Dementia

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• QWhat can I do to help someone with dementia?

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  A NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital answered

  Some of the things that can be done to help a person with dementia are:

  • Stick to a regular daily routine. Make sure there are lots of familiar objects around to be seen and enjoyed.
  • Check on the patient's safety regularly. One method some families use to prevent wandering is to attach bells to all the doors that lead outside.
  • Make sure the patient eats well and drinks plenty of liquids
  • Help the patient stay as independent as possible for as long as possible.
  • Provide for regular exercise and recreation.
  • Keep in touch with friends and family.
  • Use written memory aids such as large calendars and clocks, written lists of daily routines, reminders about safety measures, and name tags placed on important objects.
  • See that the patient gets regular medical checkups.
  • Plan ahead for future needs such as respite care or nursing home placement.
  • Give lots of emotional support to the patient and all the caregivers.
  • If medicines are prescribed, see that the patient takes them regularly.
  • Join a support group of other people who care for people with dementia.
  • Ask for help with money problems, legal problems, day-to-day advice, emotional issues, respite care or nursing home placement when they are needed.
  • Check the home for safety features, such as bars on the wall near the toilet and bathtub, night lights in hallways and on the stairs, non-slip rugs, lowering the height of the bed to prevent falls, etc.
  • Make sure all health care providers have a complete list of all the patient's prescription and over-the-counter medicines.
  • If incontinence is a problem, remind the patient to use the toilet every two hours.
  • Enroll the patient in a dementia day program to provide stimulation for the patient and respite for the caregiver.

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• QWhat happens to people who have dementia?

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  A NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital answered

  Alzheimer's Disease, the most common dementia, develops slowly and gradually becomes more severe over a period of several years. Vascular Dementia also becomes gradually more severe, although it may begin more suddenly and there may be longer stable periods than there are in Alzheimer's Disease. With other dementias, the way the symptoms develop depends on the cause. Dementia can occur at any age, but is more common after age 65.

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• QHow can caregivers communicate with people with dementia?

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  A St Francis Medical Center answered

  Caregivers need to learn how to communicate with people with dementia because their language function, their understanding of language, their overall understanding of the environment changes when dementia progresses. Caregivers need to use simple sentences and they need to look the person in the eyes when they are talking. Caregivers have to make sure that they control their tone because when people start having difficulty understanding, they go by understanding the tone of the person who's speaking to them.

  Trinity Health is a Catholic health care organization that acts in accordance with the Catholic tradition and does not condone or support all practices covered in this site. In case of emergency call 911. This site is educational and not a substitute for professional medical advice, always seek the advice of a qualified health care provider.

• QWhat is pseudodementia?

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  A Memorial Hospital of Tampa answered

  Pseudodementia is a term for memory complaints that don't signify true dementia. 

• QIs dementia a normal part of aging?

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  A HealthyWomen answered

  Dementia should be seen as a modifiable health condition and, if it occurs, should be followed as a medical condition, not a normal part of aging. In other words, if you or your loved one becomes forgetful, it could be related to medication, nutrition or modifiable medical issues. Don't assume Alzheimer's.

  Just consider that when doctors examined the brain of a 115-year-old woman who, when she died, was the world's oldest woman, they found essentially normal brain tissue, with no evidence of Alzheimer's or other dementia-causing conditions. Testing in the years before she died showed no loss in brain function.

  Not only is dementia not inevitable with age, but you actually have some control over whether or not you develop it.

  Doctors are only now starting to understand the linkages between health in your 40s, 50s and 60s and cognitive function later in life. Studies find that many of the same risk factors that contribute to heart disease—high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity—may also contribute to Alzheimer's and other dementias.

  For instance, studies on the brains of elderly people with and without dementia find significant blood vessel damage in those with hypertension. Such damage shrinks the amount of healthy brain tissue you have in reserve, reducing the amount available if a disease like Alzheimer's hits. That's important because we're starting to understand that the more brain function you have to begin with, the more you can afford to lose before your core functions are affected.

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• QHow does dementia affect the body?

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  A Sigma Nursing answered

  Different forms of dementia affect your body differently, but in one way or another they all affect your brain. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer' disease, which causes degeneration of brain tissue and nerve cells. Frontotemporal dementia also causes damage to nerve cells, but only in the frontal and temporal lobes of your brain. Lewy body dementia is caused by masses of protein in your brain known as Lewy bodies, and vascular dementia affects the arteries that move blood from your heart to your brain. Several other factors that ultimately result in damage to your brain cells or nerves may lead to other forms of dementia as well.

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• QWhat is dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)?

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  A Piedmont Heart Institute answered

  Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is one of the most common types of progressive dementia. The central feature of DLB is progressive cognitive decline, which is combined with pronounced "fluctuations" in alertness and attention, such as frequent drowsiness, lethargy, lengthy periods of time spent staring into space, and disorganized speech; recurrent visual hallucinations; and parkinsonian motor symptoms, such as rigidity and the loss of spontaneous movement. People may also suffer from depression. The symptoms of DLB are caused by the buildup of Lewy bodies-accumulated bits of alpha-synuclein protein-inside the nuclei of neurons in areas of the brain that control particular aspects of memory and motor control. Researchers don't know exactly why alpha-synuclein accumulates into Lewy bodies or how Lewy bodies cause the symptoms of DLB, but they do know that alpha-synuclein accumulation is also linked to Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, and several other disorders referred to as the "synucleinopathies." The similarity between the symptoms of DLB and Parkinson's disease and of DLB and Alzheimer's disease can often make it difficult for a doctor to make a definitive diagnosis. In addition, Lewy bodies are often also found in the brains of people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. These findings suggest that either DLB is related to these other causes of dementia or that an individual can have both diseases at the same time. DLB usually occurs sporadically, in people with no known family history of the disease. However, rare familial cases have occasionally been reported.
  This information is based on source information from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
• QWhat cognitive functions are affected by dementia?

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  A Univ. of Nev. School of Medicine, Family Medicine answered

  Cognitive functions affected by dementia include memory and communication. Additionally, a person with dementia may have difficulty competing complex tasks or recognizing familiar objects and faces.

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