Unveiling The Journey Of Dementia: Empowering Patients And Caregivers With Effective Management Techniques

Dementia is a broad term for severe loss of memory, language, problem-solving abilities, and other thinking abilities that interfere with daily life.

It progresses in severity from mild to severe, with the mildest stage affecting a person’s functioning the least and the most severe requiring the person to rely entirely on others for basic life activities such as eating and talking.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause and type of dementia because this patient has plaques and tangles in the brain. The hallmark symptoms here are difficulty remembering recent events, such as those that occurred minutes or hours ago, as well as difficulty remembering more distant memories that occur later in the disease. Having a first-degree relative with Alzheimer’s disease increases your chances of getting it by 30%.

Damage to or loss of nerve cells and their connections in the brain can result in dementia. Dementia may have different effects on different people depending on the areas of their brains that are damaged. The risk increases with age, particularly after the age of 65. Dementia, on the other hand, is not a normal part of ageing; it can occur in young people as well. Other factors to consider include family history, cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension), and so on.

Symptoms may also include, but are not limited to, noticeable memory loss, confusion and disorientation, difficulty communicating and finding the right words, and difficulty reasoning or resolving complex tasks.

Dementia symptoms and behavioural issues will worsen over time because they cannot be cured but must be managed. The following can be used to keep patients suffering from the disease in good health.

Taking medications
When a patient is diagnosed with dementia, the best course of action is to begin medication. Most of these symptoms can be alleviated with medication, but if not treated properly, they can worsen. Cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine are the best treatments for these patients. All medications must be prescribed by a physician.

Proper maintenance of cardiovascular risk factors

Treatment of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and hypertension should be prioritized because most of these factors can trigger or worsen these diseases.

Encourage exercise and a healthy diet
Research shows that a lack of exercise increases the risk of dementia.  It also shows that people who eat an unhealthy diet have a higher incidence of dementia than those who eat a healthy diet.

Encourage vitamins
Decreased levels of vitamin D, B-6, B-12, and folate can increase your risk of dementia. Not drinking enough liquids (dehydration); not getting enough thiamin (vitamin B-1), which is common in people with chronic alcoholism; and not getting enough vitamins B-6 and B-12 in your diet can cause dementia-like symptoms.

Encourage communication
Speak with them; they are your loved ones. Do not neglect them because they could get worse. Use simple sentences that they won’t find hard. Continue to remind them of important people and events in their lives. Never make them feel lonely, as this could result in severe depression.