Symptoms of Dementia

One of the most common cognitive diseases among people age 70 to 80, dementia is a degenerative disease that can be caused by a major head trauma or a chronic illness that affected the functioning of the brain and the nervous system. The symptoms of dementia can be categorized based on the etiology of the illness. In order to treat the disease, it is important that patients consult with their physicians as soon as they experience or feel any of the symptoms. To know more about the disease below are some of the signs, diagnostic procedures and treatments for this cognitive disease.

Dementia Signs

Some of the minor symptoms of dementia are having problems remembering recent activities and events, failure to identify familiar places and people as well as experiencing problems looking for the right words to name things and to express one’s emotions. Aside from these, people with dementia can also experience problems doing simple tasks like following instructions in a cookbook and writing a simple note. Patients suffering from this disease also experience problems controlling their behaviors as well as their moods. The major symptoms that patients with this disease can experience include visual hallucinations and sudden change in their personality. In severe cases, they have tendencies to say offensive things to other people.

Dementia Diagnosis

In order to identify if a person is suffering from this disease, patients are usually encouraged by their physicians to undergo different advance medical procedures. One of the procedures that can detect the severity of the illness is the mini-mental state examination. In addition to this, a patient should undergo routine blood tests, which include full blood count, electrolytes count and liver enzymes analysis. If all of the mentioned diagnostic procedures failed but the physicians still suspect the patient to be suffering from the disease, the patient may undergo a magnetic resonance imaging scan or a computed tomography scan so that health experts can have a closer look on the neurological system.

Dementia Treatment

Some of the types of dementia can be cured and some are not. Patients with curable types of the illness can take medicines prescribed by their physicians. These include acetylcholinesterase inhibitors like donepezil and rivastigmine. Other medicines that patients can try are amyloid deposit inhibitors such as antibiotics, Clioquinoline and Minocycline. In addition to these medicines, patients are commonly advised to take antidepressant drugs, anxiolytic drugs and antipsychotic drugs to prevent the etiology of other diseases associated with this major brain disease.