With dementia, a person's body may continue to be physically healthy. However, dementia causes the gradual loss of thinking, remembering, and reasoning abilities, which means that people with dementia at the end of life may no longer be able to make or communicate choices about their health care.
A person with dementia's abilities may change from day to day, or even within the same day. What is certain though is that the person's abilities will deteriorate; this may happen rapidly in a period of a few months or slowly over a number of years.
Disorders grouped under the general term “dementia” are caused by abnormal brain changes. These changes trigger a decline in thinking skills, also known as cognitive abilities, severe enough to impair daily life and independent function. They also affect behavior, feelings and relationships.
Dementia is likely to have a big physical impact on the person in the later stages of the condition. They may gradually lose their ability to walk, stand or get themselves up from the chair or bed. They may also be more likely to fall.
Rapidly progressive dementia (RPD)
RPDs can be caused by complex medical conditions such as Autoimmune conditions, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases – i.e diseases that damage the body's nervous systems. Again, RPDs are rare and as such can be difficult to diagnose.
Sudden changes in awareness, thinking, mobility, or personality could be due to delirium, stroke, or simply a change in routine that has caused distress. Because some of these potential causes require immediate treatment, it is important to consult a doctor if a person's dementia symptoms suddenly get worse.
Providing the person doesn't appear to be uncomfortable or distressed, then sleeping more during the day isn't normally a reason to be worried. However, if a person is lying down in bed and asleep for most of the time they will need to be looked after to make sure they don't develop any physical health problems.
Abstract. Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
There are different personal risk factors that cause people to fall, however, people with dementia are at greater risk because they: are more likely to experience problems with mobility, balance and muscle weakness. can have difficulties with their memory and finding their way around.
Alzheimer disease is a disease that affects the brain and nervous system. It happens when nerve cells in the brain die. The disease gets worse over time.
The average life expectancy figures for the most common types of dementia are as follows: Alzheimer's disease – around eight to 10 years. Life expectancy is less if the person is diagnosed in their 80s or 90s. A few people with Alzheimer's live for longer, sometimes for 15 or even 20 years.
I'm going to discuss five of the most basic ones here: 1) Don't tell them they are wrong about something, 2) Don't argue with them, 3) Don't ask if they remember something, 4) Don't remind them that their spouse, parent or other loved one is dead, and 5) Don't bring up topics that may upset them.
The most well-known form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, is just one specific type of dementia, and tends to have the slowest progression of all types.
The greatest known risk factor for Alzheimer's and other dementias is increasing age, but these disorders are not a normal part of aging. While age increases risk, it is not a direct cause of Alzheimer's. Most individuals with the disease are 65 and older.
Corticobasal syndrome. Corticobasal syndrome (CBS) is a rare progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes parts of a person's brain to change over time. As a result of these changes, people living with CBS can experience increased difficulty with their coordination, movement, thinking and speech.
In the middle stage of dementia, symptoms become more noticeable and the person will need more support in managing daily life. This stage of dementia is often the longest. On average it lasts about two to four years.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
Receiving a life-changing dementia diagnosis doesn't strip a person of their humanity or personhood. People with dementia think about the same things that any human thinks about — emotions, relationships, daily life, tasks to accomplish, and more.
Often when a person with dementia asks to go home it refers to the sense of 'home' rather than home itself. 'Home' may represent memories of a time or place that was comfortable and secure and where they felt relaxed and happier. It could also be an indefinable place that may not physically exist.
In the final stage of the disease, dementia symptoms are severe. Individuals lose the ability to respond to their environment, to carry on a conversation and, eventually, to control movement. They may still say words or phrases, but communicating pain becomes difficult.
Agitation, restlessness, and anxiety are common in people with dementia, but even more worrisome is aggression. These behaviors can begin abruptly or build from a patient's frustration. The key to managing them lies in examining the source of behaviors to understand the feelings leading to the actions.