Information On 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.Early onset or presenile dementia is a term used to describe a range of illnesses or diseases affecting memory, thinking and other cognitive functioning in people under the age of 65. Although most dementias affect people who are mature aged and therefore less likely to be participating in the workforce, occasionally younger people (those in their 40s and 50s) are diagnosed with dementia.
Causes
Senile dementia that is caused by depression, poor nutrition, thyroid dysfunction, drug poisoning, alcoholism, and so on, can often be corrected by treating the underlying problem.
Senile dementia is a cruel and progressive illness, causing misery to at least 500,000 victims and their families in the UK. Conventional senile dementia treatments are few and far between, prompting open-minded scientists to look further afield for inspiration.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, which is a loss of mental function that can prevent a person from performing daily tasks. Vascular dementia, caused by a lack of blood flow to the brain, is the second most common type of dementia. Lewy body dementia is similar to Alzheimer’s disease, but the relationship between the two is not well understood.
Symptoms
Consider the family history. Is there a background of senile dementia or Alzheimer’s disease? There is often a genetic predisposition toward this condition in members of the same family. Look for signs of memory loss and language difficulties. Is the person losing words, or forgetting the names of common objects? Has he or she forgotten how to do simple mathematics?
Prevention
Keeping active outside of one’s work, either physically or mentally, during midlife may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. People with higher levels of non-occupational activities, such as playing a musical instrument, gardening, physical exercise, or even playing board games, were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s later in life, according to one study.
Treatment
After one month of treatment, patients of senile dementia showed remarkable improvement in sleep disturbance, motor and sensory weakness, intelligence, anxiety, depression and in cerebral function whereas partial improvement was recorded in recent memory, past memory, speech and gait. The present study shows that Bravobol could be safe and effective adjuvant in the treatment of senile dementia.
Investigations will be carried out to exclude other causes of dementia. This is important, because some of these can be partly or completely treated. X-rays may include a chest x-ray, skull x-ray or angiography (which is where a dye is injected into a blood vessel and then x-rays are taken). Often a CT scan (a computer-controlled x-ray of the brain) will be done to exclude a tumour or blockage in the fluid system that bathes the brain. If a blockage seems likely an operation may be advised whereby a tube is passed from the head to the heart.
