DEMENTIA

Dementia And Its Implications

Dementia And Its Implications

Introduction

Dementia is a syndrome usually chronic or progressive, which severely affects the cognitive functioning which is a person's reasoning, thinking and social ability, thus causing impaired daily functioning. Memory loss is generally seen in dementia, however memory loss alone is not a single symptom of dementia as difficulty in motor functions, communication and behavioural changes are also observed

Depending upon the etiology, dementia can be classified as reversible or irreversible. Less than 10% of cases are reported as reversible and are cured by treatment. Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia as it contributes 60 - 70% of the reported cases. Vascular dementia a condition seen right after a stroke is the second most common cause of it. Vitamin Deficiencies and endocrinal dysfunctioning also lead to dementia but in this case it is more likely reversible (Juby, 2002. P. 859).

Irreversible dementia cannot be treated with medications and is more common with advanced age in such cases strong treatment plans between the health professionals and caregivers play a vital role in providing comfort, support and an independent life to the patient.

Discussion

Causes and Classification of Dementia

Dementia is caused by damage of nerve cells, either in a single part or several parts of the brain that is why it affects people differently depending upon which part of brain is affected. There are several of classifications of dementia depending either on the basis of involvement of different parts of brain or exacerbation of the symptoms with the increase of time (Eastly, 2005).

Some main classes of dementia are:

Progressive Dementia

Progressive dementia is worsening of the disease state with increased time and further includes:

Alzheimer's disease

The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer's disease and 60 to 70% of the reported cases are of this category. It is a complex state involving difficulty in remembering names and events accompanied with depression and these are marked to be the early clinical symptoms. The symptoms which are apparent in the later stages are disorientation, impaired judgment, behavioural changes and difficulty in sleeping, swallowing and walking. The changes are also reported causing pathological alterations like deposition of protein fragment beta-amyloid (plaques) and twisted stands of protein tangles. This causes nerve damage and causes brain death (NIH, 2013).

Vascular Dementia

Also called as post-stroke or multi-infract dementia and is most likely to occur right after a stroke or attack. It is the second most leading class of dementia worldwide. It is called vascular as it is caused by brain vessel blockage or microscopic bleeding. However symptoms are more likely to be same as Alzheimer's disease like impaired judgment and inability of planning steps needed to complete a task.

Dementia with Lewy Bodies

People with this kind of dementia observe early symptoms such as visual hallucinations. Parkinsonian movement features such as muscle rigidity and more importantly sleep disturbances. Pathological changes include aggregation of the protein alpha-synuclein in the cortex. This aggregation is also seen in a Parkinson disease patient but it's a patterned aggregation and in dementia with lewy ...