Dementia

February 10, 2014

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Senile dementia   (another definition of the disease - senile dementia ) - A disease that develops in a person's old age due to atrophic processes in the brain.

How does dementia?

The disease dementia manifests gradual deterioration of mental activity. Man loses inherent earlier individual characteristics. Gradually, the disease progresses, moving in total dementia.

Initially, the symptoms of dementia in an elderly man his entourage may not even recognize. The disease progresses quickly, personality changes occur gradually. Those character traits that shows people initially may be taken for the features that are characteristic for the elderly. The patient may exhibit excessive greed, conservatism in conversation, selfishness, a desire to teach others, etc. At the same time signs of dementia are expressed and gradual deterioration of attention, thought processes. The patient is difficult to analyze, make adequate conclusions, summarize information.

Gradually the individual roughness of an old man who suffers from senile dementia. Due to this process, foreground appear the so-called senile features. All eyes are stereotyped, narrow interests, manifested callousness, wickedness, greed. Sometimes the patient expressed the contrary is shown carelessness and complacency. In this case, he may lose the skills of moral behavior, not adhere to basic moral norms. If the patient is present increased sexual desire, it may acquire a tendency to sexual perversions.

Patients with dementia not only demonstrates bad character traits that his family can take over the usual age-related phenomenon, but sometimes suffer from memory disorders. He loses the ability to gaining new experiences, gradually disappear from the memory of some events. But if that happened recently, people forget the episodes from the distant past, he remembers well. As a result, some patients can live in the past, believing himself young. Orientation is a violation of the time: the patient can call others names of people from the past, periodically gather in the road, etc.

In senile dementia, usually stored outside the usual behavior. Remain familiar gestures, facial features, a person continues to use his usual expression. So sometimes others think that the treatment of dementia are not required, as the person seems healthy.

Physical symptoms of senile dementia initially less pronounced. But over time, marked the emergence of a number of neurological symptoms: pupils narrowed, weakened muscles, shaking hands, gait takes on the features of an old man (small steps). Man loses weight, the skin becomes very dry. Can disrupt the function of internal organs.

If the disease continues to progress, from time to time a person has manifested delusions, hallucinations . He could hear voices, see visual images, feel crawling "chills" through the body. There are delusions.

Experts are divided on several dementia subtypes depending on its characteristics and features. With total dementia   a person is sharply reduced criticism, lost reaction leveled personality, elevated mood prevails. The partial dementia   manifested memory disorders and emotional state, weakness, fatigue, depressed mood mostly.

Epileptic dementia It develops gradually, and all have a tendency to detail, vindictiveness, rancor and thoroughness. The patient is reduced vision, speech becomes poor, sometimes a person with this form of the disease lain signs epilepsy .

Schizophrenic dementia   - A condition in which the patient demonstrates the isolation, emotional coldness. He has broken the relationship with the outside world, cut off from reality, the decrease in activity. When the manifestation of this form of dementia, the patient should be hospitalized immediately to suspend the processes of change in the person using the treatment.

Dementia in children manifests a considerable lag of the child from his peers in intellectual development, and in the process of adaptation to the external world. Dementia in children depending on the cause of manifestation can be congenital   and Acquired .

Why manifest dementia?

The exact cause of dementia is still unknown. A role in the development of the disease plays a genetic predisposition to the disease. This theory is supported by the large number of cases of "family of dementia." The disease manifests itself as a result of atrophic processes in the brain that progress against the background of the impact of certain factors. Often, a person develops dementia after stroke Which was very difficult.

As a rule, senile dementia develops in older people who are constantly in a depressed state, have poor living conditions, weak immunity. Less illness experienced by those who lead an active lifestyle, both physically and mentally.

Dementia develops in children due to genetic reasons, harmful environmental influences, birth injury, illness. Sometimes the causes of dementia in children remains unclear.

How to get rid of senile dementia?

Diagnose the development of dementia in humans in the early stages of the disease difficult. To do this, an expert in the diagnosis excludes a number of vascular diseases, brain and others. If the symptoms are pronounced, the diagnosis is not difficult. Patients underwent CT or MRI of the brain, also practiced a special test for dementia, which allows to determine the severity of dementia in humans.

Until today there is no effective treatment for this disease. Feature dementia suggests that in the human brain, irreversible changes occur gradually. Nevertheless, with proper care and use of certain medications that can relieve certain symptoms of senile dementia, treatment of senile dementia can be relatively successful.

On the question of what to do in the beginning of the disease, doctors recommend to keep such patients at home and at the same time try not to change the conditions and peculiarities of their existence. Hospitalization of patients in the initial stage of the disease, usually it worsens the condition.

Considering that the causes of dementia associated with a passive lifestyle and lack of mental "exercises", it is important to encourage and mental and physical activity of the patient, try to attach it to a feasible home business.

Of drugs in senile dementia is used mainly to relieve certain symptoms. Any psychotropic drugs   from senile dementia appointed only if patients had apparent sleep disorders . periodic trouble . hallucinations   and delirium . Typically, the physician prescribes those drugs that do not cause human weakness and other side effects. At night sometimes appointed reception of tranquilizers, also practiced treatment of some antidepressants, antipsychotics in minimal dosage. At an early stage of the disease to suspend the development of the process, you can use nootropics and some metabolic drugs. Their influence for some time slow down the disease process. How to treat dementia, and what schema therapy for this to apply, defines only the doctor who is treating the patient. All funds for the treatment of selected solely on an individual basis depending on the disease.

Unfortunately, the effective prevention of dementia is missing. To answer the question, how to avoid this disease, only general recommendations need to lead active and healthy lives, to get rid of bad habits.

If dementia patient expressed progresses, the patient is placed in a special medical residential care .

If the patient is at home, his life must be orderly and complete. In the daytime, it is necessary to move as much as possible, is important enough sleep at night. It is desirable to maintain an emotionally favorable environment and provide quality patient care.