DEMENTIA

   As you get older, you may find that memory loss becomes a problem. Although, it is normal for your memory to be affected by age, stress, tiredness, or certain illnesses and medications, but if you're becoming
increasingly forgetful, particularly if you're over the age of 65 and it's affecting your daily life, it may be early signs of dementia.

WHAT IS DEMENTIA?
   Dementia is a common condition. Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. Dementia is not a specific disease. Instead, dementia describes a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severe enough to reduce a person's ability to perform everyday activities . Memory loss is a common symptom of dementia. However, memory loss does not mean you have dementia, memory loss has different causes. Although dementia is common in very elderly people, it is not part of normal aging.
   Alzheimer's disease and stroke accounts for most cases of dementia. But other conditions can cause symptoms of dementia, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies which are reversible.

SYMPTOMS OF DEMENTIA
   Dementia symptoms vary depending on the cause, but common signs and symptoms include:

- Memory loss, which is usually noticed by a spouse or someone else
- Communication and language
- Difficulty to plan and organize
- They may loses their ability to solve problems .
- Ability to focus and pay attention
- Thinking speed
- Judgment and reasoning
- They have problems controlling their emotions.
- Visual perception or hallucination
- Understanding
- Changes in personality or mood
- Lose of empathy  and compassion
- Confusion and disorientation
- Depression
- Ability to make decisions
- Anxiety
- Inappropriate behavior
- Agitation
   People with dementia may not be able to think well enough to do normal activities, such as getting dressed or eating, and as such maintaining their independence may become a problem. They may lose interest in socialising, and also find social situations challenging. They may also have problems with short-term memory, such as remembering appointments,  paying bills, preparing meals and keeping track of a purse or wallet.

CAUSES OF DEMENTIA
   Dementia is caused by damage of nerve cells in the brain, which can occur in several areas of the brain. Dementia affects people differently, depending on the area of the brain affected. The brain has many distinct regions with it's own function, when the cells in a particular region are damaged, that region cannot carry out its functions normally. This damage interferes with the ability of brain cells to communicate with each other. Thinking, behavior and feelings can be affected when brain cells cannot communicate normally, Some dementias can be caused by a reaction to medications or vitamin deficiencies, and these might improve with treatment.

TYPES OF DEMENTIA
  Dementias that progress and aren't reversible include:
- Alzheimer's disease
- Frontotemporal dementia
- Huntington's disease
- Parkinson's disease
- Vascular dementia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Lewy body dementia
- Mixed dementia

   Dementia-like conditions that can be reversed with treatment include:
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Poisoning
- Infections and immune disorders
- Normal-pressure hydrocephalus
- Brain tumor
- Subdural hematomas
- Reaction to medications
- Thyroid problems
- Hypoxia

RISK FACTORS FOR DEMENTIA

Risk factors that can't be changed
1. Age: Your risk of developing dementia increases as you get older, and
the condition usually occurs in people over the age of 65. However, dementia isn't a normal part of aging, and dementia can occur in younger people.

2. Family history or genetics: Having a family history of dementia puts
you at greater risk of developing the condition.

3. Depression: Late-life depression might indicate the development of dementia.

4. Cardiovascular risk factors: The brain is nourished by one of the body's richest networks of blood vessels. Damages in blood vessels anywhere in your body can damage blood vessels in your brain, thereby depriving brain cells of vital food and oxygen. These changes may interact to cause faster decline or make impairments more severe. These include hypertension, high cholesterol, and obesity.

5. Down syndrome: By the time they're in  middle age, many people with Down syndrome develop early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

6. Heavy alcohol use: If you drink large amounts of alcohol, you might have a higher risk of dementia.

7. Lack of Physical exercise:  Regular physical exercise may help lower the risk of some types of dementia. Evidence suggests exercise may directly benefit brain cells by increasing blood and oxygen flow to the brain.

8. Mild cognitive impairment: This involves difficulties with memory but without loss of daily function. It puts people at higher risk of dementia.

9. Smoking: Smoking increases your risk of developing dementia and blood vessel diseases.

10. Diabetes: People with diabetes,  have an increased risk of dementia, especially if it's poorly controlled.

11. Diet: What you eat may have its greatest impact on brain health through its effect on heart health. Heart-healthy eating patterns may help protect the brain.

DEMENTIA TREATMENT AND CARE
   Treatment of dementia depends on its cause. In the case of most progressive dementias, like Alzheimer's disease, there is no cure and no treatment that stops its progression. But there are drugs that may improve symptoms or slow down the disease. Non-drug therapies can also alleviate some symptoms of dementia. Most types of dementia can't be cured, but if it is detected early there are ways you can slow it down and maintain mental function.

COMPLICATIONS
   Dementia can lead to:
- Inadequate nutrition
- Pneumonia
- Personal safety challenges
- Inability to perform self-care tasks
- Death.