Dementia in Seniors: A Complete Family Caregiver Guide

What Are the Common Causes and Risk Factors?

Understanding dementia care seniors is important for seniors and their caregivers. dementia usually occurs in older age. Most types are rare in people under age 60. The risk of dementia increases as a person gets older.

Most types of dementia are nonreversible and degenerative. Nonreversible means the changes in the brain that are causing the dementia cannot be stopped or turned back.

is the most common type of dementia.

Another common type of dementia is

. It is caused by poor blood flow to the brain, such as with a stroke.

Lewy body disease is another cause of dementia in older adults. People with this condition have abnormal protein structures in certain areas of the brain. Any condition that results in injury to the brain can cause dementia.

The following medical conditions can also lead to dementia:

• Huntington disease

• Brain injury

• Frontotemporal degeneration

  (Pick disease)

• Multiple sclerosis

• Infections such as HIV/AIDS,

  syphilis

  , and

  Lyme disease

• Parkinson disease

• Progressive supranuclear palsy

• Excess alcohol use
• Brain trauma

Some causes of dementia, such as those due to

, may be stopped or reversed if they are found soon enough, including:

• Brain injury
• Brain tumors
• Long-term (chronic) alcohol abuse
• Changes in blood sugar, sodium, calcium, and thyroid hormone levels
• Low

  vitamin B12

  level

• Normal pressure hydrocephalus

• Use of certain medicines, including cimetidine
• Some brain infections

What Are the Symptoms and Warning Signs?

Dementia symptoms include difficulty with many areas of mental function, including:

• Emotional behavior or personality
• Language
• Memory
• Perception
• Thinking and judgment (cognitive skills)

Dementia usually first appears as forgetfulness.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a condition in which a person has more memory and thinking problems than other people their age. People with MCI have mild problems with thinking and memory that do not interfere with daily activities. They often know about their forgetfulness. Not everyone with MCI develops dementia.

Symptoms of MCI include:

• Difficulty doing more than one task at a time
• Difficulty solving problems or making decisions
• Forgetting names of familiar people, recent events, or conversations
• Taking longer to do more difficult mental activities

Early symptoms of dementia can include:

• Difficulty with tasks that take some thought, but that used to come easily, such as balancing a checkbook, playing games (such as bridge), and learning new information or routines
• Getting lost on familiar routes
• Language problems, such as trouble with the names of familiar objects
• Losing interest in things previously enjoyed, flat mood
• Misplacing items
• Personality changes and loss of social skills, which can lead to inappropriate behaviors
• Mood changes leading to aggressive behavior
• Poor performance of job duties

As dementia becomes worse, symptoms are more obvious and interfere with the ability to take care of oneself. Symptoms may include:

• Changing sleep patterns, often waking up at night
• Difficulty with basic tasks, such as preparing meals, choosing proper clothing, or driving
• Forgetting details about current events
• Wandering and getting lost
• Forgetting events in one’s own life history, or losing self-awareness
• Having

  hallucinations

  , arguments, striking out, and violent behavior

• Having delusions,

  depression

  , and

  agitation

• More difficulty reading or writing
• Poor judgment and loss of ability to recognize danger
• Using the wrong word, not pronouncing words correctly, speaking in confusing sentences
• Withdrawing from social contact

People with severe dementia can no longer:

• Perform basic activities of daily living, such as eating, dressing, and bathing
• Recognize family members
• Understand language

Other symptoms that may occur with dementia:

• Problems controlling bowel movements or urine

• Swallowing problems