...with dementia often experience various problems with eating and drinking. Eating a healthy, balanced diet is important. It can help maintain physical and mental wellbeing. This factsheet looks at the importance of a healthy diet and the difficulties a person with dementia may have with eating and drinking. It will also look at some practical ways to help a person with dementia eat and drink well. The importance of eating and drinking Eating and drinking well is important to stay healthy. A healthy and varied diet is likely to improve a person’s quality of life. Not eating enough can lead to weight loss and other problems including vulnerability to infection, reduced muscle strength and fatigue. People with dementia may become dehydrated if they are unable to communicate or recognise that they are thirsty, or if they forget to drink. This can lead to headaches, increased confusion, urinary tract infection and constipation. These can worsen the symptoms of dementia. While a healthy, balanced diet is important, in late-stage dementia the priority should be making sure the person with dementia takes on nutrition, and a higher-calorie diet may be appropriate. A dietitian can advise on what is best in a particular situation. 1 Weight loss Weight loss is common in people with dementia, although the causes vary. They may include lack of appetite, difficulties cooking, problems with communicating or recognising hunger, poor co-ordination, tiring more easily, and difficulties with chewing...
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...Unit 33 LEARNING OUTCOME 1 1.1 DESCRIBE THE RANGE OF CAUSES OF DEMENTIA SYNDROME There are many different types of dementia: Alzheimer’s which is usually found in people over the age of 65 (extract from mayo clinic}Although in most cases the exact cause of Alzheimer's disease isn't known, plaques and tangles are often found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. Plaques are clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid, and tangles are fibrous tangles made up of tau protein. Certain genetic factors also may make it more likely that people will develop Alzheimer's. Vascular dementia which is the second most common form of dementia which is caused by reduced blood flow or blocked blood vessels or even a infection of a heart valve (vascular condition. Lewy body dementia which is caused from abnormal clumps of protein that have been found in the brains of people with Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. (Extract from mayo clinic} Frontotemporal dementia (Formally known as picks disease) is caused by break down of the nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain which controls behaviours, language, thinking and concentration as well as movement. Korsakoffs syndrome Korsakoff's syndrome is a brain disorder usually associated with heavy alcoholconsumption over a long period. Although Korsakoff's syndrome is not strictly speaking adementia, people with the condition experience loss of short-term memory. This factsheet outlines the...
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...the process and experience of dementia Outcome 1 1.1 Describe a range of causes of dementia syndrome Dementia is a term for the progressive disease of brain and describes a serious deterioration in mental function, as memory, language, orientation and judgement , The causes of dementia are still not fully understood. Research in dementia is an ongoing and to date number of types of dementia and their causes have been identified. The brain contains billions of cells, in dementia some of these cells stop working properly. Depending what part of brain this occurs in it will affect the way an individual thinks, remembers, walks and communicates. There is a range of causes of dementia here are son of them:- Mixed dementia Mixed dementia is a condition in which abnormalities characteristic of more than one type of dementia occur simultaneously in the brain. Physicians may also call this condition “Dementia multifactorial.” In the most common form of mixed dementia, the abnormal protein deposits associated with Alzheimer's disease coexist with blood vessel problems linked to vascular dementia. Alzheimer’s brain changes also often coexist with Lewy bodies, the abnormal protein deposits characteristic of dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia. In some cases, a person may have brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. It is caused by nerves cells...
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...Schmidt Vascular Dementia Some symptoms may be similar to those of other types of dementia and usually reflect increasing difficulty to perform everyday activities like eating, dressing, or shopping. The most common type of vascular dementia is multi-infarct dementia (MID), which is caused by a series of small strokes, or “mini-strokes,” that often go unnoticed. These mini-strokes, also referred to as transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), result in only temporary, partial blockages of blood supply and brief impairments in consciousness or sight. Over time, however, as more areas of the brain become damaged, the symptoms of vascular dementia begin to appear. Common mental and emotional signs and symptoms of vascular dementia Slowed thinking Memory problems; general forgetfulness Unusual mood changes (e.g. depression, irritability) Hallucinations and delusions Confusion, which may get worse at night. Personality changes and loss of social skills Common physical signs and symptoms of vascular dementia Dizziness Leg or arm weakness Tremors Moving with rapid, shuffling steps Balance problems Loss of bladder or bowel control Common behavioral signs and symptoms of vascular dementia Slurred speech Language problems, such as difficulty finding the right words for things Getting lost in familiar surroundings Laughing or crying inappropriately Difficulty planning, organizing, or following instructions Difficulty doing things that...
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...effects of dementia on the individual’s quality of life health and risk of abuse Some effects that dementia may have on individuals quality of life may be their cognitive skills the individual may have difficulty in recognising people and places this may also affect family members because they expect the individual to know who they are it may be upsetting for them if they don’t remember them. Remembering where they live and difficulty in finding their way home this puts the individual with dementia in a very vulnerable position because people may take advantage of the fact that they don’t know their way home and abuse them. Individuals may also get easily confused and muddled up this can become frustrating for them and if they have to do something they may lose motivation to perform the task in hand. Poor concentration, attention and easily distracted this may also take away their motivation as well. Individuals with dementia also have difficulty in learning new things this is not good because you do need to keep your brain stimulated by learning new things. Individuals with dementia may getting abused for example if someone knows that you have dementia they will look at you and think that you have mental impairment so they may be excluded in discussions about their care because their views and preferences are not seen as valid or perceived because of their dementia instead don’t have preferences being taken into account. When this happens the individual with dementia is protected...
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...disease is a neurologic disorder that affects the brain. It causes dementia. Its earliest and main symptom is steadily increasing memory loss. Problems with getting lost, language, and emotional control are also common. These deficits may worsen over five to 20 years. Treatments can help maintain thinking, memory, and speaking skills. No treatments can currently change or reverse the disease. But, there are many ways to help maintain quality of life. What Is the Difference between Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia? As the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease has improved, researchers now recognize that it is a process that can occur in people who initially have no symptoms. When Alzheimer’s disease causes very mild symptoms, the process is now referred to as mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease. When the symptoms begin to interfere with daily functioning, that phase of the illness is referred to as dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia is a term that means the person has significant difficulty in daily life due to problems with thinking and memory. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. What Causes Alzheimer’s disease? The exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is not yet known. Some people may have genes that put them at higher risk for Alzheimer’s. Genetics is the likely cause when the disease strikes people in their 40s or 50s. But most people who get Alzheimer’s dementia are 60 or older. In these people, genes may play a role, but so...
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...Differential Diagnosis in Dementia By: M.K Parkinson Disease Parkinson's disease is a movement disorder that can cause your muscles to tighten and become rigid, making it difficult to walk and engage in daily activities. People with Parkinson’s disease also experience tremors and, in some cases, may ultimately develop cognitive problems, including memory loss and dementia. Parkinson's disease was first characterized extensively by an English doctor, James Parkinson, in 1817. Today, we understand Parkinson's disease to be a disorder of the central nervous system that results from the loss of cells in various parts of the brain, including a region called the substantia nigra. The substantia nigra cells produce dopamine, a chemical messenger responsible for transmitting signals within the brain that allow for coordination of movement, learning ability, reward feeling, and placebo effect. Decreased dopamine production causes neurons to fire without normal control, leaving patients less able to direct or control their movement and contributes to mood and cognitive disturbances later in the course of the disease. Parkinson's disease is one of several diseases categorized by clinicians as movement disorders. Parkinson's disease Triggers In Canada alone there is over 100,000 Canadians affected by Parkinson's disease. It is the second most common neurodegenerative disease (after Alzheimer’s disease). Parkinson’s disease is most commonly found in people who...
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...Unit 40: Dementia Care P1: Describe types of dementia and common signs and symptoms. What is dementia? Dementia is a common condition that affects about 800,000 people in the UK. Your risk of developing dementia increases as you get older, and the condition usually occurs in people over the age of 65. Dementia is a syndrome associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities. This includes problems with: * memory loss * thinking speed * mental agility * language * understanding * judgment People with dementia can lose interest in their usual activities, and have problems controlling their emotions. They may also find social situations challenging, lose interest in socializing, and aspects of their personality may change. A person with dementia may lose empathy (understanding and compassion), they may see or hear things that other people do not (hallucinations), or they may make false claims or statements. As dementia affects a person's mental abilities, they may find planning and organizing difficult. Being independent may also become a problem. A person with dementia will therefore usually need help from friends or relatives, including help with decision making. Most types of dementia can't be cured, but if it is detected early there are ways to slow it down and maintain mental function. Dementia is a collection of symptoms including memory loss, personality change, and impaired intellectual functions resulting from disease...
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...Dementia Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning. This includes thinking, remembering and reasoning. Memory loss is usually accompanied by at least one of the following symptoms: impaired movement, difficulty with language and the inability to plan and initiate appropriate social behavior. Dementia ranges in severity from mild problems in functioning to the most severe stage of complete dependence. There are several types of dementia. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive and irreversible brain disease. It slows and destroys memory and thinking functions as well as the ability to complete even the simplest everyday tasks. Age related Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia in people over 60. The World Health Organization (2001) estimates that 5 percent of men and 6 percent of women suffer from Alzheimer’s disease worldwide (Whitbourne & Halgin, 2012). Throughout the coming decades the baby boom generation is expected to add 10 million Alzheimer’s cases to the U.S. population alone (Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, 2013). Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, which causes issues with the thinking process, memory, and behavior. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s develop slowly and gets worse as time goes on. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s memory loss is very mild but as it progresses it starts disrupting their daily lives. Some of...
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...Dementia is progressive deterioration in intellectual function and other cognitive skills, leading to a decline in the ability to perform activities of daily living. Diagnosis is by history and physical examination. Potentially reversible causes of cognitive impairment (e.g., drugs, delirium, and depression) should be excluded. Treatment is with general measures and usually a cholinesterase inhibitor, memantine, or both (Lichtenberg, et al., 2003). The term 'dementia' is used to describe the symptoms of cognitive decline and normal sensorium that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, stroke and many other rarer conditions. Dementia is not a disease itself but rather a group of symptoms that may accompany certain diseases or conditions. At this time, dementia is irreversible when caused by disease or injury but may be reversible when caused by drugs, alcohol, hormone or vitamin imbalances, or depression. The symptoms of dementia include loss of memory, confusion, and problems with speech and understanding. There is also the loss of intellectual functions (such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning) of sufficient severity to interfere with a person’s daily functioning. Symptoms may also include changes in personality, mood, and behavior. Dementia is also progressive, which means the symptoms will gradually get worse. Each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way, including how fast...
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...Unit 4222-371 Understand and enable positive interaction and communication with individuals who have dementia (DEM 312) Assessment Criteria Outcome 1 Understand the factors that can affect interactions and communication of individuals with dementia The learner can: 1. explain how different forms of dementia may affect the way an individual communicates People with dementia often experience a gradual decrease in their ability to communicate as their dementia progress. They may find it more and more difficult to express themselves clearly to others and to understand what others are saying to them. This can become frustrating for people with dementia and for those trying to communicate with them. The different types of dementia affect the brain in different ways and each individual communicates their thoughts and feelings in a unique fashion. However, there are often similarities in their losses. How communication is affected: In the early stages of some forms of dementia people have difficulty finding the right word; and in the late stage words may be lost completely in all forms of dementia. It becomes harder to put sentences together as the disease progresses. Automatic responses such as "hello" are maintained for the longest period of time. In the late stages of the disease a person with dementia may have very limited ability to speak. Remember: There is more to communication than what you say. Communication is made up of: Body language (including facial expressions, posture...
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...An Overview of Dementia: How It Has Touched My Life Dementia is an illness that occurs when there is a loss of brain function as a result of the presence of certain diseases. Dementia affects a person’s memory, judgment, behavior, thinking, and language. Dementia includes Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and tends to increase the most from the age of 65. Various references and literature in reference to dementia indicate that the number of patients with dementia will increase significantly as society ages, especially within the next three decades. Dementia causes significant family issues and can become a financial burden on patients and their family members. These burdens impair the ability of a person to function independently and also have a tremendous impact on his or her relationships and quality of life. The subject of this paper will discuss an overview of dementia, treatments of dementia, how it affects human lives, and also the affect dementia has had on the life of the writer of this paper An Overview of Dementia: How It Has Touched My Life As a child growing up in the early 1970s, the writer of this paper can recall his neighborhood. It was peaceful and had a several people who were known elderly and considered as senior citizens. The writer of this paper also remembers when the adults of the neighborhood would speak of the elderly and tend to talk the most about their strange behaviors. Although this was often the case, the talk of...
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...Psychological Disorders Nicole Hayse PSY/203 12/21/2015 Richard Alpert Psychological Disorders When it comes to psychological disorders, there is a wide range of disorders with different classifications. When you think about someone having a psychological disorder, most tend to think of someone with a mental retardation along with physical disabilities. Psychological disorders are much more than a learning disability and affect not only your mind, but it affects the way you think, the way you feel, the way you see and comprehend things. I chose Bipolar Disorder, Dementia, and Schizophrenia because each of these affects someone I love. Level One Heading Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that brings on uncontrolled mood swings. There are several highs and lows of this disorder as well as several levels of the illness. Bipolar disorder was formally known as "manic depression. “A person with bipolar disorder or "manic depression" can have a moment where they are overly excited happy and energized, but without any sign can be sad and depressed or angry and violent. Some maniacs have also been known to have delusions and or hallucination. They believe that there are things that they see and hear are there when in reality it is not. Symptoms of Bipolar disorder are not always the same they do not come in a set pattern or even on a consistent basis. They differ from person to person. some of the symptoms for Mania (high’s) are as followed:...
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...Dementia is an additional need that affects one in three people over 65 in the UK and two thirds of people with dementia are women. The number of people living with dementia is increasing as most people are living longer (NHS 2013). Dementia is when the brain is declined and its abilities no longer work as they should. This brings a wide range of problems, which may include language, problem solving, Memory loss and difficulties with thinking. There are a lot of barriers that can prevent a dementia sufferer from being individual, therefore they will need additional help with everyday tasks. Dementia sufferers face a lot of barriers to health care services, and these can prevent the person from getting the care/support they are entitled to e.g. they received a phone call from the doctors, while on the phone the service user made an appointment to see the doctor but due dementia forgot when the appointment was. This is a barrier as they’re not adapting to the needs of the service user. There are many services a person with dementia can access that will help and support them. Firstly there is the NHS this is statutory, it is free and is provided by the government. Most people use the NHS for the GPs. Dementia sufferers can use the health care professionals in the NHS such as nurses that will help with general health problems or injuries, geriatrician are professionals that will provide medicines for older people that have more than 3 medical issues, admiral nurses who...
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...This article provides a brief introduction of Alzheimer’s Dementia and present two conversations involving the participants with and without Alzheimer’s Dementia. Specifically, the authors discuss the concept of ‘order’ in conversation and the central importance of interactional monitoring. Alzheimer’s Dementia (DAT) is characterized by multiple cognitive deficits that represent a significant reduction in premorbid functioning, and a significant impairment in occupational or social functioning. A diagnosis requires the presents of memory impairment and one or more of the following: language impairment, aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, or the disturbance of executive function. The article then discusses how DAT affects communication. Difficulties...
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