Essay Overview of Dementia - 1381 Words

Dementia is a syndrome, which is usually of a chronic or progressive nature, which causes deterioration in cognitive function. It goes beyond what is expected from normal aging. It causes changes in what you remember, like appointments, or phone numbers. It may cause you to get lost in a familiar setting like driving to the grocery store. You may not be able to balance your checkbook or add up your points in a card game. Communication becomes difficult; as you cannot find the words you want to say. Your personality may change, you may become paranoid, be crabby or short tempered, and you may say or do inappropriate things or laugh when nothing is funny. Dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people†¦show more content†¦Even though people with dementia can stay fully conscious, they have loss of short and long-term memory partially or in full. These people may also have difficulty expressing themselves or making themselves understood. They may not be able to follow patterns or recipes even though they may have hundreds of times before. They may not realize what time it is or what season it is. They may even get lost on the way home from the grocery store. The majority of dementia is not inherited, but it depends a lot on the particular cause of dementia. Some rare causes of dementia are inherited, like Huntington’s disease. â€Å"This is an ‘autosomal dominant’ disease, which means that only one faulty copy of the gene is needed to inherit the disease† (Living with dementia magazine April 2009 n.d). If someone had an inherited disease and lived long enough, they could pass it on and it wouldn’t skip a generation. Dementia affects each person in a different way, depending on the impact of the disease and the person’s personality before he/she became ill. The signs and symptoms that are linked to dementia can be understood in three stages. There are the early stages, middle stages, and late stages. The early stages of dementia are almost always overlooked since the onset is gradual. The symptoms are familiar to us all, like misplacing items, forgetting appointments not being aware of the time. As dementia reaches the middle stage, theShow MoreRelatedOverview of Dementia Essay988 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction Margaret is a 77 year old who has a diagnosis of dementia and type 2 diabetes mellitus. She has been recently separated from her daughter who was her primary carer and her husband who were both unable to cope with her agitated behaviour. Margaret now resides in an age care facility. Margaret’s mental and emotional health is a cause for concern and the family are upset and are struggling with feelings of guilt and anger. 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