
  • Doing sports that can improve strength, balance, and heart health with sufferers.
  • Doing fun activities with the sufferer, such as cooking, gardening, painting, or playing music.
  • Creating habits before bed for sufferers, such as not watching television and turning on the house lights.
  • Make an agenda or calendar as a tool to remember events and activities that must be done by the patient, as well as treatment schedules.
  • Make the next treatment plan with the patient, to determine what treatment he should undergo.

Drugs

Some types of drugs commonly used to treat symptoms of dementia are: acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, antianxiety, antipsychotic, and antidepressant.

Operation

Dementia can be treated with surgery if it is caused by a brain tumor, brain injury, or hydrocephalus. Surgery can help restore symptoms if there has not been permanent damage to the brain.

Although there are a number of therapies that can be used to treat dementia, most people with dementia do not recover completely. However, treatment should still be done to relieve the symptoms that appear. Apart from that, complications can also be avoided with proper treatment.

Dementia Complications

Impaired memory and ways of thinking experienced by people with dementia can cause complications when carrying out daily activities. The example is:

  • Injury while walking alone
  • Nutritional deficiency
  • Choking to cause pneumonia
  • Unable to live independently

Dementia Prevention

There is no sure way to prevent dementia. However, there are several ways that can be done to reduce the risk, such as:

  • Quit smoking.
  • Exercise regularly.
  • Enough sleep.
  • Maintain nutritional intake and adopt a healthy diet, for example by eating low-fat and high-fiber foods. Take vitamins for the brain and herbal supplements, such as Gingko biloba, is also thought to be good for preventing dementia.
  • Reduce alcohol intake.
  • Maintain ideal body weight.
  • Regularly train the brain, such as diligently reading or playing crossword puzzles.
  • Routinely controls blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and cholesterol.
  • Immediately consult a doctor if you experience stress, depression, or anxiety disorders.