Dementia - 7 Warning Signs You Must Be Careful About!

Dementia is a disorder characterized by a decline in mental capabilities in a person. It is primarily caused by Alzheimer's disease but can also be caused by damage to the brain from an injury or a stroke. The cells of the brain fail to communicate with each other in dementia. People suffering from dementia have difficulties in taking part in regular activities as their mental functioning is impaired.

The major symptoms of dementia are problems in recalling, ineffective communication, inability to concentrate and impaired reasoning abilities. It may also affect the short-term memory of a person when he/she may be unable to keep track of his/her belongings. Dementia can be progressive where the symptoms gradually increase with age.

With age, the mind also goes through slowing. Being the control organ for all other organs, this leads to issues with thinking, cognition, communication, memory, etc. Dementia is a condition which is a combination of all these; it is not a disease per se, but a symptom complex.

Causes:

1. Alzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative process
2. Brain injury (accidents, trauma, etc.)
3. Stroke
4. Huntington’s disease

Except in acute trauma cases, as a degenerative process, there are early symptoms of dementia which can be watched for. It is even possible to delay the progress of dementia by keeping an eye out for these symptoms.

1. Recent memory loss: A person may not be able to recall what happened a couple of days prior but can clearly recollect events from the past. This may be gradual in onset and gets progressive. There could be difficulty in recollecting things like where the TV remote is, where the phone is, where the door keys are, etc.  Some people could also ask for the same information repeatedly, as they are not able to retain information.
2. Loss of learned behaviour: Things which were taught or learned like how to arrange things at the table, how to do basic things on the computer, organising medical kits, etc., might be forgotten. The person finds these more taxing than before and requires more help in doing them. Learning new tasks slowly becomes difficult too, as they find it difficult to get orderliness or process thinking in them.
3. Mood changes: While depression with onset of dementia is very common, the person also could have drastic mood changes, which would be noticeable only to close family and friends
4. Forgetting names: It is another major symptom. Whether it is of people or objects or animals, there is difficulty in recollecting names
5. Personality alterations: Since dementia affects judgment and reasoning, a shy person could be seen to become outgoing gradually
6. Difficulty following storylines: While most elderly people are adept at telling stories, those affected with dementia could be seen to be gradually losing track of the storylines. This could be true of their own storytelling or even television serials or movies.
7. Repeating tasks: Given the short-term memory loss, they tend to repeat things which were just done, both in actions and words.
8. Feeling lost: Recent memory loss also affects things like forgetting why they headed out, spacial disorientation, whether they had a snack or not, etc.
9. Forgetting day to day things: Regular tasks like paying utility bills, reading newspaper or books, cooking up small dishes, tend to become difficult than they were. This is a combined effect of short-term memory loss and loss of orderliness. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a Psychiatrist.