Eldertouch Elder Interventions Series

The Signs of Dementia.

There Dementia is very common. There are millions of people in the world who are currently demented to some degree. For example, 5% of the United States population over 65 have severe dementia, and approximately 15% have mild dementia. When you look at Americans over 80, the prevalence of severe dementia rises to 20%. If you know someone in your family that has feared diagnosis, you are by no means alone.

Dementia is a condition in which a person’s cognitive functions significantly decline. In general, cognitive functions include overall intelligence, memory, language, orientation, problem solving and specific areas of thinking that impact one’s daily living. The patient with this diagnosis has difficulty concentrating and paying attention to his environment. They also have problems carrying out routine activities, which they could easily perform in their earlier years.

While memory deficit may be the first symptom to surface according to the professional literature, I have found that difficulty concentrating is an underestimated early sign. Patients come to me with the frequent story that they have missed something that gets them into trouble. An example of this is the patient who goes through a stop sign without stopping, event though they had stopped at that stop sign on a daily basis throughout their life. Often they will say that for some reason they did not realize that the stop sign was there. Another example occurs when a person keeps bumping into items in their household because they are just not paying attention. They often complain that they had never been that clumsy in the past.

Memory loss is still one of the first signs seen in the person with early dementia. More specifically, short-term memory problems are the hallmark of this diagnosis. This means that a person will remember the names of their childhood friends or grade school teachers but may not be able to say what they had for breakfast or where they went the previous day. Demented patients have a difficult time forming new memories. On the other hand, they can recollect thoughts of years ago until quite late into the disease process.

As a person’s thinking ability declines their personality can be affected. People who were anxious before they showed signs of dementia now become even more anxious. On the other hand, people who have been independent can become vulnerable and even childlike.

There are two major types of dementia. The most common is dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. The second most common is dementia related to a vascular disorder. This means that dementia that is caused by brain damage, secondary to lack of blood circulation in the brain. The most commonly know cause is a stroke. Essentially, blood does not travel into an area of the brain, and the brain cannot get the proper amount of oxygen. Brain cells then become damaged. If the cells are in the area of the brain that control cognitive abilities, these abilities suffer. The amount of decline is usually related to the amount of brain tissue that is damaged in that area.

This is an excerpt from Dr. Thomas Krajewski’s, MD, recent book Elder Interventions.