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)

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Written by Zhang Hui
Neurology
1min 8sec home-news-image

How is Alzheimer's treated?

The treatment of Alzheimer's disease mainly includes the following aspects. First, enhance care to prevent accidents. Patients with Alzheimer's may get lost, forget to turn off fires or gas, etc., so it is essential to strengthen care to prevent accidents. Second, encourage the elderly to read more books and newspapers and enhance learning, which can effectively slow down the progression. Third, have the elderly interact more with others and exercise more. This can strengthen their physical health and, to some extent, delay the development of Alzheimer's disease. Another aspect is drug treatment, which mainly includes acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and some NMDA receptor antagonists. These can improve the symptoms to some extent and enhance the quality of life. Additionally, in the later stages of Alzheimer's, some psychiatric symptoms such as visual hallucinations and aggressive behavior like hitting or yelling may occur. Appropriate atypical antipsychotic drugs can be administered for treatment.

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Written by Zhang Hui
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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Written by Zhang Hui
Neurology
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Causes of Dementia

At present, the specific causes and mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease are not very clear, but they are mainly divided into two categories. The first category is hereditary, where some Alzheimer's disease cases have a clear family history and involve some genetic mutations. These genetic mutations lead to the deposition of abnormal proteins within neurons, causing irreversible neuronal death, which is the main reason for familial Alzheimer’s disease. The second category is sporadic Alzheimer’s disease, for which no clear pathogenesis has been identified. Research suggests that factors such as oxidative stress, trauma, cerebrovascular disease, cerebral ischemia, and other factors, including metabolic conditions leading to dementia, are related to the occurrence of sporadic Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, the causes of Alzheimer’s disease include two main categories: the first is caused by genetic mutations, and the second is caused by various adverse factors leading to neuronal death.

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Written by Zhang Hui
Neurology
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early signs of dementia

Dementia in the elderly, mainly referring to Alzheimer's disease, is primarily characterized by a significant decline in the patient's memory and learning abilities. Of course, there are some prodromal symptoms before the onset of dementia. For example, patients might show no clinical signs of cognitive impairment or only display very slight memory decline. Patients might exhibit mild impairment in memory, a decrease in the ability to learn and retain new information, and mild impairments in other cognitive areas such as attention, executive function, language skills, and visuospatial abilities. However, these impairments are very slight and can go unnoticed by family members. Moreover, these mild impairments do not affect the patient's basic daily life abilities and do not reach the level of dementia. Patients can live independently and manage their routine daily tasks, which are mainly some of the early signs of dementia.

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Written by Zhang Hui
Neurology
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Early signs of dementia

Dementia in the elderly, mainly refers to Alzheimer's disease. Early signs of this condition may manifest as some forgetfulness. For example, a patient might forget to add salt while cooking, or forget to bring their keys when leaving the house. These clinical signs should be highly alarming and should not be dismissed as mere forgetfulness, ignoring further examinations and treatments. It is recommended that if the elderly show signs of diminished memory function, they should promptly visit a hospital. Comprehensive assessments and further tests, including brain MRI scans, should be conducted to check for significant atrophy in brain areas such as the temporal lobes and hippocampus. If dementia is diagnosed, prompt intervention and treatment should be pursued.