dementia and alzheimers

• people can become more irritable and aggressive to people as they might be confused and not recognise people
• they may start to forget peoples names which can put a strain on their relationships and people might struggle to cope with the irritability so the person who has dementia might be lonely
• physical effects can be people losing weight in later stages of dementia, gradually losing mobility and lose the ability to get up independently
• due to losing weight and there is a higher risk of falls and accidents
• due to the accidents people can get cut and the cuts can get infected
• increase risk of bed sores and them becoming infected as the patient will stay in one place for a long time especially if they have mobility problems
• there is also a increased risk of infections and blood clots due to decreased mobility
• the person with dementia can become confused and muddled thinking which can lead to aggression
• patients can be effected intellectually by not being able to pay attention, have hallucinations, feeling drowsy, problems with communicating with words
• patients may react aggressively as they may not understand what is going on
• might feel distressed and agitated, feeling more anxious and want comfort, depression and have a lower self esteem
• dementia is more likely to occur in older people, problems with communicating, reasoning and finding their own way around, as well as forgetting recent events
• vascular dementia- caused by problems in blood supply to brain
• vascular dementia leads to memory and thought process problems
• alzheimers- begins after age 65, trouble with short term memory, thought and language
• symptoms gradually worsen such as not being able to recognise family members and not be able to carry out tasks such as reading and speaking
• symptoms gradually worsen such as not being able to recognise family members and not be able to carry out tasks such as reading and speaking
• there is no treatment but medicines may delay the progress where the disease becomes less agressive