Not all people have the good fortune to keep a clear mind until old age. Only 30% of those who have lived to the turn of 80 are sober judgments. The rest, however, have one or another disorder of thinking, and memory also suffers.
This condition is the disease most often affected by women. The name of this ailment is senile dementia. Women are more likely to suffer from dementia due to their endocrine-hormonal complex. Men, however, fall into this risk group, as a rule, only if they have problems with drug addiction and alcoholism, as well as with the cardiovascular system.
What is senile dementia, what are its features, causes, symptoms and treatment methods?
Definition of a concept
What is senile dementia? This is a violation in the functioning of the nervous system, which develops against the background of the extinction of the activity of processes occurring in the cerebral cortex. The result of this phenomenon is irreversible changes in cells, which has a direct impact on the behavioral factor, as well as the perception of the world and human awareness of himself in society.
You can talk about senile dementia in those cases when a person who has reached a reputable age, gets confused in words, becomes unpredictable and is not able to remember life situations. Such people need constant monitoring of their actions.
Against the background of the negative processes taking place in their bodies, the old people are far from changing for the better. They show aggression towards loved ones.
Age-related dementia is accompanied by many different cognitive disorders. As a rule, with age, a tendency to depression comes, personality degradation occurs. A person becomes uninitiated and unemotional.
An age-related disease, in contrast to vascular dementia, is a more critical pathology. With dementia caused by malfunctions in the functioning of blood vessels, patients have difficulties in reproducing information.
Such events are not forgotten by such patients. They develop neuralgic and emotional disorders, motor activity decreases. But at the same time, the pathology associated with the vessels cannot lead to the development of a critical situation.
Causes of Senile Dementia
According to medical research, age-related dementia is distinguished by several factors contributing to the development of pathology. This process is progressing for a number of reasons. All of them are individual for each individual person. The causes of senile dementia are conditionally divided into groups:
- The development of pathology is due to a decrease in the flow of oxygen through cell membranes. With a regular shortage of this valuable substance, disturbances in the functioning of neurons occur that contribute to providing a person with memory, the ability to think and gain new knowledge.
- Senile plaques lead to senile dementia. These formations are formed during protein deposition and lead to the development of Alzheimer's disease. She is also the cause of senile dementia. A tangle formed from proteins is deposited in the cerebral cortex and becomes a clear obstacle to the movement of impulses. In this case, there is a disruption in the functioning of brain cells, which further worsens the course of senile dementia.
- Genetic predisposition. With its presence, the likelihood of developing dementia increases significantly. However, even in the case of the presence of a gene that provokes this ailment, there is still no absolute guarantee of its appearance.
- Head injuries. They are also the cause of senile dementia, even if obtained in youth. Injuries will certainly affect when a person reaches 70-80 years of age. That is why dementia most often affects boxers. After all, their sports activities are associated with periodic blows to the head. The number of injuries subsequently affects the symptoms and severity of the pathology.
- Infections that adversely affect the brain. Their influence causes structural changes. Pathologies such as encephalitis and meningitis often lead to senile dementia.
- Bad habits. The disease most often affects people who abuse, for example, drugs and alcohol. This becomes the main cause of deep damage to brain cells.
The development of senile dementia very rarely occurs only because of one factor negatively affecting the body. Most often, it becomes the result of several reasons.
Symptomatology
The first signs of senile dementia in older people are unexpressed. Most often they are attributed to age-related personality changes. However, if you have the symptoms described above, you should still be anxious:
- Periodically occurring failures in memory. Among the symptoms of senile dementia, one stands out in which a person cannot remember yesterday's events, but reproduces fairly well the facts that took place several years ago. It is difficult for such a patient to remember even important events. He sometimes does not even understand what time he is. Suddenly, such people begin to gather somewhere or communicate with the already dead. The arisen illusions and hallucinations become their reality. It is simply impossible to convince a person of the opposite.
- Sloppy, non-compliance with hygiene rules, carelessness in clothing. These are also signs of senile dementia. Being previously habitual, some actions no longer arouse interest in a person. At the same time, he has excessive perseverance, with which he seeks to prove his case. Such a patient, as a rule, is indifferent to everything that clearly does not concern him. Often a sign of senile dementia is a loss of modesty.
- A deterioration in thinking that is unable to adapt to changing temporal trends. Patient with dementia is a conservative. Often in his speech you can hear phrases like "Not what it is now ...", "Nowadays ...", etc. It becomes difficult for such a person to rebuild his own views, he begins to cling to past attitudes, while showing looping.
- Loss of orientation. It is observed in unfamiliar places. There are no such problems at home.
- Among the symptoms of senile dementia is talkativeness. But at the same time, the speech of such a person is ordinary, he uses the usual phrases, and his words are accompanied by facial expressions. This greatly complicates the definition of pathology at its initial stage. It is possible to diagnose dementia only if a person is unable to give an answer to a question that relates to a date.
Symptoms of dementia are manifested in excessive stinginess and even greed. Often patients have a craving for collecting unnecessary things for them. Hypersexuality and excessive appetite sometimes become a sign of senile dementia. It seems to the patient that he is young, and he has neither children nor grandchildren. Not in the best way are built and his relationships with loved ones. He begins to claim that others want him dead, they want to poison him or rob him.
Dementia is often manifested by excessive sentimentality, anger, aggression or depression. At its late stage of development, the disease exhibits symptoms in which a person becomes unable to service himself. The patient can harm both himself and others. If one of the family members has senile dementia, what should relatives do? Constantly monitor a loved one.
Mild dementia
Three stages of senile dementia are distinguished depending on the period of the disease duration, as well as on the person’s age and the presence of concomitant ailments. The first of them is characteristic of a mild pathology. In this case, a person sometimes has forgetfulness. For example, he does not remember whether he drank the medicine or not, whether he put the key in his pocket, etc. In addition, fixative amnesia occurs at the stage of the disease under consideration. A person immediately forgets the details of a recent event or conversation. That is how, for example, the first signs of dementia of the Alzheimer's type are manifested.
At the initial, mild stage of development of senile dementia in a person, some traits of his character are exaggerated and hypertrophied. In this case, perseverance turns into stubborn obstinacy, frugality into avarice and greed, and punctuality and scrupulousness are directed to meaningless trifles and details. In other words, a person in the eyes of others turns into a real bore. The patient often grumbles, categorically refers to any life situation. Such symptoms are the most characteristic signs of senile dementia.
A mild degree of pathology is expressed in the inability to switch and concentrate attention, as well as in a decrease in the rate of thinking. Difficulties also arise in professional activities, especially in those where it is necessary to demonstrate design and planning skills. The patient sometimes has difficulty in selecting the words necessary for the interlocutor, and sometimes repeats some of them several times in a row. Criticism at this stage of the disease in humans is still preserved. In this regard, some failure begins to embarrass the patient. He worries about his condition, because of which he narrows the circle of communication and interests. At the same time, such people have new hobbies, for example, collecting unnecessary trash.
In addition to the manifestations of pathology described above, the patient complains of anxiety. He develops emotional lability and quick exhaustion. Such a person, as before, performs the usual homework for him and is able to live independently. Care for him is not needed. Relatives should show only attention.
Moderate dementia
Senile dementia in the second stage of its development manifests itself in ever-widening and deepening memory lapses. A person no longer remembers events of various prescriptions, names (sometimes even relatives), as well as dates. Such a patient replaces the forgotten facts with a fiction that in the language of official medicine is called “confabulation”. In such a person, all events move in time. It sometimes seems to him that what happened 30-40 years ago happened only yesterday. Specialists call this phenomenon “pseudo-reminiscence”. Also, the patient loses temporal and spatial orientation.
With a moderate severity of dementia, the patient is still calm and comfortable at home. However, going out into the street, he stops orienting and may get lost.
The second degree of the disease is indicated by the fact that an elderly person begins to get confused in their family ties, sometimes identifying living people with long-dead people. Gradually, he loses his skills in using household appliances and a door key. He is still able to perform the necessary hygiene procedures, but often does not do this, which makes him look sloppy. Such a person, as a rule, does not look in the mirror, and by chance seeing his reflection, he simply does not recognize himself. At this stage of the disease, he has no criticism. A person becomes very fussy. He constantly shifts various objects from place to place and collects things in a fictitious trip. With this degree of senile dementia, what should relatives do? They will need to help the patient in everyday life, control him and provide care.
Severe dementia
At this stage of the disease, senile dementia in women and men reaches its peak with a maximum of disorder of all mental functions. The patient is no longer able to perform even the simplest actions. He does not observe personal hygiene, and is also not able to control stool and urination. The speech of such a person is separate words and inarticulate sounds. He ceases to recognize loved ones and does not even realize himself. In patients with senile dementia, swallowing is usually impaired, and they stop eating on their own. Man is exhausted. He practically does not get out of bed and his personality comes to complete decay. A similar condition is accompanied by metabolic and circulatory disorders. Pressure ulcers appear on the body, pneumonia often develops, and also exacerbation of all diseases existing in the patient. Such a patient needs constant supervision. It can be arranged in a specialized boarding school, where necessary care will be provided for it.
Dementia-related diseases
How many live with such a diagnosis? Senile dementia can have a different flow rate. The number of sick years lived will depend on this. If a person continues to be active, enjoys the little things and communicates well with others, then the chances of the disease are small.
But in general, life expectancy in dementia can be different based on the presence of ailments associated with such a condition. Among them:
- Parkinson's disease. Dementia in a person develops already in the late stages of this pathology. Patients lose most of their practical skills, their respiratory function is impaired, and emotional disorders occur. The resulting dementia makes the course of this disease even more difficult. With normal treatment, the patient's lifespan is several years.
- Alzheimer's Syndrome. He, in fact, is senile dementia. With this disease, patients live another 10 to 15 years. Sometimes it happens so that the patient's coordination of movements is disturbed and he falls, resulting in fractures and physical injuries. How many live with such diagnoses? Senile dementia in this case progresses rapidly and leads to the death of the patient after a few months or even weeks.
- Huntington's disease. With this type of pathology, dementia, like Pravio, is in a difficult stage. In rare cases, its moderate signs are manifested. In this state, the patient is allocated from 10 to 15 years of life.
- Frontal dementia. This disease occurs, as a rule, in people aged 40 years. The disease very quickly passes into its difficult stage. In this case, the patient can live from 7 to 15 years.
- Vascular dementia. This type of dementia affects people who have reached the age of 70. With this pathology, a person's life expectancy depends on the causes of the development of the disease. For example, in strokes with the addition of depression and emotional disorders, the patient is assigned from a couple of months to several years.
Treatment
Of course, many are interested in this question: "Is there a cure for senile dementia?" Unfortunately, it is impossible to eliminate such a pathology. The fact is that dead brain cells cannot recover. However, treatment of senile dementia is still necessary. Especially in the initial stages of the development of the disease, it will prevent the patient’s condition from transitioning to the worst stage of the pathology and delay the progression of symptoms.
Using the drugs recommended by the doctor for senile dementia, a person will be able to take care of himself, which is important not only for him, but also for his loved ones. It is necessary to treat the disease at home, as the familiar environment is more comfortable for the patient.
A course of treatment for senile dementia should be recommended by a doctor. Only a specialist is able to evaluate the clinical picture of the disease and develop a specific tactic for its elimination. As a rule, the doctor recommends:
- drugs to eliminate the factors that caused dementia;
- medications that help overcome emotional disturbances.
Used drugs
Medicines designed to eliminate the causes of dementia in the elderly themselves are prescribed by the doctor only after carefully conducted patient examinations. To date, most commonly used drugs belonging to the class of cholinesterase inhibitors.
They help eliminate senile dementia, which is most often called Alzheimer's disease. The most popular drugs in this case are:
- "Amiridine", contributing to the restoration of memory;
- "Tacrine", normalizing nervous activity;
- "Exelon", eliminating moderate dementia;
- "Donepezil", slowing down the negative process in the cerebral cortex, restoring the patient's activity and reducing the severity of symptoms;
- "Selegiline" and other hormone replacement drugs that slow the progression of the disease;
- Vitamin E, designed to improve the functioning of neurons;
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