Dementia is preventable
Dementia is a disease that many people overlook, unlike cancer or heart disease. However, in reality dementia can considerably affect daily living, and if it is diagnosed early, this disease can be cured.
Abnormal Symptoms of Dementia
- Memory loss and reduced ability to learn new things, e.g., poor short-term memory. When it becomes severe, the patient can forget events in the past, acquaintances and close persons
- Language deficiencies such as problems finding words, incorrect word use, incorrect reading or writing, or inability to do them at all.
- Loss of the ability to perform daily activities like before and being less able to help oneself in eating, showering and going to the toilet, unable to perform these activities on their own or unable to perform them correctly.
- Mood and personality changes like irritation, aggression, depression and loss of emotions.
- Insomnia, delusions, hallucinations, paranoia and anxiety.
Diagnosis
- Physical examination, background interview, symptom evaluation, physical and neurological check-ups and mental tests in the areas of memory, learning, language use, computations, knowledge about time and place and thinking and planning abilities.
- Blood tests to determine thyroid, liver and kidney function and to examine mineral levels, which are potential causes of the disease.
- X-ray imagery, brain MRI or EEG to assist in treatment planning.
- Spinal fluid might be extracted for analysis in cases where brain infection is suspected.
Treatment Guidelines
1. Doctors focus on treating the cause of curable conditions such as stroke, brain infection, thyroid disorders, hydrocephalus, brain tumors, folate deficiencies, Vitamin B12 deficiencies, drug overdose, etc. If patients with these conditions receive correct and timely treatment, and brain degeneration is not excessive, the patient might be able to recover fully. However, severe disability can occur if the treatment is too late.
2. Palliative care: Because there are patients who cannot be fully cured, e.g., patients with Alzheimer’s disease, brain cancer in metastatic stage, brain infection due to AIDS, treatment might involve only medications to keep the symptoms at bay without halting degeneration of the brain. In this case, close care from understanding relatives can allow patients to live longer, and, importantly improving the quality of life of both patients and relatives.
Palliative Care
3. Medication treatment to treat psychological symptoms (such as hallucinations or aggression) and insomnia or administering of vitamins or other minerals in the case of nutritional deficiencies.
4. Physical therapy to train and strengthen muscles to prevent locked joints and muscle atrophy. Dancing can also help patients assist themselves, etc.
5. Physical therapy to promote thinking, calculations, reading, concentration and memory training, while depression symptoms can be alleviated by playing games, drawing, dancing and talking about the past. Importantly, these activities these days require that people who supervise are highly trained.
6. In patients with severe symptoms and the end stage of the disease, they might be unable to assist themselves at all. In this case, priority must be given to prevention of various complications resulting from limited physical movements, especially since being excessively bedridden can cause major complications like pneumonia, pressure ulcers, urinary tract infections, etc. At this stage, patients should be made to feel as comfortable as possible.
Dementia is preventable.
Many factors of dementia is preventable by us and some are even curable. Even if some cannot be fully cured, the most important thing that we should do is to take care of our brains from when we are young, by starting today and paying attention to it without waiting to grow older. Important things that we should do include eating food from all 5 food groups in the right portions, drinking plenty of clean water according to the body’s needs, with focus on fruits and vegetables because they contain vitamins and minerals, resting sufficiently and on time to allow the brain to rest, and engaging in brain training to improve brain function such as by playing games that involve calculations, creating handicrafts and artworks and avoiding harming the brain through alcohol consumption, drugs, smoking, toxic fumes and sleep deprivation, not to mention avoiding sexual promiscuity in order to avoid AIDS and syphilis. In addition, if a person has a chronic disease, the person should be treated until disease is well controlled. For example, we should prevent hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia, so that they do not progress and lead to dementia.
Promoting family love and understanding is the best way to prevent stress and problems from work and society. If dementia progresses to the point that the patient belongs to the incurable group, good treatment planning is required to delay the problem and reduce the patient’s dependency and allowing families and caregivers to have the best quality of life.
You may find our specialist here at Neurological Center, Phyathai 2 Hospital
Phyathai 2 Hospital
International Correspondence Center
Tel: +66-2617-2444 ext. 2020 or 2047 E mail: onestop@phyathai.com
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Phyathai 2 Cambodia
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