What is dementia?
Dementia is not a disease itself, but a term used to describe a symptoms that result from damage caused by different brain diseases. The most common of these is Alzheimer’s Disease.
The various disorders have in common a loss of brain function that is usually progressive and eventually severe.
What causes dementia?
There are more than 100 different types of dementia and diseases that result in dementia, which each affect the brain in different ways.
These include Alzheimer’s Disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Pick’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.
What are the symptoms of dementia?
Symptoms of dementia include:
- Loss of memory
- Confusion, especially around time and place
- Problems with speech, word-finding and following conversations
- Difficulty concentrating & carrying out everyday familiar tasks
- Mood changes
Symptoms can begin mildly and vary depending on which part of the brain is affected, but worsen over time and become more similar in their later stages.
In the late stages of dementia, people are unable to take care of themselves and may lose their communication abilities.
