Dementia is characterized by progressive decline in cognitive function from baseline and causes significant impairment.
Types of dementia
Alzheimer- most common, up to 80% of cases
Vascular
Frontal
Lewy body
Parkinson
Many people have a have combination of types of dementia.
Most people who think they are having some memory loss are not developing dementia. People with dementia don’t know they are having problems. They are usually brought in to the doctor because of concerns of family.
Concerns that arise:
Personal memory loss and progression of disease. Who will be caretaker. Don’t want to be a burden. What will be the cost?
Family and caretaker concerns include how to deal with the memory loss. Who will care for the patient? Where will they be? Will they be safe? How will we pay for this?
Ideas for dealing with the symptoms and issues of memory loss:
Family and caretakers should be positive, agreeable and redirect. The person with dementia does not remember what they have done, not done, or said. They will argue that they did not do that thing that they did. They don’t remember. It does no good to argue with them because they won’t remember the argument either. The best plan is to agree, pacify and redirect.
Get to the physician early to discuss concerns.
There is testing that will be done to rule out treatable cause of cognitive dysfunction like dementia, hypothyroidism, B12 deficiency.
There is testing that should be done to determine the cause of dementia and the severity.
Have early discussion with family to determine wishes for treatment. Get living will, power of attorney, etc
There is no definite treatment but there is hope in current research. There are some medications available that might slow the progression. These have side effects that are sometimes worse that the disease.
Enlist the help of your doctor as needed when hard conversations have to happen. Consider what is best for the patient first when making decisions. Seek out community resources for help, including respite care. Caregivers need to take care of themselves as well.
https://alz.org/
https://alzfdn.org/
https://www.wvnews.com/fairmontnews/news/historic-breakthrough-wvu-rockefeller-neuroscience-team-first-to-use-ultrasound/article_7b95c0b8-c307-5cda-ab00-51ca0ddfb41f.html
