Senility: Symptoms, Complaints, Signs

The following symptoms and complaints may indicate senility (weakness due to old age):

  • Loss of memory (of names, dates, etc.).
  • Stubbornness
  • Unwanted weight loss
  • Immunodeficiency (immune deficiency)
  • Insomnia (sleep disorders, such as difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep).
  • Exhaustion and fatigue states
  • “Hormonal aging”
    • Adrenopause (exponentially increasing decline in adrenal DHEA(S) production).
    • Somatopause (increasing decline in STH secretion (somatotropic hormone, English “human growth hormone”: growth hormone).
    • Menopause (female menopause; climacteric).
    • Andropause (male menopause)

Structural and physiological changes regarding:

  • Sensory organs
    • Hearing loss – loss of ability to perceive high frequencies; limitation of peripheral hearing; difficulty in analyzing and classifying speech and sound patterns, which in turn leads to impaired speech comprehension
    • Impairment of the sense of sight – Due to the loss of lens elasticity, especially the accommodation width is greatly reduced. Color perception is also reduced to a diminished spectrum, and the decrease in lens transparency sets the stage for the pathological development of lens opacification (cataract).
    • Decrease in the senses of smell and taste – can lead to a lack of appetite and decreasing nutritional level.
    • Impairment of the sense of touch
  • Locomotor system
  • Body composition – especially decrease in muscle and organ mass (BCM; body cell mass) – and resulting functional limitations.
  • Functional capacity of the organs
    • Decline in all known renal function parameters over the course of life and limitation of renal function Cave (Warning): consideration in pharmacotherapy, since many drugs are eliminated renally (“excreted via the kidney“) and from therefore longer half-lives are to be expected in old age. In this context, attention should be paid to penicillin, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines and digoxin, among others.
    • Decrease in the size and blood flow to the liver and pancreas (pancreas), resulting in reduced glucose tolerance and the decline of individual enzyme activities.
    • Decreased motility (ability to move) throughout the gastrointestinal tract (gastrointestinal tract) and declining frequency of peristaltic waves.
    • Increasing atrophy (decrease) of the gastric and intestinal mucosa (lining) leading to decreased intrinsic factor, gastric acid, and peptin secretion, and decreased absorption (uptake) of iron and calcium
  • Decrease in bone mass (bone loss; osteoporosisbone pain).
  • Decrease in collagen and elastin (aging skin).