Introduction
Dementia is an umbrella term that describes a variety of symptoms of brain failure and can be traced back to various causes. The important thing here is that learned abilities and thought processes are lost. In addition, it can lead to disturbances in attention and consciousness.
Social and emotional abilities can also be affected, as well as physical exercise. Patients suffering from dementia are very often severely restricted in their everyday life. Reasons for dementia may include Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy-Body dementia, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia and Pick’s disease. However, many other causes have not yet been further clarified. Few forms of dementia can be stopped and even less completely cured.
Symptoms of dementia
Demental diseases can show various signs that make it possible to suspect the nature of the disease. and signs of dementia Alzheimer’s dementia affects the cerebral cortex and can be divided into three stages. The first signs of Alzheimer’s dementia are forgetfulness, memory loss and difficulties in finding one’s bearings in time.
In this initial stage, independent living is usually still possible and the social environment of the person affected usually does not yet recognise the disease. If the disease progresses, the loss of practical skills such as cooking, dressing and washing is added to this. Also the understanding of language and independent decision making suffer increasingly.
The increasing loss of mental abilities becomes more and more noticeable and the sufferer is restricted in his independence. In the final stage of Alzheimer’s, most patients are conspicuous by their bedriddenness and lack of sympathy. The speech becomes increasingly unclear and the patient hardly feels hunger or thirst.
Even urine and stool can no longer be held sufficiently. Vascular dementia initially manifests itself through muscle weakness, movement disorders, increased tendency to fall and pain or loss of sensation in different areas of the body. In addition, there are often concentration problems, loss of interest and finally memory loss, as well as orientation difficulties.
Patients suffering from frontotemporal dementia – for example Pick’s disease – first notice a change in personality, which is accompanied by increased aggressiveness, lack of distance and disinhibition. In addition, a craving for food is often observed. If the disease progresses, speech and memory disorders also occur. However, the latter are much less pronounced than, for example, in Alzheimer’s disease.
The different types of dementia
The umbrella term dementia includes the loss of mental, emotional and social capacities. The reason for this is usually damage to the brain. This damage, however, can have various causes.
The neurodegenerative forms of dementia are by far the most common types of dementia. Alzheimer’s dementia is ahead of all others, with a frequency of 60-75 percent, measured in terms of the absolute number of all dementia cases. In neurodegenerative diseases, elevated concentrations of glutamate, a messenger substance of nerve cells, are measured.
This causes a stimulus satiation and thus the death of the nerves. Although vascular dementia also originates in the brain, circulatory disorders lead to a lack of oxygen and the resulting reduced activity of the brain. The lack of blood circulation can have various causes.
For example, atrial fibrillation of the heart can form a blood clot that reaches the brain and closes a vessel there. Arteriosclerosis can also cause vascular dementia. At 10-15%, this disease is far less common than the neurodegenerative variant.
Mixed dementia has its cause in both types and is the rarest form of primary dementia. Secondary dementia is caused by another, mostly also neurological disease. These include brain tumours, cerebral fluid flow disorders, Parkinson’s syndrome and Korsakow syndrome.
The latter is caused by persistent alcoholism. Metabolic diseases, drug abuse, depression and vitamin deficiency can also be the cause of secondary dementia. Up to 10% of all cases of dementia can be attributed to secondary causes.