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Signs of Dementia

Signs of Dimentia

a few critical early warning signs

Published: April 28, 2022

Category: Educational, Featured

The condition Dementia refers to a group of symptoms that impact a person’s cognitive abilities. For example, their capacity to think, remember, and/or reason. There are a few critical early warning signs. Unfortunately, these signs tend to get worse over time. When nerve cells in the brain quit working, dementia develops. Although it occurs more often in older people, dementia does not exist as a natural part of the aging process. However, a natural decline in brain function occurs in everyone as they age. Unfortunately, the aging process happens more quickly in persons with dementia. Dementia comes in a variety of forms and according to the National Institute on Aging, the most common dementia appears as Alzheimer’s. The following identify other conditions:

  • Dementia with Lewy bodies.
  • Front temporal dementia.
  • Vascular diseases.
  • Diseases, mixed dementia, or a combination of these.

5 Signs of Dementia:

Notably, there are five common dementia warning symptoms. In short, a person must have two or more symptoms for a dementia diagnosis. Also, the symptoms must interfere with daily life. The following identify the early signs of dementia:

  1. Loss of Memory

A common dementia symptom occurs with memory loss. For example, a person with dementia may have trouble recalling current information. The trouble recalling will affect dates or events, as well as new knowledge. People with dementia may find that keeping track of things requires help. The aid of friends and family or other memory plans will help. Normally, as people get older, they tend to forget things more often. In addition, if the person has age-related memory loss rather than dementia-related, they should remember what they forgot after a short period of time.

  1. Planning or problem-solving difficulties

A person with dementia may have trouble following a plan. Case in point, It becomes difficult to follow a recipe when cooking. It can even affect driving and following directions. Problem-solving may become more difficult as they age. As an example, sometimes the daily task of adding up amounts to pay bills will be hard for them.

  1. Difficulty performing routine work

A person with dementia may have difficulty doing routine activities. Some of these include changing television settings, sending an email, or making a cup of tea. Another troubling or difficult routine can happen in a simple trip to the drug store and then having trouble getting home.  The problem with routine duties can occur at home or work.

  1. Being perplexed by the passage of time or the location of an event

Dementia can make it difficult to keep track of time. People can also lose track of where they are at any given time. They may have problems with events in the future or the past, as well as dates.

  1. Difficulties in processing visual information

For someone with dementia, visual information seems difficult to understand. Likewise, reading, judging distances, or differences between colors becomes difficult. Someone who normally drives, or cycles may find these activities difficult when first getting started.

Dementia symptoms – Where can I get assistance?

Above all, a visit to the primary care physician will get your diagnosis started. However, you’ll need to consult a neurologist, geriatrician, or geriatric psychiatrist to acquire a definitive diagnosis. If you can’t find one, the National Institute on Aging suggests calling a neighboring medical school’s neurology department. Dementia clinics are also available at several hospitals. When a person gets diagnosed, the doctor will take a complete history of the patient and of the immediate family during his exam. Alzheimer’s disease in a family or relative remains a big risk factor.

According to new research, simply having dementia in your family becomes your first clue.  For this reason, genetics can increase the risk of developing dementia. As expected, Doctors use a variety of techniques to diagnose dementia. Some of them include performing physical and neurological tests. This will help rule out any other causes of dementia symptoms that treatment can help. The following testing will provide a firm diagnosis:

Testing

  • Cognitive and neuropsychological exams. These tests will examine language, math skills, memory, problem-solving, and other types of mental functions.
  • Blood and other fluids testing, such as testing levels of various chemicals, hormones, and vitamins. These tests can help rule out non-dementia causes of symptoms.
  • Changes in brain structure and function are found by brain scans such as CT, MRI, or PET imaging. These tests can also detect strokes, cancers, and other conditions that can lead to dementia.
  • A psychiatric evaluation can evaluate whether a mental health problem causes or affects the symptoms.
  • Genetic studies are crucial, especially if symptoms appear before the age of 60. According to the Mayo Clinic, the early-onset form of Alzheimer’s disease links directly to a person’s genes. Before and after getting tested, patients should consult with a genetic counselor.

Causes of Dementia:

Doctors and scientists identify the cause of Dementia as being damage to or loss of nerve cells in the brain, as well as their connections. Dementia affects people differently and expresses itself in different ways depending on which section of the brain has been affected. Dementias are typically grouped based on similar features, such as the protein or proteins deposited in the brain or the affected brain region. Some disorders, like those caused by reactions to medicine, correspond to dementias and should improve with medical aid.

Types of Dementias that progress

The following are samples of dementias that progress without being reversible:

Alzheimer’s disease – Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia, progresses as time goes by. Because of this, Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent reason for dementia. Although no one knows what causes Alzheimer’s disease, scientists have found anomalies in three genes. These genes are usually passed down from parent to child and are associated with a small number of Alzheimer patients.  While many genes are thought to play a role in Alzheimer’s disease, apolipoprotein E4 is one of the most important.

Vascular dementia – Vascular dementia affects the blood vessels. Damage to the vessels that carry blood to the brain causes this sort of dementia. Frequently, blood artery problems can lead to strokes or have other effects on the brain. This type can harm the white matter fibers in the brain.

Dementia with Lewy bodies. Lewy bodies are abnormal protein clumps that have been discovered in the brain. These clumps cause suffering from Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

Frontotemporal dementia. Frontotemporal dementia indicates damage to the frontal lobe of the brain. This type of dementia destroys nerve cells and their connections in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Personality, conduct, and language are all related to certain areas of the brain. Common symptoms include an impact on behavior, personality, thinking, judgment, language, and movement.

Mixed dementia: Dementia with a mix of symptoms. According to autopsy analyses of dementia patient’s brains, many people with dementia aged 80 and up had a combination of causes. These causes include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and Lewy body dementia. Researchers are still studying mixed dementia to discover the symptoms and treatments.

Preventions:

Keep your mind active as a preventative measure. Memory training and cognitively engaging hobbies work to defer the symptoms. Using your mind such as reading, puzzle-solving, and word games may assist to prevent dementia. Engage in physical and social activities. Physical activity and social interaction may help to prevent dementia’s onset. Likewise, it may also stop or delay some symptoms. You should try to exercise for 150 minutes a week.

Stop smoking. Smoking in your forties and fifties can increase your dementia risks. According to multiple studies, smoking raises your risk of dementia and blood vessel disease. When you stop smoking it decreases your risk of heart disease. Just giving up smoking can help you live a better life. Make sure you’re getting vitamins. People with low vitamin D levels in their blood are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. According to many studies, vitamin D can help keep dementia at bay. Vitamin D comes from a variety of sources, including meals, supplements, and sun exposure.

Maintain a good diet. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and omega-3 fatty acids found in fish can help. Along with nuts, this type of diet will help you stay healthy and lower your dementia risk. Furthermore, this diet also boosts cardiovascular health, which may also lower dementia risk.