Symptoms and risk factors of dementia-a psychiatrist discussed

Dementia:

Dementia may be caused due to several different mental issues. Dementia mainly damages one’s thinking abilities, memory, and social abilities. As a result, your daily life gets interrupted, and your social life gets affected badly. Dementia is not a specific memory loss disease. There can be many reasons for your memory loss. Yes, dementia usually involves memory loss and other symptoms. Still, only memory loss cannot be termed as dementia, says Dr. Anirban Gozi, one of the best psychiatric doctors based in Kolkata. Alzheimer’s disease is a common reason for progressive dementia, generally observed in older adults.

Symptoms:

Symptoms of dementia vary from person to person, depending upon the cause. However, the signs and symptoms may include:

Cognitive changes:

• Memory loss usually can be first observed by someone who is very close to the person, like a spouse
• Facing difficulty to find words to communicate properly
• Difficulty with spatial and visual abilities, for example, a person with dementia may feel lost with no clue while driving
• Facing issues in solving problems or reasoning
• Getting tensed and facing difficulty while handling some complex task
• It becomes tough for a person with dementia to plan or organize things and execute them accordingly
• Coordination also becomes difficult
• They remain utterly confused about many things
• Disorientation is also a cognitive change observed in a person with dementia

Psychological changes:

• A clear shift in personality can be noticed
• Depression becomes a daily companion
• Anxiety along with inappropriate behaviour makes the person mentally fragile
• People with dementia suffer from paranoia
• They remain agitated almost all the time
• People with dementia also tend to hallucinate, and it makes them even more afraid of the reality

If you notice any of these symptoms in yourself or in your near and dear ones, do not waste time, and make an appointment with the best psychiatrist named Dr. Anirban Gozi. He will provide counseling sessions to retain the patient’s memory and prescribe mild medicines if needed.

Risk factors:

There are many risk factors that eventually contribute to dementia. Some of those factors can be changed or can be worked on to prevent the symptoms. Unfortunately, some are fixed and cannot be changed anyway.

Risk factors you cannot change:

• Age: In the case of dementia, age isn’t just a number; it increases one’s risk of getting affected by dementia. In most cases, people aged 65 or more have a high risk of having dementia.
• Family history: None can change family history. If anyone who shares a blood relation with you was a patient of dementia, you are prone to dementia. Tests are there to determine if you have genetic mutations.
• Down syndrome: It is also a big risk factor.

Risk factors that you can change:

• Heavy alcohol consumption
• Depression
• Smoking
• Sleep apnea
• Deficiency of nutrition and vitamin

All these factors have a certain remedy and can be easily worked on, says the best psychiatrist. Having dementia or Alzheimer’s disease does not mean that you lose all hope. It can be decreased with time, and you can lead a normal life like before, but yes, the treatment procedure takes time. You need to bear with it and obey your doctor.