Introduction:-
Dementia is a general description of the state of a person’s mental function and not a specific disease.
Dementia implicates a decline in mental function from previously higher levels such thereby impairing the life activities. A person with dementia has two or more of these.
Specific Difficulties, including a decline:
- Memory.
- Reasoning.
- Language.
- Coordination.
- Mood.
- Behavior.
Dementia develops if the parts of your brain involved in learning, memory, decision-making or language are affected by infections or diseases.
The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease
But other known causes of dementia include:
- Vascular dementia.
- Dementia with Lewy bodies.
- Fronto-temporal dementia.
- Mixed dementia.
- Dementia due to Parkinson’s disease.
- Dementia-like conditions due to reversible causes, such as medication side effects or thyroid problems.
Who gets Dementia?
Dementia is considered a late-life disease because it tends to develop mostly in people who are older.
About 5–8% of all people over the age of 65 have some kind of dementia, and that number doubles every five years above that age. This is estimated to be as high as half of people 85 years of age and over who have dementia.
The estimated percentage of people age 65 and older who have Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias, by race, is:
- Blacks: 14%
- Hispanics: 12%
- Non-Hispanic whites: 10%
- American Indian and Alaska Natives: 9%
- Asian and Pacific Islanders: 8%
These data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) establish an estimate of 5 million U.S. adults aged 65 or older having Alzheimer’s and related dementia.
Does impairment in memory mean that dementia is beginning?
Another misconception concerning memory loss is thinking that it always implies dementia for you or your loved one. In reality, memory loss has many causes. Alone, memory loss doesn’t necessarily imply that a person has dementia.
Are there different kinds of dementia?
Dementias can be categorized in three groups:
- Primary. Diseases and conditions in which dementia is the main illness.
- Secondary. Dementia due to another disease or condition.
Other causes also include reversible dementia-like symptoms caused by other diseases or reasons.
Primary dementia
There are two types of primary dementia, that is, Alzheimer’s disease, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Types of primary dementia:
- Alzheimer’s disease:
It is the most common type of dementia. Two abnormal proteins build up in your brain, i.e., tau and amyloid proteins. These proteins disrupt the way nerve cells or neurons communicate in the brain. Nerve cells die. As a result, the dying travels from one area of the brain to another. Symptoms here include short-term memory loss, confusion, and changes in personality and behaviors. The disease process later shows a person in trouble talking, remembering distant memories, and problems walking. AD is a condition that mainly affects the elderly: up to 10% of individuals over 65 years of age, and about 50% of those older than 85, will have the disease. A relevant risk factor for this disease is history within the family. This is the most common type, accounting for perhaps 60% to 80% of cases. Vascular dementia:
- The second most common.
This disorder results from conditions that damage blood vessels in your brain. Examples include majors or mini-strokes, otherwise known as atherosclerosis. Symptoms include problems with memory, confusion and trouble concentrating and completing tasks. The decline may appear suddenly following a major stroke or in steps following a series of mini-strokes. The risk factors include high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol levels. Vascular dementia accounts for about 15% to 25% of the dementias. Lewy body dementia:
It is a condition characterized wherein clumps of proteins or Lewy bodies accumulate in the nerve cells of the brain. It is the underlying cause that damages the nerve cells. Movement and balance problems, changes in sleep patterns, problems with memory, problems with planning and problem-solving, and visual hallucinations and delusions are some of the symptoms. It is responsible for approximately 5-10% of total dementias.
- Frontotemporal dementia (FTD):
This dementia is caused by injury on the frontal and temporal areas of your brain.
The abnormal proteins build up in these areas, thereby taking the damage. It causes altered social behavior, personality changes, and/or loss of language skills (speech, understanding, or forgetting what familiar objects are called) or motor skills. FTD is one of the common causes of early dementia, mostly frequent in people aged between 45 and 64. They make up about 5%-6% of all dementias. Mixed dementia:
This is a combination of two or more types of dementia. The most common combination is Alzheimer’s disease with vascular dementia. It is most common in people 80 years of age and over. It is often difficult to diagnose as symptoms of one dementia may be more obvious and/or many symptoms of each type overlap. The deterioration is faster in people who have mixed dementia compared with those who only have one type.
Causes of Dementia:
- Huntington’s disease:
A single defective gene causes this brain disorder. The disease leads to a deterioration of the brain nerve cells, resulting in the control of body movement and problems with thinking, deciding, and memory, and personality changes.
- Parkinson’s disease:
Many people in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s have dementia. The symptoms include problems with thinking and memory, hallucinations and delusions, depression, and trouble with speech.
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease:
This is an infective brain disease, and it is quite rare because it affects only about 1 in 1 million people. The sickness is brought by an abnormal protein in your brain referred to as prions. These prions clump together and cause nerve cell death in the brain. The symptoms are problems with thinking, memory, communication, planning, judgment, confusion, behavioral changes, agitation, depression, etc.
- Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome:
This brain disorder is the result of bleeding in key areas related to memory in your brain. It can lead to severe thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. That’s most commonly caused by alcohol use disorder but can also be due to malnutrition, and chronic infection. Symptoms include double vision, loss of muscle coordination, confusion and inability to process information and learn new things or remember them.
Repeated jarring of the brain against the skull can cause this injury. It is most often seen in football players, boxers, soldiers, and people who have had a vehicle accident. Symptoms may appear years after the injury and may include memory loss, personality and/or behavior changes, speech slurring, and headaches.
- Reversible dementias
Some conditions can cause dementia or dementia-like symptoms that can be reversed with treatment, including:
Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH):
This condition happens when too much CSF builds up in your brain’s ventricles. That extra buildup puts harmful pressure on your brain. NHS can be caused by a brain infection, injury or bleed, or past surgery. Symptoms include poor balance, forgetfulness, trouble paying attention, mood swings, often falling, and loss of bladder control. Your healthcare provider can surgically place a tube to drain off the extra fluid.
Vitamin deficiency :
Having less than the minimum required in the diet vitamins B1, B6, B12 cooper, and vitamin E causes similar symptoms to dementia.
Infections : Other infections that are likely to cause symptoms similar to those of dementia are; infection with HIV, syphilis, and Lyme disease.
“Brain fog” and acute delirium are symptoms noted with infection with COVID-19. Owing to the inflammation and risk of stroke seen with COVID-19 infection, both short- and long-term cognitive effects are being studied. In the elderly, other potential causes encompass urinary tract and lung infections. Other central nervous system infections include other infections of the brain that are caused by fungi, bacteria, and parasites, which can equally present with cognitive symptoms. Metabolic and endocrine conditions:
Conditions that can mimic dementia include Addison’s disease, Cushing’s disease, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) exposure to heavy metals (like arsenic or mercury), high calcium levels (hypercalcemia, often due to hyperparathyroidism), liver cirrhosis and thyroid problems.
Medication side effects:
Certain medications can mimic the symptoms of dementia in some people. Such medications include sleeping pills, anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants, anti-seizure drugs, antiparkinson drugs, nonbenzodiazepine sedatives, narcotic pain relievers, and statins, to name a few. If you have dementia-type symptoms or signs, make an appointment with your healthcare provider to evaluate your medications.
Other Rare Causes:
Other rare causes of pseudo-dementia include brain tumors and subdural hematomas. These are bleeds in the area between the surface of your brain and the covering over your brain.
Symptoms of Dementia :-
Early symptoms of dementia include:
- Forgetting recent events or information.
- Repeating things or questions after only a very short time.
- Losing or misplacing everyday items, putting them in inappropriate places.
- Not aware of what season it is or what year, let alone what month it is is.
Not being able to find the right words
A change in mood, behavior or interests.
-Your memory and ability to make decisions continues to decline
-Talking and looking for the right words becomes more difficult.
-Complex daily tasks from brushing teeth, making a cup of coffee, working a TV remote, cooking and paying bills are increasingly hard to accomplish.
-Less ability to use rational thinking and behavior and problem-solving skills.
Change in the pattern of sleep.
-An increase or exacerbation in anxiety, frustration, confusion, agitation, suspiciousness, or sadness and depression.
-Difficulty with activities of daily living, like grooming, toileting, bathing, and eating.
Experiencing hallucinations (seeing people or objects that are not there.
What are the Factors that lead to dementia?
Dementia is a damage in your brain. It affects your brain’s nerve cells and it destroys the ability of the brain to communicate with its different areas. Dementia can also be caused by blocked blood flow to your brain, depriving it of needed oxygen and nutrients. Without oxygen and nutrients, brain tissue dies.
Depending on the part of your brain, the symptoms of damage are different. Some brain dementias are irreversible and get worse with time. Other brain dementias are due to other medical issues which also affect your brain at the same time. There is also a separate group of health issues that can lead to symptoms like dementia, but many of these conditions are treatable, and the symptoms of dementia are reversible.
Homeopathy Medicines for Dementia:-
- Baryta Carbonica
Indications:- It is often given to the patients in old age in which it shows diminished memory power. Inability to perform any task facing trouble in concentration and thought. It is also prescribed to patients who have become childlike, forgetting things and not able to decide on every matter .
- Anacardium Orientalement
Indications: It is recommended for people who have memory lapses, especially those who forget words or names, or what they were about to say. It is also used for those who feel mentally confused or feel a feeling of duality, such as hearing two voices in the head.
- Calcarea Phosphorica
Directions: -Applicable for individuals who have the incipient stages of intellectual impairment, being very weak and weary mentally and physically. It is also suitable for patients who are indifferent, they do not care anymore about their environment.
- Lycopodium Clavatum
Indications:- Useful for patients who have progressive memory weakness, chiefly with short-term memory loss, and confusion even in familiar environments. It is indicated for the patient who is anxious about health and has a fear of being alone
- Conium Maculatum :-
Indications on when to use: This is often used for patients beginning to develop a progressive loss of coordination and concentration and therefore may start describing dizziness or vertigo. Its use is more appropriate when symptoms of dementia begin insidiously.
SCOPE OF HOMEOPATHY: – Homeopathy gives remarkable results in mild to severe cases of Dementia .In worst condition of Dementia and progressive condition Homeopathy get help to manage the symptoms. Homeopathy medicine for Dementia helps to manage the symptoms.
FAQS:-
- What is homeopathy for dementia?
Ans : -It treats the patient as a whole, mentally, emotionally and physically. Thus the medicine is dispensed in accordance with the symptoms and personality of the patient more than on a disease label. From this perspective, it stimulates the body’s natural processes of recovery, re-establishes balance and thus improves cognitive functions.
- Can homeopathy cure dementia?
Ans:- Homeopathy never claims the cure for dementia, more so in its advanced stages. It tries to manage symptoms, slows down the progression, and improves the quality of life. The effectiveness of homeopathic treatment may vary from case to case depending upon the stage of dementia and the overall health of the patient.
- Is homeopathy safe to use alongside conventional treatments for dementia?
Ans:- Although homeopathy is generally safe to use in conjunction with conventional treatments for dementia, it is always advisable to consult a healthcare professional when starting new treatment to identify any potential interactions with medications or therapies already being taken.
In conclusion, Homeo Care Clinic offers a holistic approach to treating the disease. The remedies mentioned above can treat the underlying causes of the condition and offer relief from the discomfort. However, it is important to consult a qualified homeopathic practitioner for the correct dosage and duration of treatment. Homeo Care Clinic provides comprehensive care for various ailments, and offers customized treatment plans based on individual requirements.
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