Dementia is
not a specific disease but a general term for a chronic or persistent decline in
mental processes including memory loss, impaired reasoning, and personality
changes. A decline in memory or other thinking skills can reduce a person's
ability to perform everyday activities. Alzheimer's disease is the most common
form of dementia, as it accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases. According to
Elly Kleinman, Americare founder and CEO, Alzheimer is also the 6th leading cause of death
in the United States. Currently, there are over 5 million Americans living with
Alzheimer’s disease.
How to
Detect Dementia?
As healthcare executive Elly
Kleinman Americare explains, dementia encompasses a wide range of symptoms
associated with thinking impairments, communication, and memory that interfere
with an individual's ability to perform everyday activities. Although the early
signs and symptoms of dementia can vary greatly, some of the more common
dementia symptoms and signs include:
·
Memory
problems, particularly remembering recent events
·
Reduced
concentration
·
Increasing
confusion
·
Loss
of ability to do everyday tasks
·
Personality
or behavior changes
·
Poor
reasoning and judgment
Many types
of dementia are progressive, which means the symptoms start out slowly and gradually
get worse. In fact, as Elly Kleinman Americare describes in his articles, in
most cases, the symptoms develop gradually and go unnoticed for a long time.
That is why, quite often, people fail to recognize these symptoms or mistakenly
assume such behavior as a normal part of the aging process. Symptoms may also
develop gradually and go unnoticed for a long time.
Elly
Kleinman Americare has written several publications on this particular topic,
noting that dementia is caused by damage to brain cells. This damage interferes
with the ability of brain cells to communicate with each other. When brain
cells cannot communicate normally, thinking, behavior and feelings can be
affected. However, there are also some diseases and conditions that can lead to
dementia, or dementia-like symptoms such as:
·
Huntington's
disease
·
Parkinson’s
disease
·
Infections
·
Stroke
·
Brain
Tumors
·
Nutritional
deficiencies
·
Drug
effects
·
Heart
and lung problems
For now, there
is no certain way to determine if someone has dementia. The only way to
diagnose Alzheimer's and other types of dementia is through frequent physical
examinations, laboratory tests, following one’s medical history and the characteristic
changes in thinking and day-to-day function. Since brain cell death cannot be
reversed, there is no known cure for degenerative dementia. Management of
disorders such as Alzheimer's disease is instead focused on providing care and
treating symptoms rather than their underlying cause. If you or a loved one is struggling
with dementia, you can get additional resources for information, education,
referral, and support from Elly Kleinman’s organization Americare.
