What is dementia?
”Dementia” is the medical term used to describe a general decline in brain function that includes a progressive impairment in memory, daily living skills, acquired skills, proper social skills and the ability to control emotional responses. Dementia includes many manifestations, such as
1. Repeatedly asking and repeating the same question
2. Inability to distinguish directions
3. Easily gets lost
4. Forgetting acquaintances and dates
5.No hygiene
6. Dresses oddly
7. Lose temper, etc.
Common dementia
1. The most common dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (Alzheimer’s disease) and vascular dementia.
2. Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia in old age, accounting for about 2/3 of dementia in old age.
Vascular dementia
It is a dementia caused by brain damage due to ischemic and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular diseases, and is the second most important disease in dementia in old age. It usually develops at the age of 50-60 years, and is more common in men than women.
Its early manifestations are mainly headache and dizziness, numbness of limbs, sleep disorders, tinnitus, etc. There may be recent mild impairment of memory, inattention and some emotional changes, and as the disease progresses, neuropsychiatric symptoms will appear, such as slurred pronunciation, swallowing difficulties, loss of recognition, urinary incontinence, hallucinations, hallucinations, or emotional vulnerability and irritability, crying and laughing, etc.
Other types of dementia
Frontotemporal lobe dementia
It is a group of diseases related to frontotemporal lobe degeneration, including Pick’s disease, non-AD frontal lobe dementia, and focal frontal lobe atrophy. The clinical manifestations are personality changes, social disinhibition and progressive dementia, while memory impairment is relatively mild; language deficits are more common.
Lewy body dementia
It is a disease characterized by fluctuating progressive dementia, persistent attention deficits, visuospatial disturbances, persistent complex visual hallucinations, and spontaneous Parkinson’s syndrome manifestations. Its age of onset and death is not significantly different from that of Alzheimer’s disease.
Parkinson’s disease dementia
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system that occurs more frequently in middle-aged and elderly people. 40% of Parkinson’s disease patients develop dementia during the course of the disease. Its cognitive impairment is mainly manifested by inattention, memory impairment, decreased computational skills, visual-spatial skills impairment, language changes, decreased abstract thinking ability, poor judgment, psychomotor retardation and other overall mental activity decline.
Alzheimer’s disease
1. With the increase in life expectancy per capita, the proportion of elderly people has increased significantly. Experts expect that by 2040, the number of people aged 60 and above in China will reach about 400 million.
2, as a common disease of the elderly, Alzheimer’s disease (senile dementia) has become a serious danger
What is Alzheimer’s disease (senile dementia)?
1. Alzheimer’s disease, also known as Alzheimer’s disease, is the most important disease that causes dementia in the elderly.
2, Alzheimer’s disease patients have many deposits inside the brain that cannot be removed, and the number of neurons in the brain is greatly reduced, and brain atrophy occurs
3. As the number of neurons decreases drastically, it will lead to brain power loss, emotional and personality changes, and eventually seriously affect the ability to perform daily life.
How to detect Alzheimer’s early
The performance of Alzheimer’s disease varies, the following list of ten symptoms, once appear, need to be highly alert to the possible early manifestations of Alzheimer’s disease.
1.Memory loss: For example, after talking with neighbors, not only can’t remember their names, but also forget the conversation itself.
2. Difficulty in performing daily household chores: for example, not knowing the order of dressing or the steps of cooking
3. Speech difficulties: forgetting simple words, speaking or writing sentences that are incomprehensible
4. Time and place orientation difficulties: not knowing what year or month it is, getting lost even in places you know well, not knowing how to get home
5. Poor judgment: for example, wearing heavy clothes in the hot sun but only thin clothes in the cold winter
6.Decreased comprehension or ability to organize things rationally: not being able to keep up with other people’s conversations, or not being able to pay various bills on time
7.Putting things in the wrong place: putting things in strange places, such as putting the iron in the refrigerator
8.Emotional instability: Emotions can fluctuate rapidly for no reason, or can be more indifferent and numb than before
9, personality changes: can become suspicious, indifferent, anxious or rude, such as forgetting where to put the money and suspect that someone else stole it
10.Loss of initiative: spending all day, lethargy, or interest in previous hobbies
The above symptoms can help you or your family to identify problems early. If there are more than two “yes” or “often”, then it means that the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease may appear, and it is important to seek medical attention.