Causes of Senile Dementia
Senile dementia is the mental deterioration (loss of intellectual ability) that is associated with old age. Two major types of senile dementia are identified: those due to generalized atrophy (Alzheimer type) and those due to vascular problems (mainly strokes). Senile dementia is often used when referring to Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is most likely to affect older people: of all people over 80, 20% suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.High quality multi-vitamin / mineral formulas are needed to add the necessary “co-factors” needed for enzymatic pathways. Organic chemistry studies (a requirement for medical school students), demonstrates that all enzymatic, energy, and virtually all biological pathways in the human body, need many nutrients, or co-factors, to properly complete each pathway. Shortages of needed nutrients results in dysfunction of the organs for which those pathways could not be completed properly.
Causes of Senile Dementia
1. Huntington disease, a progressive degenerative disease that causes dance-like movements and mental deterioration, Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
2. Degenerative forms of dementia are long lasting (chronic) and typically involve a progressive loss of brain cell function. In disorders like Alzheimer’s and Creutzfeld-Jakob diseases, this can involve the presence of infectious agents that disturb the structure of proteins that are vital for cell function. Other forms of dementia are chemically based.
3. In some cases of dementia, it may be reversible or improved once the underlying cause has been treated. Unfortunately, when dementia is caused by conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, brain injury, or simply aging (senile dementia), the changes that occur are irreversible.
4. Lack of neurotransmitters to perform brain function. Exposure to aluminum, manganese, and other light metals. Prion infections that can affect the brain and spinal cord.
5. Although adult personality traits have been shown to be stable with age, a recent study in the USA showed changes in a group of elderly people with memory disorders, as perceived by caregivers. The aim of this study was to replicate these findings in individuals suffering from senile dementia and to examine interactions with other emotional and physical stresses experienced by the carer.
6. Zinc deficiency has been reported in association with dementia and linked with its pathogenesis. A group of 45 elderly patients admitted to a mental hospital were given diagnoses in accordance with ICD-9, and their fasting plasma zinc levels were recorded. No difference was found in zinc levels between patients with diagnoses of senile dementia and those with other diagnoses.
