Dementia is a progressive neurodegenerative syndrome that causes severe declines in thinking, memory, cognitive functions, speech, behavior and activities of daily living. Although dementia affects older people more often, it is not a natural part of the aging process. While the prevalence of dementia is approximately 2% in people aged 65 years, it is approximately 25% in people aged 85 years and over. Health authorities expect these rates to increase at least threefold as the years progress, especially in the mid-21st century.
Dementia is a chronic and progressive neurological disease. Dementia, which is one of the most common neurological diseases in middle-aged and elderly individuals, is usually caused by an underlying pathological cause. Dementia causes negative economic, physical, social and psychological effects not only on the individuals diagnosed with the disease, but also on their family members and society at large.
People with dementia have problems acquiring and retaining new information. They cannot evaluate and apply their behaviors and thoughts in social, ethical and social terms. They are unable to perform the physical and mental activities that they had performed before the disease on their own. Personality and behavioral changes, speech problems, depression and social isolation are observed.
Although not all patients have the same symptoms, most people with dementia have only a few of these symptoms. Some of these symptoms are:
1) Cognitive: In the early stages of the disease, significant and short-term memory loss can be observed. For example, missing hospital appointments, forgetting to buy groceries, forgetting medication, not being able to use kitchen utensils, having difficulty using the cell phone. In the later stages of the disease, their memory loss becomes deeper and deeper, and they have difficulty memorizing and recalling new information. This can lead to progressive and devastating consequences. During speech, some word errors that initially occur may continue with a decrease in the amount and variety of words they use over time, and they may become unable to form sentences.
2) Psychological: Psychological symptoms are some of the symptoms that appear from the early stages of the disease. While social apathy, anxiety and depression usually manifest themselves in the early stages, hallucinations, agitation and aggressive behaviors can be seen in the later stages.
3) Behavioral: The first behavioral symptom is social isolation. In the following periods, verbal and physical aggression behaviors confront both the patient and his/her relatives with serious problems. Individuals may engage in many unethical behaviors in later periods. These situations negatively affect both the health and care needs of the patient.
4) Sleep: With a decrease in the quality of sleep, especially in the part of sleep called REM sleep, fatigue, weakness, exhaustion can affect daily life.
As Meva Nursing Home, we monitor the symptoms and general health status of dementia patients 24/7. We offer holistic treatment approaches to dementia patients with our specialist doctors, physiotherapists, nurses, caregivers, social workers and psychologists.
We are here to stop dementia…
