Dementia is a syndrome associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities. This includes problems with: * memory loss * thinking speed * mental agility * language * understanding * judgment People with dementia can lose interest in their usual activities, and have problems controlling their emotions. They may also find social situations challenging, lose interest in socializing, and aspects of their personality may change. A person with dementia may lose empathy (understanding and compassion), they may see or hear things that other people do not (hallucinations), or they may make false claims or statements. As dementia affects a person's mental abilities, they may find planning and organizing difficult.
3. How does damage to the PNS affect the body? c. Some may experience temporary numbness, tingling, and pricking sensations, sensitivity to touch, or muscle weakness. Pthers may suffer from more extreme symptoms including, burning pain, muscle wasting, paralysis, or organ or gland dysfunction, people may become unable to digest food easily, maintain safe levels of blood pressure, sweat normally, or experience normal sexual function. In the most extreme cases, breathing may become difficult or organ failure may occur.
Migraines, throbbing pain in one area of the head, are often accompanied by nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and/or sounds, according to the Genetics Home Reference. In addition to these symptoms, hemiplegic migraines cause temporary visual impairments such as blind spots or double vision and temporary numbness or weakness on one side of the body, a condition known as hemiparesis. These symptoms can
Vascular dementia This is the second most common type of dementia and occurs after a significant vascular event for example a stroke. Symptoms of this are very similar to Alzheimer’s although the memory might not be so greatly affected, the ability to perform tasks already learnt by the individual, may be lost, they may have problems with planning ahead, because of this the individual can show signs of apathy and depression. Dementia with Lewy Bodies The level of decline in an individual with DLB is very similar to Alzheimer’s; they may have problems with memory, judgement and behavioural
* A resident may be suffering from confusion, either temporarily because of an acute medical problem, or as a result of dementia. The elderly often have some degree of sensory impairment and this also has an impact on communication. * A health care worker might be dealing with someone suffering from a mental illness. This may take many forms; perhaps the client is depressed and reluctant to speak, or may be deluded or hallucinating. This makes communication challenging and the care worker needs to learn strategies to improve her sensitivity.
Unit 371 Understand and enable positive interaction and communication with individuals with dementia 1.1 Each person with dementia is unique and difficulties in communicating thoughts and feelings are very individual. There are many causes of dementia, each affecting the brain in different ways. Some changes you might notice include: * Difficulty in finding a word - a related word might be given instead of one they cannot remember * They may speak fluently, but not make sense * They may not be able to understand what you are saying or only be able to grasp part of it * Writing and reading skills may also deteriorate * They may lose the normal social conventions of conversations and interrupt or ignore a speaker, or fail to respond when spoken to * They may have difficulty expressing emotions appropriately Here are ways to encourage communication with a person suffering dementia speak clearly and slowly, using short sentences Make eye contact with the person when they're talking, asking questions, or having other conversations Don’t make them respond quickly, because they may feel pressured if you try to speed up their answers Encourage the person to join in conversations with others where possible Don’t speak on behalf of the person during discussions about their welfare or health issues, as this can make them feel invisible and they may not speak up for themselves in other situations Don’t patronise the person you're looking after, or ridicule what they say Don’t dismiss what the person you're looking after says if they don't answer your question or it seems out of context – instead, show that you've heard them and encourage them to say more about their answer Avoid asking the person to make complicated choices – keep it as simple as possible. You may find that you'll need to use other ways to communicate, and you may have to
Other symptoms may include constipation, constipation alternating with diarrhea, or premature osteoporosis. Overweight persons may also have undiagnosed celiac disease. Children may exhibit behavioral or concentration problems, diarrhea, bloated abdomen, growth failure, dental enamel defects, or projectile vomiting. Many people will not have classic symptoms and some people may have just one or more symptoms. Other symptoms can include anemia, chronic fatigue or pain syndromes, migraines, nerve problems, infertility or miscarriages, and other apparently unrelated conditions.
The temporal lobe which is responsible for vision, memory, language, hearing and learning is affected. 1.3 Explain why depression, delirium and age related memory impairment may be mistaken for dementia. Answer: Conditions such as depression, delirium and age related memory impairment could be mistaken as dementia as they show similar symptoms such as finding it difficult to make decisions, memory loss, low in mood and confusion, extreme emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger or depression, becoming easily distracted, low attention span, urinary incontinence and being withdrawn, with little or no activity or little response to the environment 2.1 Outline the medical model of dementia. Answer: The medical model relates to the clinical approach and treatment of
There are several different symptoms of dementia including, behavioural problems (affecting cognition), disorientation, and loss of ability to care for one’s self. Patients suffer from forgetting normal behavioural patterns such as poor judgement and spending money inappropriately. This is known as cognition. There are two kinds of cognition problems that patients suffer from, such as cortical dementia and sub-cortical dementia. Cortical dementia is not being able to do gross motor movement, language disturbance, and memory loss.
Other less common causes of dementia may include depression, head injuries, alcohol misuse, brain tumours, infections of the brain such as HIV, Strokes, or lack of Vitamin B in the diet. These causes of dementia can be treatable or non progressive or in some cases reversible such as vitamin deficiencies or thyroid problems. Rarer causes of dementia include Huntington’s disease, or progressive supranuclear palsy. 1.2 The different types of memory impairments commonly experienced by individuals with dementia include thought impairment such as storing and retrieving memory problems, calculation, spelling, planning and organising. Many people can also have difficulty with day to day tasks.