How to alleviate senile dementia?

Written by Zhang Hui
Neurology
Updated on December 27, 2024
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Dementia brings a heavy burden to both the patient and their family, severely affecting the quality of life. Fundamentally, there is no particularly effective treatment for this disease. To achieve relief, the following measures are recommended:

Firstly, it is generally necessary for the patient to take medication for treatment. Commonly used medications include cholinesterase inhibitors, which can increase the content of acetylcholine in the brain and can to some extent delay the progression of the disease. In addition, one can also take some NMDA receptor antagonists to improve dementia.

Secondly, encourage the elderly to learn more and read more, which can increase knowledge reserves and delay progression.

Thirdly, it is essential to encourage the elderly to go out and interact with others, and of course, precautions should be taken to prevent them from getting lost. In addition, they should engage in appropriate aerobic exercise.

(Specific medication use should be conducted under the guidance of a doctor)

Other Voices

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Alzheimer's disease is also called dementia.

Alzheimer's disease, also known as dementia in the elderly, was first identified abroad and thus named after the discoverer, Alzheimer. It is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases in neurology, with a very high incidence among people over 65 in China and worldwide. The disease mainly affects patients' cognitive functions. Initially, patients do not meet the criteria for dementia and primarily exhibit a decline in memory. As the disease progresses, the decline in memory worsens, and patients begin to forget both recent and past events. Additionally, they may experience impairments in visuospatial abilities, judgment, comprehension, and learning capabilities. In the later stages, psychiatric symptoms and personality changes may appear, such as visual hallucinations, shouting, and gesturing wildly, among various other clinical manifestations.

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How long is the lifespan of someone with Alzheimer's?

The causes of dementia in the elderly can be varied, with many diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and vascular dementia, all leading to senile dementia. Therefore, how long one lives may require specific analysis. If the dementia is due to cerebrovascular factors, the lifespan of the individual may be closely related to the primary disease, i.e., cerebrovascular disease. Dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease progresses with the disease and affects the patient's lifespan. In its advanced stages, when the patient can no longer take care of themselves, complications such as lung infections can further impact their lifespan. There are also other factors, which need to be assessed based on the evaluation of the disease.

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symptoms of dementia in the elderly

The symptoms of dementia mainly include: First, impaired memory function, where the patient’s memory loss is very noticeable. Initially, they may not remember recent events, and as the disease progresses, they may not remember past events, such as forgetting how many children they have or their children’s names. Second, it mainly involves symptoms of impairment in other cognitive areas, such as visual spatial dysfunction, manifesting as not being able to find the bathroom at home, getting lost after going out, and not being able to find the way back home. Additionally, the patient's ability to understand, calculate, and judge will also be significantly impaired, and they cannot master previously learned knowledge and skills. Third, in the late stages, some psychiatric symptoms appear, including visual and auditory hallucinations, and agitated behaviors such as hitting and cursing. Additionally, the patient may also experience some physical weakness, muscle atrophy, and incontinence.

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Neurology
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Late-stage symptoms of dementia

In the later stages of dementia, symptoms become very severe. Patients experience significant impairment in memory function, forgetting not only recent events but also events from the past. Additionally, patients show obvious impairments in visuospatial abilities, having trouble locating the bathroom in their own home, and often getting lost when they go out. There is also a noticeable change in behavior, with patients exhibiting aggression, cursing, and inappropriate actions like urinating or defecating in random places. Some patients may experience recurrent visual and auditory hallucinations. As the disease progresses, elderly patients may eventually become bedridden for life, not interacting with anyone, remaining silent, and refusing to eat. They ultimately may die from complications such as lung infections, urinary tract infections, malnutrition, and bedsores. Therefore, the symptoms of dementia in its later stages are quite severe, with cognitive impairments, abnormal mental and behavioral symptoms, and various infections all posing serious threats to the health of the elderly.

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Methods for Examining Dementia in the Elderly

The examination of dementia mainly includes the following aspects. First, it is to determine whether the patient has cognitive impairment, because in the early stages of dementia this impairment is often mild, primarily in recent memory, with other aspects not yet obvious. Early screening can use some cognitive evaluation scales, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, chosen according to the patient's cultural level. Second, imaging examination, commonly using brain MRI, can reveal significant signs of dementia such as deepened brain sulci, narrowed gyri, and widened lateral fissures, indicating brain atrophy. Third, genetic testing for the APOE gene, which may be related to dementia. Possession of this gene may increase the likelihood of developing dementia in the future, serving as an auxiliary diagnostic measure.