What is related to dementia?

Question

What mental illnesses are often related to dementia?

Answer 1

Dementia (from Latin de- "apart, away" + mens (genitive mentis) "mind") is the progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Particularly affected areas may be memory, attention, language and problem solving, although particularly in the later stages of the condition, affected persons may be disoriented in time (not knowing what day of the week, day of the month, what month or even what year it is), place (not knowing where they are) and person (not knowing who they are). Symptoms of dementia can be classified as either reversible or irreversible depending upon the etiology of the disease. Less than 10% of all dementias are reversible. Dementia is a non-specific term that encompasses many disease processes, just as fever is attributable to many etiologies.

Without careful assessment, delirium can easily be confused with dementia and a number of other psychiatric disorders because many of the signs and symptoms are conditions present in dementia. ( as well as other mental illnesses including depression and psychosis}
Epidemiology

The prevalence of dementia in the global community is rising as the global life expectancy is rising. Particularly in Western countries, there is increasing concern about the economic impact that dementia will have in future, older populaces. In Australia, the 2006 estimated prevalence of dementia is 1.03% of the population as a whole. It is a disease which is strongly associated with age; 1% of those aged 60-65, 6% of those aged 75-79, and 45% of those aged 95 or older suffer from the disease[2].

[edit] Symptoms

Often dementia can be first evident during an episode of delirium. There is a higher prevalence of eventually developing dementia in individuals who experience an acute episode of confusion while hospitalized.

Dementia can affect language, comprehension, motor skills, short-term memory, ability to identify commonly used items, reaction time, personality traits, and executive functioning. Even without signs of general intellectual decline, delusions are common in dementia (15-56% incidence rate in Alzheimer's type, and 27-60% incidence rate in multi-infarct dementia). Often these delusions take the form of monothematic delusions, like mirrored self-misidentification.

Elderly people can also react with dementia-like symptoms to surgery, infections, sleep deprivation, irregular food intake, dehydration, loneliness, change in domicile or personal crises. This is called delirium, and many if not most dementia patients also have a delirium on top of the physiologial dementia, adding to the symptoms. The delirium can go away or greatly improve when treated with tender care, improved food and sleeping habits, but this does not affect the alterations in the brain. Affected persons may also show signs of psychosis or depression. It is important to be able to differentiate between delirium and dementia.

[edit] Diagnosis

Proper differential diagnosis between the types of dementia (see below) will require, at the least, referral to a specialist, e.g. a geriatric internist, geriatric psychiatrist, neurologist, neuropsychologist or geropsychologist. However, there are some brief (5-15 minutes) tests that have good reliability and can be used in the office or other setting to evaluate cognitive status. Examples of such tests include the abbreviated mental test score (AMTS) and the mini mental state examination (MMSE).

An AMTS score of less than six and an MMSE score under 24 suggests a need for further evaluation. Of course, this must be interpreted in the context of the person's educational and other background, and particular circumstances. Routine blood tests are usually performed to rule out treatable causes. These tests include vitamin B12, folic acid, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), C-reactive protein, full blood count, electrolytes, calcium, renal function and liver enzymes. Abnormalities may suggest vitamin deficiency, infection or other problems that commonly cause confusion or disorientation in the elderly. Chronic use of substances such as alcohol can also predispose the patient to cognitive changes suggestive of dementia.

A CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scan) is commonly performed. This may suggest normal pressure hydrocephalus, a potentially reversible cause of dementia, and can yield information relevant to other types of dementia, such as infarction (stroke) that would point at a vascular type of dementia. Sometimes neuropsychological testing is helpful as well.

The final diagnosis of dementia is made on the basis of the clinical picture. For research purposes, the diagnosis depends on both a clinical diagnosis and a pathological diagnosis (ie, based on the examination of brain tissue, usually from autopsy).

[edit] Types

The most common types of dementia are as follows and vary according to the history and the presentation of the disease: (Where available the ICD-10 codes are provided. The first code refers to the dementia, and the second to the underlying condition.)

[edit] Most common causes

* (F00/G30) Alzheimer's disease
* (F01) Vascular dementia (also known as multi-infarct dementia), including Binswanger's disease
* (F02.3/G20) Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)
* Alcohol Induced Persisting Dementia
* (F02.0/G31.0) Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), including Pick's disease
o Frontotemporal dementia (or frontal variant FTLD)
o Semantic dementia (or temporal variant FTLD)
o Progressive non-fluent aphasia

[edit] Less common causes

It can also be a consequence of:

* (F02.1/A81.0) Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
* (F02.2/G10) Huntington's disease
* (F02.3/G20) Parkinson's disease
* (F02.4/B22.0) HIV infection (leading to AIDS dementia complex)
* (F07.2) Head trauma
* (Q90) People with Down's syndrome have an increased risk of developing dementia of the Alzheimer's type. This risk increases as the person ages.

[edit] Treatable causes

Less than 5% of a sample of dementia cases have a potentially treatable cause. These include:

* (F02.8/E01-E03) Hypothyroidism
* (F02.8/E51) Vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency
* (F02.8/E53.8) Vitamin B12, Vitamin A deficiency
* (F03/F32-F33) Depressive pseudodementia (note: dementia and depression can coexist in many patients and can be difficult to differentiate.)
* (G91.2) Normal pressure hydrocephalus
* Tumor

[edit] Treatment

Except for the treatable types listed above, there is no cure to this illness, although scientists are progressing in making a type of medication that will slow down the process. Cognitive and behavioral interventions may also be appropriate. Educating and providing emotional support to the caregiver [or carer] is of importance as well.

A Canadian study found that a lifetime of bilingualism has a marked influence on delaying the onset of dementia by an average of four years when compared to monolingual patients. The researchers determined that the onset of dementia symptoms in the monolingual group occurred at the mean age of 71.4, while the bilingual group was 75.5 years. The difference remained even after considering the possible effect of cultural differences, immigration, formal education, employment and even gender as influences in the results. [3]

Snoezelen rooms that provide patients with a soothing and stimulating environment of light, color, music and scent have been used in the therapy of dementia patients.

Answer 2

Ehm..
The most common signs of Alzheimers / dementia are:

- Poor judgment and decision making
- Inability to manage a budget
- Missing a monthly payment
- Losing track of the date or the season
- Forgetting which day it is and remembering later
- Difficulty having a conversation
- Sometimes forgetting which word to use
- Misplacing things and being unable to retrace steps to find them
If you notice any of these signs in yourself or someone you know, don't ignore them. Schedule an appointment with your doctor, with early detection, you can get the maximum benefit from available treatments.Also visit this site I found about memory loss problems. It's eye opening: http://memoryloss.toptips.org
I hope it helps

Answer 3

in my opinion , there are no related illnesses to dementia --- but there is a lot of hope for people who may think they are on the the fringe of losing their minds ( and Say that with tougue in cheek ) because we could and probably can learn from our older statesmen and women if the younger fraternity want to listen !
but nonetheless the best way to address dementia is to not let it get there in the first place --- play crosswords or similar and keep your mind active

Answer 4

1

Answer 5

hi,
An analysis of decisions in the Supreme Court of New South Wales that dementia was not a mental illness in terms of the 1958 Mental Health Act.
Dementia is a decline in mental ability which affects memory, thinking, problem-solving, concentration and perception. Dementia occurs as a result of the death of brain cells or damage in parts of the brain that deal with our thought processes.

Most common type of dementia(related to dementia)
Alzheimers
Symptoms: Difficulty remembering recent conversations, names or events is often an early clinical symptom; apathy and depression are also often early symptoms. Later symptoms include impaired communication, poor judgment, disorientation, confusion, behavior changes and difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.

vascular dementia
Symptoms:Impaired judgment or ability to make decisions, plan or organize is more likely to be the initial symptom, as opposed to the memory loss often associated with the initial symptoms of Alzheimer's. Occurs because of brain injuries such as microscopic bleeding and blood vessel blockage. The location, number and size of the brain injury determines how the individual's thinking and physical functioning are affected.

Dementia with Lewy bodies :(DLB)
Symptoms: People with dementia with Lewy bodies often have memory loss and thinking problems common in Alzheimer's, but are more likely than people with Alzheimer's to have initial or early symptoms such as sleep disturbances, well-formed visual hallucinations, and muscle rigidity or other parkinsonian movement features.The brain changes of dementia with Lewy bodies alone can cause dementia, or they can be present at the same time as the brain changes of Alzheimer's disease and/or vascular dementia, with each abnormality contributing to the development of dementia. When this happens, the individual is said to have "mixed dementia."

Mixed dementia:
In mixed dementia abnormalities linked to more than one type of dementia occur simultaneously in the brain. Recent studies suggest that mixed dementia is more common than previously thought.

Parkinson's disease:
As Parkinson's disease progresses, it often results in a progressive dementia similar to dementia with Lewy bodies or Alzheimer's.

Symptoms: Problems with movement are a common symptom early in the disease. If dementia develops, symptoms are often similar to dementia with Lewy bodies.

Frontotemporal dementia.(FTD):
Includes dementias such as behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), primary progressive aphasia, Pick's disease and progressive supranuclear palsy.

Symptoms: Typical symptoms include changes in personality and behavior and difficulty with language. Nerve cells in the front and side regions of the brain are especially affected.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.(CJD):
CJD is the most common human form of a group of rare, fatal brain disorders affecting people and certain other mammals. Variant CJD (“mad cow disease”) occurs in cattle, and has been transmitted to people under certain circumstances.

Symptoms: Rapidly fatal disorder that impairs memory and coordination and causes behavior changes.

Normal pressure hydrocephalus.:
Symptoms: Symptoms include difficulty walking, memory loss and inability to control urination.

Brain changes: Caused by the buildup of fluid in the brain. Can sometimes be corrected with surgical installation of a shunt in the brain to drain excess fluid.

Huntington’s disease:
Huntington’s disease is a progressive brain disorder caused by a single defective gene on chromosome 4.

Symptoms: Include abnormal involuntary movements, a severe decline in thinking and reasoning skills, and irritability, depression and other mood changes.

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.:
Korsakoff syndrome is a chronic memory disorder caused by severe deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1). The most common cause is alcohol misuse.

Symptoms: Memory problems may be strikingly severe while other thinking and social skills seem relatively unaffected.

Is there a cure?
Yes it could be cured,

for information click here...

http://apnacare.in/our-services/

Answer 6

alzheimers is the biggest illness related to dimensia