Kitabı oxu: «My Adventure with Dementia»

Contents

Imprint
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The author is responsible for the content and correction.
© 2020 united p. c. publisher
ISBN Printed Edition: 978-3-7103-4648-4

ISBN e-book: 978-3-7103-4649-1

Cover image: Sam Lyne

Jacket design, page design and typesetting: united p. c. publisher

www.united-pc.eu

Foreword

Dedication

Alzheimer’s poem (love this poem and it helped me to remember why, until the end)

Intro

Chapter 1- What is it?
Dementia
There are 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over one million by 2025. This will soar to two million by 2051. 225,000 will develop dementia this year, that’s one every three minutes. (Alzheimer’s UK)
a. Definition
Dementia is a loss of mental ability severe enough to interfere with normal activities of daily living, lasting more than six months, not present since birth, and not associated with a loss or alteration of consciousness. (Medical dictionary)
A chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury and marked by memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning. (Oxford dictionary)
b. Description
Dementia is a group of symptoms caused by gradual death of brain cells. Society uses this word to cover all the conditions from mild to seriously impaired. It is the loss of cognitive abilities that occurs with dementia leading to diminishing loss in memory, reasoning, planning, and behaviour. While the overwhelming number of people with dementia are elderly, dementia is not an inevitable part of ageing; instead, dementia is caused by specific brain diseases. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause, followed by vascular or multi-infarct dementia, there are numerous types of dementia all with slightly differing symptoms and speed of progression.
I am not going into detail here as there are numerous websites and books which give you descriptions, scientific analysis and any research, which is now fortunately starting to increase as dementia appears to be on the increase, and not just with retired folk as once thought. Ages are getting much younger, now even in the thirties and forties. It is also a disease that affects all walks of life, many famous people have suffered with it, Margaret Thatcher (Politician), Ronald Reagan (actor/US President), Charlton Heston (actor), Perry Como (singer) Glen Cambell (musician), Malcolm Young (AC/DC) Terry Pratchett (author). Dementia crosses all spectrums of society, rich or poor.
Vascular dementia appears to be the main type that is identified and can start suddenly or come on slowly over time (many people with vascular dementia also have Alzheimer’s). This is the one my dad had.
These problems can make daily activities increasingly difficult and someone with the condition may eventually be unable to look after themselves.
c. Causes
Dementia is usually caused by degeneration in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for thoughts, memories, actions, and personality. Death of brain cells in this region leads to the cognitive impairment that characterizes dementia.
The most common form of dementia is AD (Alzheimer’s disease) accounting for one-half to three-fourths of all cases. The brain of a person with AD becomes clogged with two abnormal structures called neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques. Seen on an x-ray the areas affected are black as the nerves and cells die off. Why these structures develop is unknown. Scientists now blame smoking, alcohol, bad diet and lack of exercise, but personally I don’t think it is any of these as my father was fit, never smoked, drank minimally and exercised every day until he forgot how. I believe in years to come it will be the food we eat and chemicals. I also think stress is a huge influencing factor.
Other conditions that may cause dementia include:

 AIDS

 Parkinson’s disease

 Lewy body disease

 Pick’s disease

 Huntington’s disease

 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

 Brain tumour

 Hydrocephalus

 Head trauma

 Multiple sclerosis

 Prolonged abuse of alcohol or other drugs

 Vitamin deficiency: thiamin, niacin, or B12

 Hypothyroidism

 Hypercalcemia