Dementia is a neurological disorder in which a person’s ability to think and remember is greatly affected as one of the symptoms. The ability to think and reason, which mainly involves the use of your cognitive power is essential for daily routine tasks. People who are suffering from dementia tend to lose this ability and gradually suffer from common symptoms that include emotional problems, language problems, which are all collectively affecting one’s psyche.
Common signs and symptoms of dementia include the following:
- Progressive dementia results in problems with memory, language, attention, and decreasing functionality of basic cognitive functions.
- Balance problems, tremors, trouble eating or swallowing, wandering, restlessness, and perception problems are all associated behavioral traits.
- Memory distortion, which leads to memory loss, confusion, agitation, depression, anxiety, abnormal behavior, and motor skills are the more advanced stages of developing dementia.
- Changes in sleep patterns, appetite, delusions, apathy, and mood swings are also noticeable common signs and symptoms of dementia.
Diagnosis and dementia treatment options:
For effective diagnosis, a minimum of two core mental functions should be affected in order to understand the condition and its severity. These can be a combination of anything from your memory, language, focus skills, attention skills, cognitive reasoning, and even your perception.
For the dementia treatment to be effective, certain cognitive and neuropsychological tests; evaluations; and brain scans which include CT, MRI, or PET scans have to be done. Laboratory tests and a psychiatric evaluation is recommended to understand the root cause of this cognitive disorder. Only after proper diagnosis, dementia treatment options can be explored to achieve the desired results.
Dementia treatment options:
It is important to understand that dementia cannot be cured, but its symptoms can be managed effectively. Dementia treatment options can be a course of medications, recommended therapies or in some case a combination of both.
Some of the commonly followed practices include:
Medication: Cholinesterase inhibitors are medications that work to boost chemicals in your brains that are associated with memory and judgment signals. There are certain known side effects which include nausea and diarrhea. Associated symptoms of dementia ranging from depression to sleep disorders and agitated behavior can also be managed with medications as part of the prescribed dementia treatment.
Therapy: Medications aside, a nondrug therapy approach can also be very effective in managing dementia and associated symptoms. These include occupational therapies, environment modifiers, and task modifiers. Occupational therapies aim at making your home a much safer environment to ensure accidents or mishaps don’t happen, in case any occupant has dementia.
A safe home and environment will help the patient adjust and cope with everything that is contained within, thus managing a number of behavioral traits. Reducing clutter and managing the space will also help the patient focus and gain his or her attention as an attempt to overcome the symptoms of dementia. Dementia treatment therapy also includes modifying tasks to break them down into simple steps making it easier to focus and follow with attention.
Apart from medications and therapies, home remedies for dementia treatment include enhancing your communication with the person affected, encouraging exercises, and activities among many others to manage the inherent symptoms of this disorder.
