What is Dementia?

Dementia is a broad term used to describe a group of symptoms that over time affect a person’s ability to think, remember, communicate, and perform daily activities. Dementia is not a specific disease, but rather a set of symptoms that can be caused by a variety of disorders or conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, vascular dementia, and others.

Causes of Dementia?

Dementia is caused by damage to nerve cells which affects brain function and can affect a person’s cognitive abilities, such as memory, attention, perception, and problem-solving skills. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, but several other conditions can lead to the development of dementia, including vascular disease, Lewy body disease, and frontotemporal dementia.

Common Symptoms:

Some of the most common symptoms of dementia are included below along with some examples. The symptoms and course of dementia vary from person to person. Symptoms typically have a gradual onset and tend to worsen over time, often spanning several years, and can have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life and the ability to care for themselves.

• Memory loss: forgetting important dates or events, asking the same question over and over again, becoming lost on their own street not knowing how they got there or how to get home, increasing assistance from reminder aids or family members for things the person used to handle on their own.
• Misplacing Things: place things in unusual or inappropriate places (i.e. a fork in the fridge or a wallet in a plant pot), losing items and unable to retrace steps, may accuse others of stealing.
• Difficulty with Communication: Forget simple words, using unusual or wrong words to refer to familiar objects, difficulty finding the right word to express what they want to say and/or following or joining a conversation
• Difficulty Performing Familiar Tasks: prepare a meal, play a game, tie shoes, make a cup of tea, get dressed
• Confusion About Time and Place: forget the date month or year, name of city. May ask “where am I?” or “why am I here”?
• Changes in Mood or Behaviour: confused, suspicious, withdrawn, lack of interest or fearfulness, may become easily upset at home, at work, with friends or when out of comfort zone
• Decreased or Poor Judgement: giving money away, not recognizing dangerous situations (unsafe driving), inappropriate social interactions (rude, cursing, flirting), dressing in shorts to go out on a cold winter day
• Difficulty or Changes with Daily Activities: unable to complete the activities of bathing, dressing or grooming self, forget how to use the toilet, overfilling mouth with food, overeating, forget how to cook (safely), shop do laundry,

Treatment:

There is currently no cure for dementia, but early diagnosis and treatment can help manage symptoms and improve the quality of life for individuals with the condition.