Dementia, Alzheimer's, and Other Cognitive Behavior Issues
One of the saddest and most devastating issues in dealing with aging parents is watching them lose their memory and cognitive abilities. All too often, they lose these mental abilities without other physical or mental changes. It can rapidly become a frustrating day-to-day situation with seemingly no light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
Dementia and Alzheimer's can affect a person without any other warning or physical symptoms or ailments. Dementia is a symptom — of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or Huntington's disease. It can also be a sign of dehydration or depression. Dementia is a decrease in intellectual capacities including memory, the ability to reason, and mood or behavior changes.
Sixty-four percent of all dementia is due to Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a disease that presents with a list of symptoms such as loss of memory, loss of the ability to perform life skills such as ADLs, loss of language skills, disorientation to time and place, behavior and mood swings, personality changes, and the inability to reason things out.
Other factors such as stroke and neurological illnesses can affect cognitive abilities. Speech may be affected as well as the ability to do simple math, make decisions, and perform simple everyday tasks.
All of these symptoms can be helped by early diagnosis and treatment with medication and physical, occupational, and speech therapy to retrain the brain. The extent of success depends largely on early diagnosis and intervention as well as the underlying disease entity. Discuss symptoms with your parents' PCP and seek early intervention.
