Dementia: symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment

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Dementia
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Dementia

• Dementia is a broad term which describes
  symptoms affecting memory, thinking ability that
  creates hindrance in performing daily activities.
  Two important brain functions are badly hit
  namely- memory and judgement. A person suffering
  from dementia is incapable to perform activities
  like paying bills or becoming lost while driving.

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The Causes

• When an individual suffers from dementia,
  his/her nerve cells in the brain get damaged.
  Dementia affects people differently depending
  upon the affected area in the brain. Dementia can
  be grouped in two categories- (i) which cannot
  be reversed and deteriorate overtime and (ii)
  which can be reversed when treated timely

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Symptoms

• Most common signs of dementia include
• Memory Loss
• Difficulty in communication or searching words
• Unable to complete tasks
• Inability to do planning and organizing
• Getting lost or issues with disorientation
• Behavioural changes
• Hallucinations
• Inability to reason
• Types of dementias that are irreversible 
• Alzheimer's disease
• Vascular dementia 
• Lewy body dementia 
• Frontotemporal dementia 

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Symptoms
Continue

• Conditions linked to dementia which can be
  overturned in time 
• Infections and immune disorders 
• Metabolic issues and endocrine deformity 
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Reactions to medications 
• Poisoning 
• Brain tumours
• Anoxia 
• Normal-pressure hydrocephalus

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Examination and diagnosis

• Dementia and other related conditions have
  multiple causes and treating them can be a
  daunting task for your medical practitioner. You
  may require several sittings with the doctor.
  Your doctor will go through your medical history
  and conduct regular physical examination. He/she
  may perform a number of tests in order to
  diagnose dementia and rule out other health
  conditions.Thinking and neuropsychological
  testsIn these tests, doctor will assess your
  thinking function. These tests are necessary to
  measure skills like memory, attention, judgment,
  reasoning and more. On the basis of these
  tests neurologists get to know the magnitude of
  dementia and which part of brain it has affected.

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Examination and diagnosis
Continue

• Neurological assessmentIn this test, doctors
  will gauge your senses, movements, reflexes,
  flexibility etc. It helps in knowing whether
  conditions, other than dementia, prevail or
  not.Lab TestsGeneral blood tests can rule out
  the possibility of any physical problem that can
  affect brain functionality. Psychiatric
  assessmentYour doctor may refer to a
  psychologist in order to determine
  whether depressionor any other psychological
  condition may be causing your symptoms.

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Treatments

• Simple home remedies to deal with dementia
• Enhance communication
• Encourage exercise
• Active participation in various games and
  thinking activities
• Encourage keeping a calendar
• Planning for the future

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