Dementia

Coping with dementia

Dementia occurs when a person loses some of their brain function. Dementia doesn’t only strike elderly or aging people, though people over 60 are more likely to suffer from it. Dementia also doesn’t always indicate Alzheimers disease, as some believe. There are a variety of symptoms of dementia, many of which are treatable:

• Serious infections
• Thyroid problems
• Vitamin B1 or B12 deficiency
• Brain tumors
• Metabolic causes from certain diseases, kidney and liver problems

In most metabolic cases of dementia, once the condition is treated, the dementia will lessen or disappear completely. However, when the cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, brain injury from strokes or conditions like Lewy body dementia, the condition is degenerative and cannot be reversed.

We’re all forgetful from time to time, no matter what our age. An elderly parent’s momentarily forgetfulness or disorientation isn’t necessarily caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Age shortens memory and causes cognitive problems, so there could be absolutely nothing wrong with your loved one. It can be hard to know when to brush it off or take it as a sign of senile dementia.

Dementia Symptoms

Some of the most common early dementia symptoms are:

• Forgetting things – this is usually the first sign of dementia
• Personality changes
• Big changes in sleeping habits including insomnia or excessive sleep
• Difficulty forming words and making themselves understood
• Poor recognition of people and names
• Confusion and disorientation

Symptoms get worse as the dementia progresses, leading to the person’s inability to communicate and care for themselves in even the most basic ways.

Dementia Care

When your loved one suffers from dementia, the best thing you can do is keep them in familiar surroundings. Familiar people and things help to keep them focused. Night lights can help someone suffering with dementia to feel more secure at night. You may have to stress certain things to your loved one, and repetition is necessary to keep them in the here and now much longer. Dementia care often requires 24-hour monitoring at home or in a nursing facility. Until then, don’t expect your loved one to remember complicated instructions. Keep everything simple.