When an older person considers themselves forgetful, they normally don’t think very much of it. But in reality, it may be something a lot more serious that previously thought. This person may have dementia. Becky Kane was interviewed about her experiences dealing with people who were determined to have dementia. Dementia itself isn’t a disease, but in fact it describes a wide range of symptoms and diseases (“What Is Dementia?” 1). The symptoms can be a range of things, including memory loss, inability to communicate effectively and an inability to focus on one task or project (1). These people who were diagnosed can also experience the inability to make sense of their reasoning and loss of their vision (1). “The mind isn’t connecting quite …show more content…
“Alcohol and drugs can cause dementia. Traumatic brain injuries can cause certain forms of dementia. It can even just be old age.” It can be caused by damage to brain cells (“What Is Dementia?” 1). The treatment depends on the causes (1). There is no one specific test to determine if a person has dementia or not (1). “Everything else has to be ruled out first, like infections such as a UTI. The doctors will also have to use brain scans and other tests like that to determine if a person has some type of dementia.” There are many types of dementia. There is Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Dementia with Lowy bodies, and Parkinson’s disease (Dementia Types,” 2). There are also mixed types of dementia. These include Frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Normal pressure Hydrocephalus, and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome …show more content…
She then talked about writing letters to her grandson, and how she wasn’t sure how many she had. When asked if she considers herself to be a forgetful person, she said, “Partially. Somewhat I should say, because I used to come in and throw my keys down and not remember what I did with them. That was the biggest thing I had. But then I got a little box and put it in the front room right beside the door, and I put my keys in there, and that solved
Dementia should be viewed as a disability as the symptoms affect the individuals’ ability to be responsible for their everyday needs for example taking medication, remembering to eat and drink. Dementia also affects a persons’ capacity which can be a risk to their safety. Symptoms of dementia can be a big risk to the person as it affects memory so the person with dementia could forget vital things like turning an over off, not locking doors. Balance can also be affected so falls, slips and trips are quite common which means aids need to be put into place to try and prevent the risk of falls, slips, trips and other risks like leaving the oven on or not taking medication. Not having the capacity or ability to act responsibly for their health and safety is viewed as
I. Just imagine waking up one morning and not knowing or remembering anything you did yesterday or the past years of your life? Well that’s what people who have dementia go through. They cannot remember who their kids are or anyone around them. II. Dementia effects your memory and a person’s ability to achieve a normal everyday task and activities.
1.1 Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) MCI is considered the borderline between normal cognitive aging and very early dementia [Refs]. The historical evolution of the MCI concept has recently been reviewed by Petersen [Refs], including the more recent formulation by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) [Refs]. In general, the MCI syndrome is characterized by a cognitive deficit greater than would be expected considering the individual’s age and educational level, but not enough to significantly interfere with the functioning in his daily life. The prevalence of MCI ranges from 15% to 20% in individuals older than 60 years [Refs].
Failing to recall what was once present in the mind. Failing to retain what was just said during the conversation. Failing to remember what was recently topical in the world. This is one of the main effects of dementia: a disease where the brain can no longer maintain memories. Dementia plagues countless of individuals throughout the United States.
According to Greene (2007), there are various forms of Dementia, however Alzheimer’s is most popular affecting families in later life normally 65 years and older degenerating brain tissue over time. Greene further states social workers may be first responders to the discovery of the disease existence through a series of answered questions surrounding the client’s mental status. The disease itself impairs intellectual and cognitive reasoning and is therefore reported to qualified specialist. Learning about the disease will assist with certainty in diagnosis giving way to improving the client and family situation for adjusting, interventions, or advance directives. At any rate, the nature of disease also brings great concerns to caregiving.
Introduction Alzheimer’s is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and gets worse over time. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events or short memory loss. As the disease advances, symptoms can include difficulty with language, disorientation, mood swing and behavior problems. As a person 's condition progressed, they often withdraw from friends and family. Slowly, bodily functions deteriorated and eventually death occurs.
Mrs A plan of care, requirement would include drawing on the expertise of her GP. Underline causes such as “A urinary tract infection (UTI) can cause an elderly person to become confused, undernourished, dehydrated, depressed; and can cause severe memory loss. Urinary tract infections are common in dementia patients” (DeMarco,
My family has known about my great grandpa's dementia since I was a little girl. I did not know about his condition until I was about eleven years old, that was when it became too rough to hide. Dementia is a chronic disorder caused by brain disease marked by memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning. Growing up I thought it was natural for my papaw to lose his memory the same way it was natural of him to lose his hair. Papaw had fourteen siblings and the last four of them had this disorder.
However, there is a very distinct difference between forgetfulness and the beginning symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia. The symptoms for this disease begin to affect the part of the brain that relates to learning. Having no memory whatsoever of newly learned things is an unfortunate symptom of the beginnings of this brain degenerative disease. The brain cells will continue to be affected and other parts of the brain will begin to show more severe symptoms. Loss of short term memory will lead to long term.
When diagnosed with Alzheimer’s the possibilities of your physical and mental health can be anything from starting off with not any change or even many with rapid changes. Alzheimer’s is continuing to increase with the many people getting diagnosed with this disorder. I think one of the main causes of that is because
The dementia statistics for both studies undervalues the over-all amount of cases of dementia in assisted living and
The term dementia has not been used uniformly in the historical
Mrs. M, a seventy-seven year-old Italian, visited the Geriatric Assessment Unit (GAU) in October 14, 2015, for a follow up checkup related to dementia. Patient arrived at the unit with a walker, accompanied by her daughter, Ms. C. In April 2014, the patient’s family doctor referred her to the clinic due to the progressive decline with her memory and functioning. The documents entail that, prior to diagnosis, the patient forgets food in the oven and her laundry in the dryer. There were also reports of recurrent falls in the past that were associated with comorbidities. A Computerized Tomography (CT) scan was ordered, and report has shown age related brain atrophy with secondary ventriculomegaly.
It is obvious to anyone speaking to her for more than a few minutes that something is wrong with her ability to think. Her dementia may also limit her ability to communicate. Your family member requires daily supervision if not constant supervision to make sure that she is safe. She needs assistance with the activities of daily living such as bathing and dressing and can no longer live
Experiencing forgetfulness or amnesia for recent events, or being compelled to write reminders to do things or you will forget are symptoms of impaired function of memory. When forgetfulness, language and cognition processes become impaired to the point that a person can no longer perform these tasks without the assistance of another, memory is not functioning normal. Being unable to perform daily tasks such as paying bills, shopping, driving, taking medications or noticing that you’ve become forgetful are signs of impaired memory. Memory impairments that involve some of these symptoms are Amnesia, Alzheimer’s disease, and