Dementia symptoms- medicalloe

Dementia: symptoms

Now we'll talk about the important cognitive disorder dementia which is defined as an impairment of memory and other cognitive functions very importantly though this is without an alteration in one's
level of consciousness most forms of dementia are progressive

and irreversible however some forms are treatable the incidence of dementia increases with age and 20% of people over 80 will actually have some form of dementia some of the symptoms of dementia that you may see are actually psychiatric symptoms things like delusions and hallucinations which will occur in up to 30% of people with dementia
also affective symptoms like mood disorder depression or mania will be seen in up to 50% of people with dementia personality changes can also occur and the most common causes of dementia are the following 3 Alzheimer's disease leading the group followed by vascular dementia vascular disease important to note is a stepwise decline in the progression to dementia whereas non vascular disease is a very steep decline and once cognitive functioning there is also major depression which can be a very common cause of dementia major depression causing dementia is actually called pseudo dementia
 so it's very important to rule this out before attributing cognition and memory loss to dementia it's very important to make sure that you're not just dealing with somebody who has depression because that is very treatable and their cognition can significantly improve when appropriately managed here's a question for you what is the differential diagnosis for dementia let's start with organic causes and again it's very important to rule out general medical conditions when considering any disorder so there can be structural
 things like a normal pressure hydrocephalus normal forgetfulness with aging a subdural hematoma Huntington's disease multiple sclerosis Down syndrome head trauma a brain tumor and also Parkinson's disease there can be metabolic problems like b12 or folate deficiency thiamine deficiency Wilson's disease hypoxia lead toxicity and also hypothyroidism there can be infectious causes that look like dementia things like encephalitis and meningitis CJD neurosyphilis HIV and also lyme disease
 certain drugs are also going to be included in your differential diagnosis for dementia so consider alcohol phenothiazines anticholinergic and sedatives also you want to make sure to rule out psychiatric disorders things such as pseudo dementia delirium schizophrenia and also malingering where a patient is basically looking for secondary gain.