The beginning of the dementia in women. Symptoms, shapes and methods of treating dementia

Dementia (translated from Latin - "dementia") - this is a serious pathology nervous system. The main cause of the disease is organic damage to the brain, and the main feature is a sharp decrease in the intellect. Signs of pathology are caused by the cause, degree of severity of the lesion, its location and size. But all the cases of dementia are characteristic of the persistent disorders of the highest nervous activity Up to the absolute decay of the personality.

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    The reasons

    The main cause of dementia is degeneration (rebirth) of the cells of the brain or their death.

    The factors provoking the development of the disease are also advocated:

    Rarely reasons for dementia are infectious processes:

    • Viral encephalitis.
    • An acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
    • Chronic meningitis.
    • Neurosophilis and others.

    Sometimes a number of reasons contribute to the development of the disease. An example is an elder mixed dementia.

    Alzheimer's disease - symptoms, stages, causes and treatment methods

    Classification

    Depending on the place of organic lesion, several types of dementia are distinguished:

    1. 1. Cork. Arises as a result of damage to the cortex of the brain (Alzheimer's disease).
    2. 2. Cooking. Differs the pathology of subcortical structures (Parkinson's disease).
    3. 3. Corto-subcorter. Characteristic for diseases based on vascular disorders.
    4. 4. Multifocal. Its feature is the defeat of all brain departments and the pronounced neurological clinical picture associated with it.

    Classification of basic forms of dementia:

    The form Signs
    Lacooner. This form of pathology is characteristic of the brain structures responsible for intelligence, as well as a minor violation of the emotional sphere. In this case, the patient is aware of its condition. She is inherent initial stage Alzheimer's diseases
    • violation of short-term memory;
    • mood change;
    • plasticity;
    • exacerbation of sensitivity
    Total. Characterized by the full defense of the personality. The cause is the defeat of the frontal fractions of the brain, to which vascular and atrophic diseases, as well as tumors
    • disorders of intellectual and cognitive activity;
    • the disappearance of spiritual values;
    • loss of life interests, feelings of shame and debt;
    • absolute social dezadaption

    Depending on the severity allocate dementia:

    1. 1. Easy. It is characterized by minor violations of intellectual activity and preservation of an understanding of its own state. The presence of a disease practically does not affect the life of the patient.
    2. 2. moderate degree. In this case, the intelligence and critical awareness of the disease occurs. Patients with difficulty can use home appliances, telephone and need to care from other people.
    3. 3. Heavy degree. It is characterized by an absolute collapse of the person. Patients need constant care, as unable to perform the elementary, necessary for the life of the action.

    Common types of dementia of the elderly (presnector) and senile (seenile) ages:

    1. 1. Atrophic, or Alzheimerovsky. It occurs during the primary reincarnation of nerve cells.
    2. 2. Vascular. This is a secondary defeat, which is based on pathology. blood vessels brain.
    3. 3. Mixed. Includes primary and secondary brain lesions.

    Age has a huge impact on the occurrence of dementia. In the ripe period, the incidence is no more than 1%, and after 80 years this indicator reaches 20%.

    General symptomatics

    The most characteristic feature of the dementia is a violation of cognitive functions, as well as emotional and behantic disorders. Pathology develops gradually and detects itself when aggravating the underlying disease or when changing the situation.

    The main signs of Dementia:

    1. 1. Violation of cognitive (cognitive) function. These include:
    • Memory disorders. Depending on the severity, both short-term and long-term. Confatabulation often occurs - false memories. Easy degree is characterized by a moderate memory violation and is accompanied by the forgetting of the events of the nearby past. Hard form accompanies fast loss new information Up to the loss of names of close people, their own behalf and personal disorientation.
    • Disorder attention. Loss of ability to switch from one topic to another or lack of interest to what is happening.
    • High Function Disorders:
      • Afaja is a violation of speech.
      • Apraqulica is an inability to perform actions to achieve a specific purpose.
      • Agnosia is a disorder of perception (visual, auditory, tactile) with a preserved consciousness.
    1. 2. Violation of temporary and spatial orientation.
    2. 3. Disorder of behavior and personality. The transformation of the character is manifested by a gradual gain of the traits, characteristic of the individual, for example, the energy becomes fussy, thrift in greed. Responsitability is lost, egoism, conflict, suspicion, sexual recovery develops.
    3. 4. Thinking disorder. A distinctive feature is its inhibition, the reduction of the ability to logically argue, solve problems and generalize. Often there are scarce of speech and delusional ideas.
    4. 5. Lowering a critical relationship. This determines the perception by the patient himself and to the surrounding world. Anxious-depressive disorder is possible against the background of awareness of its own intellectual inferiority.
    5. 6. Emotional violation. It is distinguished by a great variety and variability. Often arise:
    • Depression.
    • Irritability.
    • Aggression.
    • Anxiety.
    • Flameness.
    • Evil.
    • Establishness to everything.
    • Manic states.
    • Carelessness.
    • Gaiety.
    1. 7. Disorder of perception. It is expressed by the appearance of visual, auditory hallucinations and illusions.

    Clinical varieties

    Manifestations and treatment of dementia may vary. It depends on the type of pathology.

    Distinguish:

    1. 1. Dementia in Alzheimer's disease.
    2. 2. Against the background of vascular pathology.
    3. 3. Elder dementia with Levy Tales.
    4. 4. Alcohol dementia.
    5. 5. Epileptic.

    Alzheimer's Dementation

    Alzheimer Dementia is a common type of senile dementia. It accounts for 35-60% of actual organic lesions. In this case, the disease occurs more often in women than in men.

    The predisposing factors of alzheimer-type dementia:

    1. 1. Age of about 80 years.
    2. 2. Hereditary predisposition.
    3. 3. Hypertensive disease.
    4. 4. Exceeding the level of lipids in the blood.
    5. 5. Atherosclerosis.
    6. 6. Sugar diabetes.
    7. 7. Lifeline lifestyle.
    8. 8. Obesity.
    9. 9. Chronic hypoxia of different etiology.
    10. 10. Card and brain injuries.
    11. 11. Low degree of education.
    12. 12. Lack of intellectual lessons during life.

    Signs of dementia differ depending on the stage of the disease:

    Stage Symptoms
    Initial (first signs)
    • sharp reduction in memory of recent events;
    • anxiety and scattered due to awareness of their condition
    Deployed
    • progression of memory loss, in which only significant events are saved;
    • false memories;
    • loss by the patient criticism of their condition;
    • emotional and volitional disorders in the form of egocentrism, suspicion, grillness and conflict;
    • nonsense damage - the accusation of people in theft, the desire of his death, and so on;
    • sexual relationship;
    • leaning to gluttony;
    • vagrancy;
    • fussiness
    Heavy
    • disintegration of the crazy system;
    • disappearance of behavioral disorders;
    • full apathy;
    • lack of feelings of hunger and thirst;
    • motor disorders with a tendency to complete immobilization

    The diagnosis of this type of dementia is based on clinical picture And involves differentiation with vascular dementia. Often this can be done only after the death of the patient.

    Treatment involves fighting symptoms and stabilization of the patient's condition. This is a comprehensive process that includes mandatory therapy of the underlying disease. Depending on the pathology stage, various medicinal products:

    1. 1. In the early stages:
    • Extract of Ginkgo Biloba (homeopathic remedy).
    • Nootropic drugs (cerebrolysin, piracetam).
    • Medicines that improve blood circulation in the brain (nicerholine).
    • Stimulants of dopamine receptors (Bribedil).
    • Actovegin.
    • Phosphatidylcholine.
    1. 2. Inhibitors of acetylcholineserase (subepezil), which improve the social adaptation of patients are recommended at the expanded stage.

    Dementia Alzheimer Type is a steadily progressive disease. Its result is the hard disability and death of the patient. On average, the disease is developing for 10 years. The rate of progression of pathology depends on the age in which it appeared - than it is less, the faster the disease is increasing.

    Vascular dementia

    The dementia of vascular nature is in second place after Dementia Alzheimerov type. It is about 20% of all types of pathology.

    Common causes and risk factors for vascular dementia:

    The clinical picture of the dementia of vascular nature includes:

    1. 1. Disorders of the concentration of attention.
    2. 2. Completeness of switching from one object of activity to another.
    3. 3. Slow out the work of intelligence.
    4. 4. The difficulties of organizing life, for example, the construction of plans.
    5. 5. Problems when analyzing information.
    6. 6. Emotional disorders that are expressed in frequent change of mood or decrease it up to depression.
    7. 7. Neurological symptoms:
      1. Pseudobulberry syndrome, including:
        1. Dysaryry - violation of articulation.
        2. 8. Dzithonia - change in voice color.
        3. 9. Dysphagia is a violation of swallowing.
        4. 10. Unnatural laughter and crying.
    8. Bay disorders.
    9. Reducing motor activity characterized by scant facial and gesticulation, slow motion.

    The treatment of the demention of the vascular type is directed to the restoration of the cerebral circulation. Pathogenetic therapy is also recommended, piracetam, subepezil, cerebrolysis.

    Dementia, developed against the background of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke, occupy a separate place. They are characterized by significant death of cerebral cells and severe focal symptoms, depending on the location of the place of the defeat. Postsential dementia is characterized by a variety of clinics and depends on the degree of damage to the vessel, the compensatory capabilities of the body, the region of blood supply to the brain, the qualitative and timeliness of the provision of medical care.

    Senile dementia with levies

    Shenyl dementia (senile dementia) with Levy Tales is an atrophic-degenerative process, distinctive feature which is the accumulation of the brain in the cortex and its subcortical structures of specific intracellular formations - the Taurus of Levi.

    Causes and mechanism for the development of pathology are unknown to the end. It is inherited. This disease accounts for about 15-20% of all senile dementia. Very often, patients are mistakenly diagnosed with vascular dementia or Parkinson's disease.

    Symptoms of dementia with Levy Tales:

    Features of symptoms:

    1. 1. Small fluctuations - temporary inability to focus and fulfill the task.
    2. 2. Large fluctuations - violation of the recognition of people, locations, items. Sometimes there is a disorientation in the space and confusion of consciousness.
    3. 3. Spectator illusions and hallucinations.
    4. 4. Disorder of behavior during sleep (sharp movements, injury).
    5. Vegetative violations:
      • Orthostatic hypotension is a sharp drop in blood pressure when changing the position of the body from horizontal to vertical.
      • Arrhythmia.
      • Fainting.
      • Constipation.
      • Urine delay.

    The therapy of elder dementia with Levi Tales includes:

    1. 1. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors - Donezil.
    2. 2. Atypical neuroleptics - Clozapine.
    3. 3. Leveodopa in small doses - is used in the symptoms of Parkinsonism.

    Dementia with Levy Tales - Figrogressing disease. It accounts for about 4-5 years.

    Alcohol Dementia

    It develops with a long exposure to the brain alcohol. Sometimes the disease is preceded by more than 20 years of alcoholism.

    The causes of organic pathology are also indirect effects of the endotoxins of the liver damage, diseases of the vessels and others. Usually all people suffering from the last stage of alcoholism, atrophic processes occur in the brain.

    The prescription clinic at this type of dementia:

    1. 1. Reducing intelligence:
      1. 2. Impairment of memory.
      2. 2. Reducing the concentration of attention.
      3. 3. Loss of abstract thinking and others.
    1. 2. Personal degradation:
      1. Emotional worn.
      2. 3. Destruction of social connections.
      3. 4. Primitive thinking.
      4. 5. Loss of life values.

    The forecast is favorable. With full refusal to use alcohol during the year, dementia is regressing and smoothing the organic lesion of the brain.

    Epileptic dementia

    This type of dementia is developing against the background of a severe course of the underlying disease. Also, it is also influenced by a continuous reception of antiepileptic drugs, injury during seizures, hypoxia and so on.

    Symptoms of epileptic dementia:

    1. 1. Inhability of thinking.
    2. 2. Impairment of memory.
    3. 3. Poverty of the vocabulary stock.
    4. 4. Reducing intelligence against the background of the change of individual traits of the personality:
      1. Egoism.
      2. 5. Avenue.
      3. 6. Evil.
      4. 7. Headache.
      5. 8. Imractivity.
      6. 9. Largeness.
      7. 10. Pedantism.

    Epileptic dementia - invariably progressive disease. With a serious flow, the disappearance of evilness occurs, but they remain plenty and the hypocrisy, as well as apathy and indifference to everything.

    Symptoms of children's dementia

    Basically, Dementia is observed in adults. In children, it acts as a symptom of certain pathologies:

    1. 1. Oligophrenia.
    2. 2. Schizophrenia.
    3. 3. Other psyche disorders.

    Signs of dementia serve:

    1. 1. Reducing mental abilities that manifest themselves with memorization, up to the inability to restore its own name.
    2. 2. Loss of some information from memory.
    3. 3. Spatial and temporal disorientation.
    4. 4. The loss of previously acquired skills.
    5. 5. Violation of speech or its complete loss.
    6. 6. Raziness.
    7. 7. Uncontrolled defecation and urination.

    Resistant intellectual failure arising from a child over the age of 2-3 years on the background of suffered injury or infections is considered to be organic dementia with characteristic symptoms for it:

    • lack of thinking and criticism;
    • pronounced worsening memory and attention;
    • emotional violations;
    • instinct pathologies (increased or perverted attraction, excessive impulsiveness, lack of fear and weakening of the instinct of self-preservation;
    • non-compliance with the behavior of a child of a specific situation;
    • lack of attachment to native people;
    • absolute indifference child.

    Diagnostics

    Clear criteria for diagnosing dementia are:

    1. 1. Memory disorders (long-term and short-term).
    2. 2. The presence of one of the following pathologies:
      1. Gradual loss of abstract thinking.
      2. 3. Reducing criticism of perception.
      3. 4. Afazia.
      4. 5. Apraquession.
      5. 6. Amboss.
      6. 7. Changes in personal traits (aggressiveness, rudeness, lack of shame).
    1. 3. Social deadaption.
    2. 4. The absence of hallucinations, temporary, spatial and personal disorientation - how much allows the condition of the patient during the diagnosis.
    3. 5. The presence of organic lesion on the basis of anamnesis and tool diagnostics.

    To accurately determine the disease, the presence of all signs has been necessary for half a year. Otherwise, an estimated conclusion is made.

    Differential diagnosis is carried out in respect of depressive pseudo-degeneration. it difficult processrequiring long observation of the patient.

    Treatment

    Currently does not exist effective treatment Dementia, especially elder. The main therapy is aimed at care for the patient, the removal of symptoms, eliminating the associated pathologies and compliance with the regime of the day with maximum active activities.

    Psychotropic drugs are prescribed only in the case of insomnia and hallucinations. Their reception is limited to nootropic drugs and tranquilizers.

    Forecast

    The clinical picture and the dementia forecast depends on the main reason that promotes the emergence of organic lesion of the central nervous system.

    A relatively favorable outcome is observed if the main disease is not prone to development. In this case, when proper treatment Perhaps a significant improvement in the patient's condition.

    With common types of dementia (vascular and alzheimer-type), there is a tendency to progression. Treatment allows only to slow down the process of personality and social deadaption, extend the patient's life, relieve unpleasant symptoms.

    In the case of a fast-moving underlying disease, an extremely unfavorable forecast is noted. The patient's death occurs over several years or months after the appearance of the first symptoms of pathology. The cause of death becomes concomitant diseases, developing as a result of the violation of the central regulation of organs and systems.

(dementia) refer to the state (more often progressive), in which person has persistent violation of mental processes.

This is expressed in memory loss, the loss of basic skills, skills and knowledge and, as a result, complete degradation.

The disease is not independent, but is considered only the symptom of some neurological and mental pathologies. Arises against the background of the complete and irreversible destruction of the structure of the brain and the full cure is not amenable.

The dementia is not necessarily manifested with age, and recently it is more and more "younger." The term "early dementia" means the occurrence of disease in people aged from 35 years old, and sometimes a little younger.

Fortunately, pathology is not very common: about 48 million patients are registered in the world, and young people constitute only 15-20% of this figure.

Fully abandoning smoking, alcohol, observing a competent diet, engaged in sports or any other physical activity, you can not only extend the youth, but also insure yourself from many terrible diseases.

Milk dementia will help regular workouts for the brain.

It may be a breakdown of crosswords, memorizing poems, intelligent and logical games, puzzles, etc.

It is important to monitor weight, level of blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose indicators in the body.

If dementia is not caused hereditary reasons, these recommendations will help to avoid it:

  1. Refusal from harmful habits, significantly reduces the risk of illness.
  2. Proper nutrition, physical education classes, the observance of the diet will not only extend the active life, but also will increase the body's protective forces.
  3. Training the brain is no less important than the body.
  4. Regularly passing all the necessary analyzes, you can detect any disease in time.

Dementia is a persistent violation of higher nervous activity, accompanied by the loss of acquired knowledge and skills and a decrease in learning ability. Currently, there are more than 35 million patients with dementia in the world. Develops as a result of brain lesion, against the background of which there is a marked decay of mental functions, which in general makes it possible to distinguish this disease from mental backwardness, congenital or acquired form of dementia.

What kind of disease is why dementia occurs more often at an older age, as well as what symptoms and first signs are characteristic of it - let's look at further.

Dementia - What is this disease?

Dementia is madness, expressing in the decay of mental functions, which occurs because of the brain damage. The disease should be differentiated from oligophrenia - congenital or acquired infant dementia, which is underdevelopment of the psyche.

With dementia patients are not capable of awareness of what happens to themThe disease literally "erases" everything from their memory, which accumulated in it during the previous years of life.

Manifested by the demenation syndrome multifaceted. These are violations of speech, logic, memory, unfortunate depressive states. People suffering from dementia are forced to leave work because they need constant treatment and supervision. The disease changes the life of not only the patient, but also his loved ones.

Depending on the degree of illness, the symptoms and the patient's response is expressed in different ways:

  • When dementia is a mild degree, it critically refers to his state and is able to take care of himself.
  • With a moderate degree of lesion, there is a decrease in intelligence and difficulty in domestic behavior.
  • Heavy dementia - what is it? The syndrome indicates a complete disintelligence of the person when an adult cannot even even sing and eat.

Classification

Taking into account the preemptive defeat of certain areas of the brain, there are four types of dementia:

  1. Cork dementia. It suffers mostly bark of large hemispheres. There is observed in alcoholism, alzheimer's disease and peak disease (front and temporal dementia).
  2. Subcounty dementia. Suffer subcortical structures. Accompanied by neurological disorders (trembling limbs, muscle stiffness, gait disorders, etc.). It occurs at, Huntington diseases and hemorrhages in a white substance.
  3. Corto-subcortical dementia is a mixed type of lesion characteristic of pathology caused by vascular disorders.
  4. Multifocal dementia is a pathology characterized by multiple foci of lesions in all departments of the central nervous system.

Elder Dementia

The senile (senile) Dementia (Dementia) is pronounced dementia, manifested at the age of 65 and older. The disease is most often caused by rapid atrophy of the cerebral cortex cells. First of all, the patient slows down the reaction rate, mental activity and worsen short-term memory.

Changes in psyche, developing with senile dementia, are associated with irreversible changes in the brain.

  1. These changes occur at the cellular level, neurons die due to lack of food. This condition is called primary dementia.
  2. If there is a disease, because of which the nervous system was injured, the disease is called secondary. Such diseases include Alzheimer's disease, genton disease, spastic pseudosclerosis (Crazfeld-Jacob's disease), etc.

Shenyl dementia, being among mental diseases, is the disease most common among the elderly. Elder Dementia Women meets almost three times more often compared to her exposure to her. In most cases, the age of patients is 65-75 years, on average in women the disease is developing in 75 years, in men - in 74 years.

Vascular dementia

Under the vascular dementia is a violation of thought acts, which is caused by the problems of blood circulation in the brain vessels. In this case, such disorders greatly affect the patient's lifestyle, its activity in society.

Such a form of the disease occurs, as a rule, after stroke or heart attack. Vascular dementia - what is it? This is a whole complex of signs that are characterized by a deterioration in the behavioral and mental abilities of a person after the lesion of the brain vessels. With mixed vascular dementia, the forecast is the most unfavorable, as it affects several pathological processes.

At the same time, as a rule, separately consider dementia developing after vascular disasters, such as:

  • Hemorrhagic stroke (vessel break).
  • (blockage of the vessel with the cessation or worsening of blood circulation in a specific area).

Most often vascular dementia arises and hypertensive disease, less likely, with severe diabetes mellitus and some rheumatic diseases, even less often - in embolism and thrombosis due to skeletal injuries, increasing blood clotting and peripheral veins disease.

Patients of old age should control their main diseases that can cause dementia. These include:

  • hypertension or hypotension,
  • atherosclerosis,
  • ischemia
  • diabetes etc.

Dementia contributes to a sedentary lifestyle, lack of oxygen, destructive habits.

Dementia Alzheimer Type

The most common type of dementia. It refers to the organic dementia (a group of dementive syndromes developing against the background of organic changes in the brain, such as diseases of the brain vessels, cranial and brain injuries, senile or syphilitic psychosis).

In addition, this disease is pretty intertwined with the types of dementia with Levi Tales (syndrome, in which the death of the brain cells occurs due to the levie cells formed in neurons), having many common symptoms with them.

Dementia in children

Dementia development is associated with the influence on the body of a child of various factors that can cause disorders in the functioning of the brain. Sometimes the disease is present since the birth of the baby, but manifests itself as the child grows.

In children allocate:

  • residual organic dementia
  • progressive.

These species are separated depending on the nature of the pathogenetic mechanisms. Under meningitis, a residual-organic form may appear, it occurs with significant brain injuries, and the poisoning of the CNS by medicines.

The progressive type is considered an independent disease, which may be part of the structure of hereditary-degenerative defects and diseases of the central nervous system, as well as lesions of the brain vessels.

When dementia, a child can develop a depressive state. Most often, it is typical early stages of the disease. The progressive disease worsens the mental and physical abilities of children. If you do not work on a slowdown in the disease, the child may lose a significant part of the skills, including household.

With any type of dementia close, native and households follow With understanding, refer to the patient. After all, he is not to blame that it creates inadequate things sometime, it makes a disease. We yourself should think about preventive measuresSo that the disease in the future does not struck us.

The reasons

Already after 20 years, the human brain begins to lose nervous cells. Therefore, small problems with short-term memory for the elderly are quite normal. A person can forget where he put the keys from the car, what is the name of the person with whom he introduced a visit a month ago.

Such age-related changes Everyone happens. Usually they do not lead to problems in everyday life. With dementia, the disorder is much stronger.

The most common causes of dementia are:

  • alzheimer's disease (up to 65% of all cases);
  • damage to vessels caused by atherosclerosis, violation of circulation and blood properties;
  • abuse of alcohol and drug addiction;
  • parkinson's disease;
  • peak disease;
  • card and brain injuries;
  • endocrine diseases (problems with thyroid gland, Cushing syndrome);
  • autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosus);
  • infections (AIDS, chronic, encephalitis, etc.);
  • diabetes;
  • severe diseases of the internal organs;
  • corollary complication of hemodialysis (blood purification),
  • serious renal or liver failure.

In some cases, dementia is developing as a result of the impact of several reasons. The classic example of such pathology are senile (seenile) mixed dementia.

Risk factors include:

  • age over 65 years;
  • hypertension;
  • elevated level of lipids in the blood;
  • obesity of any extent;
  • lack of physical activity;
  • lack of intellectual activity for a long time (from 3 years);
  • low estrogen level (applies only to women's semi) and etc.

First signs

The first signs of dementia are the narrowing of the horizons and personal interests, the change in the nature of the patient. Patients develop aggression, malice, anxiety, apathy. A person becomes impulsive and irritable.

The first signs to which you need to pay attention to:

  • The first symptom of the disease of any typology is a memory disorder that quickly progresses.
  • The reaction of the individual on the surrounding validity becomes irritable, impulsive.
  • The behavior of a person is filled with regression: rigidity (cruelty), stereotype, slope.
  • Patients cease to wash and dress, professional memory is disturbed.

These symptoms rarely signal others about the impending disease, they are written off on the circumstances or on a bad mood.

Stages

In accordance with the possibilities of social adaptation of the patient, there are three dementia degrees. In cases where the disease that caused dementia has a steadily progressive course, often talk about the dementia stage.

Easy

The disease develops gradually, so patients and their relatives often do not notice his symptoms and do not appeal to the doctor.

For a light stage, significant disorders of the intellectual sphere are characteristic, but the critical attitude of the patient to its own state is preserved. The patient can live independently, as well as perform household activities.

Moderate

A moderate stage is observed by the presence of more coarse intellectual disorders and a decrease in the critical perception of the disease. Patients experience difficulties in the use of household appliances (washing machine, stove, TV), as well as door locks, telephone, latches.

Heavy dementia

At this stage, the patient almost completely depends on the close and needs constant care.

Symptoms:

  • full loss of orientation in time and space;
  • the patient is difficult to recognize relatives, friends;
  • permanent care is required late stages The patient cannot have himself and perform the simplest hygienic procedures;
  • improverage behavior, the patient may become aggressive.

Symptoms of dementia

For dementia, its manifestation is characterized simultaneously from many sides: changes occur in speech, memory, thinking, the patient's attention. These, as well as other functions of the body are violated relatively uniformly. Even the initial stage of dementia is characterized by very significant violations, which certainly affects the person as a person and a professional.

In a state of dementia people not only loses the ability show earlier acquired skills, but also loses the opportunity Get new skills.

Symptoms:

  1. Memory problems. Everything begins with forgetfulness: a person does not remember where he put one or another thing, what he had just said what was happening five minutes ago (fixing amnesia). At the same time, the patient remembers in all details what was many years ago, both in his life and in politics. And if something forgotten something, almost involuntarily begins to include fragments of fiction.
  2. Thinking disorders. There is a slowdown in the tempo of thinking, as well as a decrease in the ability to logical thinking and abstraction. Patients lose the ability to generalize and solve problems. Their speech is a thorough and stereotypical character, its poorness is observed, and in the progression of the disease, it is not at all. Dementia is also characterized by the possible advent of delusional ideas in patients, often with ridiculous and primitive content.
  3. Speech. First gets difficult to pick up needed words, then a "jam" can come on the same words. In later cases, it becomes intermittent, suggestions do not end. With a good hearing, it does not understand the speech facing it.

The characteristic cognitive disorders include:

  • memory worsening, forgetfulness (most often, this is noticed by people close to patient);
  • difficulty communication (for example, problems with the selection of words and definitions);
  • obviously deterioration of the ability to solve logical tasks;
  • problems with decision-making and planning of their actions (disorganization);
  • coordination violations (gait, fall oats);
  • disorders of motor functions (inaccuracy of movements);
  • disorientation in space;
  • violations of consciousness.

Psychological disorders:

  • , depressed condition;
  • unmotivated sense of anxiety or fear;
  • personality changes;
  • behavior unacceptable in society (constant or episodic);
  • pathological arousal;
  • paranoid nonsense (experience);
  • hallucinations (visual, auditory, etc.).

Psychoses - hallucinations, manic states or - arise from about 10% of patients with dementia, although in a significant percentage of patients the emergence of these symptoms is temporary.

Diagnostics

Snapshot of the brain normally (left) and during dementia (right)

The manifestations of dementia treats a neurologist. Patients also advises a cardiologist. If severe occurs mental disordersThe help of a psychiatrist is required. Often such patients find themselves in psychiatric boarding schools.

The patient must go comprehensive examinationwhich includes:

  • conversation with a psychologist and, if required, with a psychiatrist;
  • demation tests (brief valuation scale mental status, "Fab", "BLD" and others) Electricencephalography
  • tool diagnostics (blood tests for HIV, syphilis, thyroid hormone levels; electroencephalography, CT and MRI brain and others).

When diagnosing a diagnosis, the doctor takes into account that patients with dementia are very rarely adequate to assess their condition and are not inclined to celebrate their degradation of their own mind. Exceptions are only patients with dementia in the early stages. Consequently, its own assessment of the patient of his condition can not be decisive for a specialist.

Treatment

How to treat dementia? Currently, most varieties of dementia are considered incurable. Nevertheless, therapeutic techniques have been developed that allow you to control a significant part of the manifestations of this disorder.

The disease completely changes the character of a person and his desire, so one of the main components of therapy is harmony in the family and in relation to loved ones. At any age, help and support is needed, sympathy for loved ones. If the situation around the patient is unfavorable, then to achieve any progress and improve the condition is very hard.

When prescribing drugs, you need to remember the rules that must be observed in order not to harm the patient's health:

  • All medicines have their own side effectsthat you need to consider.
  • The patient will need help and control for regular and timely reception of medicines.
  • The same drug can act differently at different stages, so therapy needs periodic correction.
  • Many of the drugs can be dangerous if they are taken in large quantities.
  • Separate drugs can be badly combined with each other.

Patients with dementia are low-chargeed, they are difficult to interest new to compensate somehow lost skills. It is important when treating to understand that this is an irreversible disease, that is, incurable. Therefore, there is a question about the adaptation of the patient for life, as well as high-quality care for it. Many are dedicated to a certain period of time to care for patients, looking for nurses, dismissed from work.

Forecast for people with dementia

Dementia usually has a progressive course. However, the pace (speed) of progression varies widely and depends on a number of reasons. Dementia shortens the expected lifespan, but the evaluation assessment varies.

Events providing security and providing relevant existence environment are extremely important in treatment, equally as a guardian help. Some medications May be useful.

Prevention

In order to prevent the occurrence of this pathological condition, doctors recommend to engage in prevention. What will required for this?

  • Follow healthy image Life.
  • Refuse bad habits: smoking and alcohol.
  • Control the level of cholesterol in the blood.
  • Four feed.
  • Control blood sugar levels.
  • In a timely manner to treat arising ailments.
  • To pay time to intelligent classes (reading, solidifying crosswords and so on).

This is all about dementia in the elderly: what is this disease, what is its main symptoms and signs of men and women, is there a treatment. Be healthy!

Dementia is such a form of dementia at which there is a persistent decrease in the cognitive functions of the brain, the loss of previously gained knowledge and skills, and the inability to acquire new ones. Acquired dementia (dementia) differs from congenital (oligophrenia) by the fact that it is expressed by the process of decaying mental functions due to various lesions of the brain in the youth due to addictive behavior or in old age in the form of a blue dementia or senile marasm.

In 2015, 46 million people suffering from dementia lived in 2015 on the World Health Organization. Already in 2017, this indicator was higher than 4 million and reached the figure of 50 million people. So a sharp increase The number of patients with dementia is explained by the numerous factors of the modern world, which provoke the development of the disease. Every year of patients with dementia becomes more in the world by 7.7 million people. Each victim from this disease becomes a very large problem for both the health care system and their relatives and relatives.

And if dementia before Dementia considered exclusively the disease of the old people, then in modern world Pathology was very rapid and stopped being a rarity for people under the age of 35.

Classification of the disease

The most common types of dementia today are vascular, atrophic and mixed, as well as the classification of the disease of the syndromic type. Each of the named species has its own characteristics, varieties and causes of occurrence, therefore it should be highlighted in more detail.

Vascular dementia

Under the vascular dementia is understood as the acquired disorder of the nervous system, which provokes the occurrence of pathologies in vascular system brain. This is the main difference between the vascular dementia from its other species, in which pathology is caused by toxic sediments in nerve cells. The emerging issues in blood circulation processes in the brain leads to cognitive failures, as in other species of pathology, which is manifested in the problems of individual intellectual activity. In case of violation of blood circulation in the brain of its cells, it is ceased to obtain the necessary volume of oxygen and after some time they die. The body itself is capable of a little compensate for such violations, but in the extermination of resources, the death of nerve cells will still come. Dementia does not show itself until compensation is possible, but failures in memory, violation of speech and thinking begins to achieve exhaustion. The behavioral responses of a person change, it begins otherwise to treat the surrounding people, often the aggressiveness is manifested in its character. The patient is not able to serve himself in everyday life and begins to depend on the help of third-party persons.

In patients undergoing stroke, the risk of vascular dementia increases many times. The occurrence of dementia is determined by which the brain departments were defeated. Scientists have established that during the defeat of about 50 milliliters of the brain tissue in 99% of cases, such a disorder occurs. This diagnosis is easily identified if the noticeable cognitive patient disorders are provoked by previously strokes. In parallel with dementia, you can observe hemiparesis (weakening or paralysis of the limbs), reflexes of the right and left limbs, Babinsky. Patients with vascular dementia suffer from walking, sluggish and shocking gait, stability loss. Sometimes a person confuses the status data with the occurrence of dizziness.

Vascular dementia can be classified on etiological and localization factors. By etiological factor, it happens:

  • on the background of stroke;
  • due to ischemia chronic character;
  • mixed.

Depending on the location of the localization, the vascular dementia is divided into:

  • subcortical;
  • temporal;
  • frontal shares;
  • cerebral cortex;
  • mid brain.

Atrophic dementia

The species of atrophic dementia include diseases provoked by Alzheimer's disease and peak disease. With the flow of alzheimer-type Dementia, pathology is manifested similar to the vascular form of the disease and has 3 main stages:

  • initial;
  • moderate;
  • heavy.

At the initial stage, the consciousness and thinking of the patient, the intelligence decreases, the orientation of the person in the spatial-time interval is disturbed, there are problems in performing professional duties, aphasia arises (the speech), agnosia (a person ceases to recognize acquaintances and familiar subjects). In parallel, the human egocentrism is progressing at this stage, it becomes closed, flows into depression. This stage still allows the patient to realize and adjust mental inconsistency by all means.

At the moderate stage of amnesia and the loss of orientation begins to be accompanied by a sharp impaired intellect. The person's lifestyle is becoming increasingly primitive, thinking is dotted, human needs are greatly simplified. Patients begin in dire need of support from loved ones, because they are no longer able to care for themselves. However, a person can still critically evaluate its own state, therefore it begins to realize his inferiority. For specialists who help him in the fight against dementia, these qualities are very valuable.

In the hard stage of atrophic dementia, the patient completely loses his memory, ceases to realize his own personality, even loses primitive needs, ceases to abide by hygiene, requires permanent assistance from others.

When dementia, as a result of the transfer of peak disease, the frontal and temporal shares of the cerebral hemispheres are destroyed. During the disease, the peak is gradually violated, problems arise with intelligence and perception. The disease is more characteristic of elderly people who in its course become sluggish, apathetic, flow into long-term depression. At the same time, patients are characterized by outbreaks of spontaneity in behavior, aggression, rudeness. The flow of this disease is more malignant, compared with Alzheimer's disease, it is more intense and does not allow a person to live with its presence longer than 5-6 years.

Mixed dementia

With a variant of mixed dementia or dementia, it is customary to allocate several major factors of its occurrence. Most often, such factors include atrophic changes, lesions of brain vessels, which arise as a consequence of Alzheimer's disease. The manifestations of mixed dementia are also ambiguous. With cognitive disorders, it is also necessary to have all sorts of vascular pathologies (hypertension, atherosclerosis), the patient's thinking is subjected to alzheimer-type degradation expressed by intelligence and memory violations.

In contrast to Alzheimer's immediate disease, mixed dementia is characterized by symptoms associated with the defeat of the frontal sections of the brain, - difficulties in the concentration of attention, planning, decrease in mental practice. General symptom Mixed dementia and Alzheimer's disease is a violation in memory, others are rare enough.

Syndromic dementia

Also, experts often classify dementia according to the syndromic classification. According to this classification, the disease can be divided into lacunar dementia and total dementia.

Dissan dementia or lacunar form is characterized by changes in the emotional life of the patient. For this form, a decrease in self-control from the patient is characterized, and its identity change does not undergo. Memory disorders become noticeable, easily compensated by recording all events on paper, thanks to which the patient is independently able to establish the event chronology.

With total dementia, the symptoms of the disease is rough, leads to the change of the patient's personality, and not only its emotional sphere. The reason for this is the destruction in certain zones of the brain, which is due to the deterioration of blood circulation or atrophy. An example of total dementia can act a peak disease, and Lacooner - Alzheimer's disease.

Localization of brain lesions

On the localization of the dementia and the damage to certain zones of the human brain, the disease can be classified into the following varieties:

  • cortical;
  • subcortical;
  • cortical-subcortical dementia;
  • multifocal.

Correspondent dementia arises as a consequence of violations of the functional activity of the bark of large brain hemispheres. The structure of the cortex responsible for memory, consciousness, Praxis, rapidly degrades. At the same time, the cognitive functions of the patient, memory suffer primarily. Patients do not remember own name or native people. They are peculiar to the transcopaging - forgetfulness of persons. The awareness of what is happening comes from such patients to no.

The Praxis Center also suffers, as well as thought centers, which leads to a drop in the ability to carry out any practical activity. Violates the ability to write, as well as other elementary and easy-to-perform action. Speech ability is broken in parallel.

The most interconnected with cortical dementia is considered to be Alzheimer's disease, front and temporal lobar degeneration, alcohol encephalopathy.

Parkinson's disease, progressive supervised paralysis, genton and others belongs to the subcortical dementia. Pathology differs from the cortical dementia by the fact that the subcortical structures are infringed in this case, which are responsible for transporting the nerve impulses into the underlying brain departments from the bark. Also atrophy the ability to perform unconscious actions. The symptoms of such a variety of the disease is not so radical, as at a cortical form, it characterizes the change in the essence of the flow of all processes. A person becomes slow, depressive, depressed.

There is no clear difference between the cortical and subcortical forms of dementia. Both disorders concern the psyche of the patient, the difference only in the levels of these disorders. For subcortical dementia, the gaps are characterized in memory concerning the memories of the event, and not the ability to learn a new one. Praxis in this case is violated in the form when uncontrolled movement occurs, their coordination is knocked down.

Diseases of the type of cortex-subcortical dementia include vascular dementia, cortical-basal degeneration, disease with Levi's carts. With this dementia, the processes at the level of the cerebral cortex are violated and at the bottom of the bottom. This is the main characteristic of the clinic of this disease, which echoes the first two dementia varieties considered.

In the case of cortical-subcortical dementia, problems often arise in the diagnostic plan, due to the possibility of prevailing violations in a particular department of the human brain. If brighter expressions of the cerebral cortex, the doctor without experience can confuse this dementia with the cortical pathology or with Alzheimer's disease. To make mistakes in the diagnosis, it is important to produce a thorough analysis of symptoms, including diagnostics using computer tomography or magnetic resonance tomography.

Multifocal Dementia refers to Cratetzfeldt-Jacob's disease. Its symptoms manifests itself by numerous lesions of brain departments in a focal way. At the same time, there is a violation of speech (aphasia), the patient's ability to perform is disturbed professional activities (Apraqulicis), there is an inability to recognize (agnosia), spatial disorders, amnesia.

Among the symptoms of multifocal dementias also distinguish pathology of the orphanage - shuddering muscle beams (mioclon), focus on sensation or thought (perception), problems with coordination in space, gait, equilibrium. A thalamic disorder is also present when lethargy and drowsiness is very felt. Such a dementia is very rapid, a couple of months in the brain can occur, completely erasing the whole human person.

The patient at multifocal dementia is not always aware of everything that happens to him. At the same time, experts believe that during the disease the patient can be located on different phases, on which it feels differently. At the same time there are enlightenment when a person clearly understands that something is wrong with his memory and self-consciousness.

All the symptoms of dementia can be observed in cases of occurrence of pseudo-degeneration, hysterical states, so the disease is extremely difficult to diagnose the disease.

Mechanism of emergence and development

The main reasons for the occurrence of dementia, experts call Alzheimer's disease and vascular pathologies in the human brain area. Also, dementia is provoked by alcoholism, brain oncology, diseases of the nervous system, brain injury and other. For treatment it is very important to establish the true cause of pathology in each specific case, since the elimination of manifestations will not bring the result expected on therapy. At the same time, competent therapy does not just stop the process of degradation, but also can run it.

Based on the main causes of dementia, 2 main forms of the disease can be distinguished:

  • senile or senile dementia;
  • vascular dementia.

Senilla dementia is expressed by violations in speech, thinking, attention and memory. At the same time, the skills are lost, and to pay this process is not possible. It can be said that the sedenie dementia is incurable. It may begin to develop in renal work failures, as a result of Alzheimer's disease, with issues with metabolism or with immunodeficiency diseases. Vascular dementia may occur in diabetes mellitus, increased blood lipids, other diseases.

In the presence of systems early diagnosis Dementia in various countries is detected by a patient with a similar diagnosis of each person aged after 55 years. The heredity of Dementia is quite relevant today, many faced with this disease, it is vividly interested.

In our days, the most developing science of genetics indicates the possibility of transmission from parents to the children of genes, in the DNA of which fragments of dementia are encrypted. However, experts speak no direct, but about the indirect nature of such genetic games. Thus, genetic predisposition is only one of the hundreds of factor, due to which the normal person may have disruption of memory and thinking. At the same time, if the heir leads a healthy lifestyle, it feeds rationally, refuses to harmful habits, the risk of dementia has been decreasing at times, despite heredity. Direct inheritance of genes provoking dementia happens quite rarely. More often inheritance is ensured by a combination of many factors, lifestyle among which plays far from a latter role.

However, the genes always affect the tendency to one or another pathologies. Some cardiovascular diseases, transmitted by inheritance, entail and the tendency of a person to the emergence of dementia, even if his relative did not suffer from her.

The genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's disease was best studied, thanks to which Dementia is developing most often. The predisposition to this disease can be transmitted monogen (through one gene) or polygnically (through a huge set of gene combination options). At the same time, the vascular dementia due to the gene mutation is a rather rare case.

Approximately 15% of all patients with logo-temporal dementia have a family history of such a disease, that is, at least three relatives in the next two generations with a similar problem. About 15% may suffer from a demention of another type with the same family history, which indicates the real influence of heredity in the case of the frontal-temporal dementia among patients.

Basic symptoms of the disease

The main symptoms of dementia can be divided into basic groups:

  • failures in cognitive function;
  • failures in orientation;
  • behavioral personality disorders;
  • thinking disorders;
  • reducing critical thinking;
  • emotional disorders;
  • problems in perception.

Violation of cognitive functions can be expressed in memory disorders, attention, higher functions. When memory disorders can also be affected by short-term, and long-term memory, and confabulation (false memories) are also possible. For easy form The dementia of memory violations are also moderate, rather associated with forgetfulness (phones, calls and other things). With severe dementia, only carefully learned information can be held in memory, and in the last stages, a person does not even remember the name of his native, a personal disorientation arises. When paying attention, the ability of the reaction to several incentives is lost simultaneously, a person cannot switch in a conversation from one topic to another. The upsetting of higher functions is divided into aphasia (loss of healthy speech), apriccia (the inability to perform targeted actions) and agnosia (violation of tactile, auditory, visual perception).

Failures in orientation arise to a greater extent, at the beginning of the disease. The disturbed orientation in time usually becomes a precursor orientation violations on the ground, as well as personal orientation. The far-sighted dementia is characterized by a complete collection of orientation even in a well-known space, which leads to the fact that the patient can get lost on the ground where it happens very often.

Changing the personality and disorder of behavioral reactions during dementia occurs gradually. The main personalities are strongly exitted. For example, if a person has always been energetic, then with the development of the dementia, it becomes fussy, and if he is thrifty, then greed comes to the fore. Patients suffer from increased selfishness, they cease to respond to the needs of the environment, provoke conflict situations. Often a person has dismissal sexuality, he can start collecting garbage and vagabond. Sometimes patients fully lose communicative interest, closed in themselves.

It is also characteristic of untidiness, since patients are often negotiated by the rules of hygiene.

Thinking disorder is characterized by a decrease in the ability to logic and abstraction. To generalize and solve even the elementary tasks, a person cannot completely, the speech becomes a scarce, stereotypical plan, in the course of the progression of the disease it completely disappears. In patients, various delusional ideas may occur, most often they are based on jealousy, the loss of values \u200b\u200bthat have never been and otherwise.

Patients often decrease to critical attitude towards themselves and the surrounding reality. Any unforeseen, and even more so, stressful situations provoke the occurrence of panic, during which the patient may begin to realize the condition of its own intellectual inferiority. If critical abilities in the patient persist, it makes it possible to evaluate defects of intelligence, which will lead to sharpness in reasoning, a quick change of conversation, jesterity.

Emotional disorders during dementia are very diverse and volatile. Often they are expressed by depressiveness, anxiety, irritability, aggressiveness, fiscaliness, either complete irregularity of everything that happens. Rarely, but may develop maniacal states combined with carelessness and fun.

With perception disorders in patients there are hallucinations and illusions. Often they are very strange character and cannot be explained from a logical point of view.

Severity of the disease

The complexity of the course of the disease can be determined based on the three main stages - light, moderate and severe.

At the initial stage of symptoms, it is fairly easily manifested, its intensity may vary, first of all, the intellectual component suffers. The patient is able to estimate himself even critically, understands that he is sick, readiness for treatment is manifested. Man fully serves himself and does not need any assistance. It has access to any household activity - cooking food, shopping, personal hygiene, cleaning. With a timely and targeted start of treatment, the flow of the initial stage of dementia can be braked, and the disease itself is fully cured.

In the second stage of moderate dementia, gross violations are beginning to occur in an intellectual field, the ability of a critical perception of reality is reduced, the patient ceases to understand what is sick and requires medical care, which complicates the possibility of treatment. Also, a person has difficulty in everyday life - he often cannot use elementary home appliances, Call by phone, may not close the doors when caring to the street, does not turn off the gas and light in the apartment. The patient already needs total control and supervision, since the likelihood of damage to others becomes at a moderate stage is high enough.

At the third heavy stage there is a decomposition of an individual under the influence of the symptoms of dementia. A person loses the ability to eat independently, does not comply with the hygiene rules and procedures, will not know the loved ones. Most often, severe dementia is accompanied by a lot of logical, critical and speech abilities. A person does not even feel the feelings of thirst or hunger, becomes indifferent to everything. All this proceeds against the background of a gradual disorder of motor functions, the patient is immobilized, loses the chewing function. Such patients already need permanent cleaner.

If the dementia is age-related (senile dementia), then prevent its development and give the flow of the disease the reverse process is almost impossible.

Diagnostic methods

The diagnosis of dementia is more often known or neurologist. The reason for the diagnosis and establishment of such pathology can be an inability to be identified by a specialist for the fulfillment of professional duties, daily tasks, remembrance problem, the absence or drop in care, deterioration of thinking or temporary orientation, behavioral disorders. After examining the patient, communicating with him and his environment, a specialist to clarify the nature of the disease prescribes various diagnostic procedures, as well as neuropsychological testing of personality.

Under the diagnostic activities in Dementia, a whole range of procedures should be understood, which allows to identify those factors that lead to the dying of nerve cells and eliminate them with drugs. Among them there may be disturbed metabolism in the body, oncological or vascular diseases and so on.

Among the most applied diagnostic procedures modern medicine When dementia uses:

  • collection of anamnesis on the basis of complaints and psychiatric observation;
  • neurological examination of the patient;
  • testing in the clinic at a psychologist, allowing to evaluate the memory, mental and intellectual abilities of the patient;
  • general I. biochemical analyzes blood;
  • neurotesting, computer and magnetic resonance tomography, electroencephalography.

Dementia implies symptomatics of emotional sphere and mental activity (abstract, intellectual thinking and memory). The reason to apply for the consultation of a specialist can be a reflection, petty, irritability of a person who were not peculiar to him before. Also a wrapping should be household forgetfulness, inattention and aggression on the basis of this in relation to loved ones. Best of all, if all techniques will be used to diagnose dementia. Then the diagnosis can be made accurate and timely decide on effective therapy.

Methods, treatments and care products

Dementia treatment usually proceeds in several directions. The remaining cerebral cells need to be made to work actively, for which preparations of two groups are used. The first group of drugs includes substances capable of supporting the proper level in the cerebral of the neurotiator of acetylcholine. This mediator transporting nerve impulses directly affects the symptoms of dementia. Maintain acetylcholine concentration is much safer and easier by blocking the enzyme in the body responsible for splitting this substance. The substance that blocking this enzyme is called an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Substances today include Rivastigmine, Galanamin and Donezil.

The second group of drugs includes a substance capable of canvery and maintain the performance of cerebral cortex cells, warning their self-destruction. This is important even if these cells are not included in the active brain activity of the patient. This substance is called memantine hydrochloride.

Data drugs are used combined or isolated from each other. The effectiveness of therapy or its absence during the proceeding process can be estimated only later for a long time. At the same time, when improving with 3-4 months of treatment, medications are prescribed on a lifetime basis. Effective such therapy will be in the presence of a large number of active nerve cells at the start of a large number of active nerve cells, which can be estimated to terminate the memory deterioration process or even improve it. The behavior of the patient will become more ordered and calm.

As additional therapy for the injured brain, it is customary to use drugs today, previously speaking by substitutes for drugs of the first row. Prescribed them at the initial appeal to the hospital or neurologists.

Many patients with dementia feel and so-called mental symptoms. A person is tormented by hallucinations, delusional states, aggression, anxiety, the inconsistency of sleep and wakefulness, depression, the lack of opportunity to adequately evaluate what is happening. Such symptoms is very oppressed by the patient, and people bring suffering close and careful for him. This is the main syndrome that the patient requires stationary medical care. The doctor can help the patient overcome such symptoms. It is important to exclude the parallel flow of other diseases - infectious diseases, consequences of the body drug addictsAs they can cause the strongest confusion of the patient's consciousness. It is important to understand that behavioral disorders are far from always treated with medication. In this case, pharmacological tools are necessarily applied if such violations deliver suffering to the patient and carry a threat to those surrounding people. Treatment behavioral disorders Pharmacological drugs must be held under medical control, which is periodically complemented additional diagnostics changes.

Separately, the dementia is treated and sleep disturbances are treated, which are very common. The process is a complex, requiring the involvement of many professionals from several areas of medicine. Initially, sleep disorders are trying to treat with insepeutic intervention (studying the exposure to reactions to light sources, the influence of the patient's physical activity for sleep and so on), and in the insolvency of such therapy, special medicines are used.

Patients with dementia of various stages feel problems with swallowing or chewing food, which can be completely abandoned. In such cases, the constant care is simply necessary for them. At the same time, sometimes patients are no longer able to even realize the commands of the caring, for example, the requests to bring a spoon to mouth. Patient care in lateral stages of dementia is a very heavy burden, since they are not just like newborns, often their reactions are contradictory and aimed at resistance common sense. It is important to understand that an adult has a certain body weight, and just so wash it will not work. The difficulty in caring for patients with dementia is aggravated with each day of the progress of the disease, so it is important to start timely treatment and care, so that this process will be able to slow down.

Prevention of dementia

In science today known as 15 reliable ways, how to prevent the emergence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Specialists talk about the benefits of studying an additional language, which will allow not only to expand cultural horizons, but also to activate memory and thinking processes. The relationship between the number of learned languages \u200b\u200band the occurrence of Dementia and Alzheimer's disease is scientifically proven.

Also for preventing dementia, it is important to drink many fresh vegetable and fruit juices from youth to the oldest. Such vitamin and mineral cocktails are very positive effect on functionality. human organismAnd their admission is more than 3 times a week throughout life ensures a decrease in the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 76%.

The use of unreasonably forgotten by many postpones the aging of the human body and the emergence of Alzheimer's disease for many years. To get enough of its quantity together with food, you need to use a lot of green leaf vegetables - Cabbage, and other things.

Throughout life, man is very important to be able to control stressful situations and their influence on its own body. Medical studies show that stress very often leads to the development of dementia, especially if there are some other risk factors for the occurrence of this disease. So, it was established that with a light form of cognitive disorders due to stresses, a person sicks with a demention by 135% more often than the average.

Important for prevention of dementia and regular physical exercises. They retain the volume of hippocampus - the brain zone, which is most susceptible to the defeat. The most effective physical exertion are cycling, swimming, sports walking, dancing, running. If you run about 25 kilometers per week, you can reduce the risk of mental pathologies by as much as 40%. Also, all sports can replace the garden work performed at the pace.

Excellent I. effective medicine Against dementia is laughter. Positive attitude and frequent sincere laughter has a beneficial effect on thinking. Eating large number Fruit gives the body flavonoid physometh - an anti-inflammatory substance that prevents the aging of the cell system of the body. Most of all this substance in strawberries and mango fruits.

Yoga lovers are also less likely to be dementia. Meditation helps to relax, reduce the level of nervous overvoltage, normalize cortisol ("hormone of stress"). After relaxation, you can enjoy rich in the sea fish. Such food takes part in the construction of the cell membranes, warns the thrombosis, saves the neurons of the brain from the destruction. High concentration of omega-3-fatty acids warns the development of dementia in the body.

To prevent the development of dementia, it is necessary to quit smoking. Tobacco ignition increases the risk of dementia by as much as 45%. But the products of Mediterranean cuisine, on the contrary, it is necessary to introduce into their daily diet. Vegetables, bird, nuts, fish, contribute to saturation of brain cells and of cardio-vascular system man. Thus, you can prevent vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. And if, with proper nutrition and refusal of bad habits, it is also to sleep 7-8 hours a day, thus restoring the nervous system, it is possible to ensure timely cleaning of the brain from cell waste - beta-amyloid, which for physicians is a renovation marker.

It is also very important in nutrition to limit consumption causing insulin resistance of brain cells. Recent studies have proven an interrelation of Alzheimer's disease with diabetes mellitus. By controlling blood sugar levels, weakness can be avoided. Well, if the slightest symptoms Dementia began to appear, it is better to immediately consult a doctor and diagnose the disease.

Early diagnosis helps to fully cure and prevent recurrence of the disease.

Complications and consequences

Dementia often leads to irreversible consequences in the body or severe complications. But even if these processes are not so scary at first glance, they still make a very difficult to complicate the life of the patient and loved ones who are constantly nearby.

During the dementia, various nutritional disorders occur, up to the complete cessation of fluid consumption and food. The patient forgets about meals or believes that he has already eaten. The gradual progression of the disease leads to loss of control over the muscles involved in peak chewing and its swallowing. This process can trigger churning food, entering the fluid into the lungs, blocking the respiration and the occurrence of pneumonia. The progressive dementia deprives the sick feeling of hunger in principle. This problem Partly causes the difficulty in receiving medicines. The patient can simply forget about it, and may not physically be able to drink a pill.

Personal and emotional changes provoke deterioration of psychological health. This is the most obvious consequence of the dementia arising, expressing in aggressiveness, disorientation, cognitive failures. Also, patients with severe forms of the disease lose the ability to observe elementary personal hygiene.

In patients as the consequences of the development of dementia often arise hallucinations or delusions (false thoughts), a sleep mode is disturbed, which is characteristic of syndrome restless legs Or rapid eye movement. Progressive dementia causes and communicative failures, the patient ceases to remember the names of objects, the names of loved ones, he has a failure in speech skills. As a result, a person is formed persistent long depression, which only complicates the treatment process. It is also very important to understand that a person with dementia cannot be allowed to fulfill the simplest action - driving a car, cooking food, as it can lead to a threat to his health.

Dementia in children often leads to depressions, deterioration of physical or mental development. With a late early treatment, the child may lose many skills and knowledge, become addicted to third-party care.

Life expectancy

The progression of dementia contributes to the collapse of the psyche of a person. A patient with such a diagnosis can no longer be considered a full-fledged member of society, completely depends on others. That is why loved ones often concerned the life expectancy of such patients. Most often, patients with dementia live 5-10 years old, sometimes longer, but this disease, its clinical manifestations and flowing are so individual that physicians answer this question today does not officially give. If we are talking about the dementia of an elderly person, then these are some numbers, if the parallel pathologies suffering from parallel pathologies.

To predict the duration of the life of a particular patient, it is important to take into account where this pathology originates from origins. Approximately 5% of all detected dementia cases are reversible pathologies. In the event of such a disease, due to infectious or tumor processes, it all depends on how quickly and whether it is possible to get rid of these reasons. With a positive solution to this problem, dementia is amenable to treating and the patient's life increases. Sometimes dementia is provoked in the body a disadvantage that can be corrected by additional techniques of such substances inside.

In 10-30% of cases, symptoms of dementia begin to manifest after stroke. Patients have problems with movement, memory, speech, score, depression, sharp mood jumps. If demimentation arose in parallel with stroke, it is 3 times more likely leads to the death of such a patient. However, the elderly patients who have suffered a stroke can be renewed and improving the well-being of timely and qualitative therapy for post-thesal and dementia manifestations. Sometimes it is possible to extend the lives of such therapy even for 10 years.

It is important to understand that under the "senile marastery" laying patients live longer walking due to the fact that they are not able to apply harm themselves - they do not fall, they cannot cut down or get under the car. With high-quality care patient, his life is lengthened for many years.

If Alzheimer's disease led to dementia, such patients live significantly less. If Alzheimer's disease proceeds in severe form, for example, there is a strongest apathy, a person loses speech skills, cannot move, it indicates the duration of his subsequent life within only 1-3 years.

With a senile infringement of blood circulation, very often vascular dementia occurs. This complication can provoke arrhythmia, atherosclerosis, hypertension, pathology heart valve. Braincases at the same time die off, feeling the shortage of oxygen and nutrition. With vascular dementia with bright signs, patients live about 4-5 years, if the disease develops implicitly and slowly - more than 10 years. At the same time, 15% of all sicks can completely cure. The infarction or stroke can provoke multiple complications, the progression of the disease and even a fatal outcome.

However, it is important to remember that dementia does not always concern exclusively old people - the youth also suffers from him. Already at the age of 28-40 years, many are faced with the first symptomatic pathology. Such anomalies, first of all, are provoked by an unhealthy lifestyle. Game, smoking, alcoholism and drug addiction brain activity slow down very much, and sometimes lead to obvious signs of degradation. At the first symptoms, the young patient is still curing completely, but if the process is running, you can walk to the hardest forms of dementia. Constant reception of medicines, unfortunately, is the only way to extend life. In young people, when dementia depends dementia, the duration of the subsequent life can be 20-25 years. But there are cases (for example, with a hereditary factor) of rapid development, when death comes after 5-8 years.

Disabled disabilities

Olders with cardiovascular problems or after heart failure suffer most often. However, even during the drainage of young people, they are recognized by persons with disabilities and prescribe a disability group. Prove the patient's own disease is not needed, quite a medical conclusion after medical and Social Examination or court decision. The court decision is made under the claim of the Board of Trustees in relation to the patient.

The inevitable assignment of disability is important to regard as state support and protection. Special bodies will be paid in a timely manual for disability in cash equivalent, so that the patient can always provide himself with drugs, and also guarantee him rehabilitation assistance. It is important that it is important for registration of the status of a disabled person. It is important to prove the state in the impossibility of existence without such assistance, since just incapacity is not the reason for the recognition of a person with disabilities.

The disability assignment procedure consists of several stages. First, the patient or his trustee should contact medical institution At the place of residence for registration of the Direction on ITU in order to conduct an examination. If you refuse to give the direction, the patient can with written refusal to independently go to ITU. A court session is held, where the Board of Trustees confirms the incapacity of the patient.

After the initial detection of dementia, a maximum of 2 years can be assigned a disability group. Even if the stage of the disease is primary and the patient can serve himself and go to work independently, a group of dismissal displacement is always prescribed only the first. When considering each specific case, a functional impaired in the body, the severity of restrictions and their impact on the life of a person in the future, the ability to self-service and self-substitution, the adequacy of reality estimates, the degree of recognition of acquaintances, the ability to control their own behavior, learning and efficiency. With positive testing indicators for each of these signs in disabilities, the patient cannot refuse. Failure may follow if the procedure for submission of documents was not followed, for which the patient's guardian is responsible. In this case, there may be no certificate from a psychiatrist, not to be registration in the PND, there is no expert confirmation of the diagnosis.

Personal presence during the commission for the purpose of disabilities during dementia is not necessary. The doctor can visit the patient at home, conduct a survey and issue the necessary conclusion. In some cases, retreats are assigned.

Dementia is a very complex disease, the treatment of which is very difficult, especially when it is later identified or with reluctance to comply with all medical prescriptions.

Acquired dementia, striking most often, called dementia (from Lat. "Madness"). This pathology is not congenital, but acquired. Before the disease, a person is able to think logically and serve himself, but partially loses these opportunities.

Dementia - what is it?

It is important to understand when a dementia has occurred, which is a disease that is caused by the lesion of the brain. People of any age, not just old people, and the number of cases are growing steadily growing are susceptible. In contrast to other deviations, for example, oligophrenia, this syndrome acquired and does not indicate the underdevelopment of the psyche. Dementia is a severe disorder of nervous activity, as a result of which the patient loses the acquired skills and knowledge, and cannot comprehend new ones. There is a decay of mental functions of a healthy person.

Dementia in psychology

Often, syndrome develops as a result of other diseases (Parkinson, Peak, Alzheimer, etc.), injuries. Disorder occurs in the cerebral cortex and may have various forms By severity and leakage: light, moderate and heavy. If there is a concomitant disease and it progresses, dementia itself develops, the disease is deleasing the patient. The patient is losing most thinking, stops learning the worldAnd interest in life is fading. Syndrome manifests itself multifaceted: memory is broken, speech, logic, depressive states appear.

Dementia - causes

This syndrome occurs as a result of organic lesion of the brain after injury or some disease (sometimes several). Provoking the disease of it can more than 200 pathological conditions. With specific forms of demimentation of disorders in the cerebral cortex are the leading mechanism of the disease. In other cases, the defeat of the central nervous system is the consequences of this syndrome.


The most common causes of dementia are:

  • alzheimer's disease (up to 65% of all cases);
  • defeat of vessels caused by atherosclerosis arterial hypertension, violation of circulation and blood properties;
  • abuse of alcohol and drug addiction;
  • parkinson's disease;
  • peak disease;
  • card and brain injuries;
  • endocrine diseases (problems with thyroid gland,);
  • autoimmune diseases (sclerosis, red lupus);
  • infections (AIDS, chronic meningitis, encephalitis, etc.);
  • diabetes;
  • severe diseases of the internal organs;
  • corollary complication of hemodialysis (blood purification),
  • serious renal or liver failure.

Dementia - symptoms

There are three stages of illness, therefore each of them has its own symptoms:

  1. The main symptom of this disease is a progressive memory disorder. The obvious signs of dementia are suddenly manifested irritability, cruelty, slurry, regression in human behavior.
  2. Secondary signs of the syndrome: amnissic disorders of memory, when the patient ceases to recognize himself in the mirror, confuses the right and left hand and so on.
  3. At the last stage, a muscle tone begins to increase, which can lead to a vegetative state and fatal outcome.

Depending on the degree of illness, the symptoms and the patient's response is expressed in different ways:

  1. When dementia is a mild degree, it critically refers to his state and is able to take care of himself.
  2. With a moderate degree of lesion, there is a decrease in intelligence and difficulty in domestic behavior.
  3. Heavy dementia - what is it? The syndrome indicates a complete disintelligence of the person when an adult cannot even even sing and eat.

How to avoid dementia?

Elder dementia is one of the leading causes of the disability of the elderly. The development of the syndrome is not conceived in the youth, meanwhile, the first signs of degradation can manifest themselves in 55-60 years. Asking how to prevent dementia long before its possible manifestation, you need to introduce several rules and useful habits into your life:

  • refusal of alcohol and smoking;
  • proper nutrition (daily use of the required amount of vitamins, the elimination of fast food and oily food);
  • moderate physical exercise;
  • intellectual activity;
  • soulfuline (stress should be avoided, not to be irritated);
  • preventing the deficit of vitamin D - its deficiency in the body leads to the development of Alzheimer's disease and subsequent dementia.

Types of Dementia

The manifestation of the syndrome depends on the affected brain departments, pathological processes, the presence of concomitant or paramount diseases, the age of the patient. On localization, the disease Dementia is divided into several types:

  1. Corkwhich is formed by damage to the cortex of the brain. It is divided into subtypes: frontal (oversized lobes suffer) and front-meteroral (blasting lobe).
  2. Subcorter or subcorticAt which subcortical structures are affected.
  3. Cortical subcorrotal (There are both of the above-described type of lesion).
  4. MultifocalWhen there are numerous lesion foci in the brain.

Elder Dementia

Age dementia is a common pathology affecting people of old age. Due to the lack of nutritional neurons in the brain is dying, and this leads to irreversible changes. At the initial stage of the development of the syndrome, a person may not understand, he was struck by dementia, which is a disease that can lead to complete insaneness. The first signs of the disease are a decrease and fast fatigue. Other forerunners: slowdown in intellectual activity, difficulties in elementary actions, mood changes.

Alcohol Dementia

Not necessarily the disease is striking people of old age. With long-term - from 15 years - abuse of alcoholic beverages occurs alcohol Dementiawhose symptoms are: social degradation, loss of moral values, reducing mental abilities, scattered attention, memory disorder, violation of the activities of internal organs, atrophic changes in the brain. Usually identity degradation is the last stage of alcoholism development. Up to 20% of all patients acquired this diagnosis as a result of abuse of alcoholic beverages.

The danger of ethyl alcohol is that it violates the work of neurotransmitters responsible for emotions. From alcohol abuse suffer internal organs, walls of vessels, brain. Dementia of this type appears after a long damage to ethyl alcohol. And usually the development of the disease is observed in the third stage of dependence, when a person loses control over the quality and amount of drunk.


Organic Dementia

One of the reasons for acquired dementia is the brain lesions as a result of crank-brain injuries, inflammation and bruises. Also, vascular diseases, AIDS, Syphilis, etc. Organic Dementia, a disease that can be total when all forms of cognitive activity are suffering (thinking, attention, memory, etc.), and partial (partial), may be an impetus for development. In the second case, individual sides are affected. cognitive process With the relative preservation of critical thinking and social behavior.

Schizophrenic dementia

Different diseases concomitant dementia show its specific symptoms. When schizophrenia, syndrome is characterized by a non-essential reduction in intelligence, but the appearance of apathy, inadequacy, formation of psychosis and paranoia. The exacerbation period begins against the background of the oppressed emotional state. Then follows disorientation in space. Schizophrenic dementia - dementia, in which memory for a long time remains unchanged, but there is no purposefulness. The behavior of the patient is characterized as strange and helpless.

How to behave with sick dementia?

With this disease, the forecast is doubtful. The main complexity is frequent shifts of personality and behavior. And the main question that concerns the relatives of patients: how to help a sick dementia. Exist individual programs on the treatment and social rehabilitation measures. It is important to understand and distinguish that dementia is such a model of behavior, not pathology. Others are important to tune in to positive interaction, because it depends on them how will the patient keep contact with foreign world. It is recommended to follow simple advice With respect to the patient:

  • clearly formulate questions, speak slowly and clearly;
  • give tips if a person does not cope, be able to wait;
  • take possession of the patient;
  • split actions on the chain of simple steps;
  • conduct communication in a positive key.

How to treat dementia?

For effective treatment, diagnose dementia syndrome needs as early as possible, and treatment tactics depends on the diagnosis. There is no clear recommendation on the treatment of senile dementia, since each person is individual. But the right departure, the reception of the strengthening drugs and funds that normalize the work of the brain are capable of significantly reduced the level of degradation and even completely stop dementia. With competent therapy, the deviation of cognitive functions is reversible.

  1. It is possible to achieve a decrease in the manifestations of the disease even with the help of nutritional and mode normalization (for example, in the case of alcohol dementia).
  2. Prevent the death of nerve cells and eliminate the symptoms of the disease and drugs. The treatment of therapy includes drugs to improve nerve processes, normalizing blood circulation in vessels and medicines that strengthen neural connections in the brain.
  3. Patients need not only in medication, but also in psychological assistance. Psychosocial therapy has proven well, positively affecting the mood of the patient and improving cognitive abilities disturbed during the disease. Beneficially affected by general condition Patient contact with loved ones, animals, musical therapy.
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