Dementia & Alzheimer’s

Q. What is Dementia?

A. Dementia is a disease of the brain due to which a person gradually loses his or her cognitive function of the brain and loses efficiency to remember, work and do mundane jobs.

Q. Can Dementia be cured if detected early?

A. Yes, Dementia has a track record of being cured in over 80% of the cases where the patient reported the case early.

Q. Is a bad memory a part of being old?

A. No, not at all. Most elderly people only lose about 20-30% of their memory, as they grow old.

Q. So, an especially bad memory in the older ages may be Dementia?

A. It usually is, yes.

Alzheimer’s Disease: Cause of Dementia

Dementia is a condition that is depicted with a loss of mental functions in some areas including memory, judgment, language, visual and spatial abilities. It is a serious health condition that alters the patient’s way of living. Dementia, essentially, is a set of symptoms that come with certain diseases that affect the human brain.

Dementia mostly affects people of old age. It can also affect young people too but it is a rare occurrence. Symptoms of Dementia can also be noticed with infections, surgery, sleep deprivation, dehydration, irregular food intake, change in personality, and loneliness.

This is a condition known as delirium and is observed in most Dementia patients. Delirium can be treated with proper care, healthy food intake, and improved sleeping habits; however, these treatments will not cause any improvements in the human brain. Brain cells of patients who have severe Dementia gradually die.

Dementia & Alzheimer’s

The most common type of Dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. It happens when brain neurons gradually die which eventually results in a progressive relapse of one’s mental ability. It is very unfortunate that there is no sure fire way to cure this deadly disease.

But drug and non-drug treatments can help to reduce the degree of this disease. Researchers are constantly trying to find new treatments to help patients of Alzheimer’s disease. Basically, there are five theories regarding this disease that require further investigation:.

Dementia & Alzheimer’s

According to the Royal College of Physicians, “Alzheimer’s disease is the global impairment of higher functions, including memory, the capacity to solve the problems of day to day living, the performance of learned perceptuo-motor skills, the correct use of social skills, and the control of emotional reactions in the absence of gross clouding of consciousness.”

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Alzheimer’s disease has different stages. It is very important to know about the various stages or phases of the disease to determine the exact treatment to be given to the patient.

Dr Reisberg, M.D., Clinical Director of the New York University School of Medicine’s Silberstein Aging and Dementia Research Center, together with his team, developed the Functional Assessment Staging (FAST) scale of Alzheimer’s disease. They divided it into 7 major stages and 16 sub-stages.

A-Z of Dementia Terms

Acetylcholine: It is a way of communication through chemicals between two adjacent nerve cells in the brain. In Dementia related cases, these brain cells are adversely affected.

ADAS: Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale. This scale measures the degree of disease in an Alzheimer’s Disease patient. Memory status and communication ability of a patient are graded by this measurement scale.

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AD7C Test: Also called the AlzheimAlert Test. It is used for detection of levels of neutral protein in cerebral fluid. Though, the Alzheimer’s Association doesn’t recommend this test.

Adult Day Care Service: Interaction session provided by various support groups amongst patients of Dementia.

Agnosia: The inability to recognize familiar persons, objects, sound, and smells. It is a common problem for Dementia patients.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD): The most common disease that causes Dementia. It is a fatal disease and mostly seen in people aged over 65. Forgetfulness, restlessness, personality change, behavior change, and hallucinations are some of the features of this disease.