What is Dementia?
As part of Dementia Action Week, we are sharing content from our Dementia and Mental Health training course.
The Alzheimer’s Society describes dementia as ‘a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or a series of strokes. Dementia is progressive, which means the symptoms will gradually get worse’.
How many people have dementia?
Over 850,000 people in the UK have dementia.
40,000 have early onset dementia, which means that they developed dementia before the age of 65.
It is estimated that by 2025, over one million people will have dementia.
Early signs and symptoms of dementia
The early signs of dementia can be difficult to
Early signs and symptoms of dementia include:
Physical – changes in sleep patterns and appetite, difficulty with balance.
Psychological – loss or lapses in recent memory, uncharacteristic behaviour, poor concentration, getting lost in familiar places, making mistakes in previously learned skills; for example, forgetting cooking skills, problems telling the time, difficulty in handling money, trouble with judging distances and contrasts, visual misperceptions – mistaking a shadow for a person or a floor mat as a
Social – withdrawal from social contacts, difficulty following conversations, forgetting learned social skills.
In the early stages of dementia an individual may show only a few of these signs and symptoms, and as you have seen from the list of symptoms, dementia is not just about memory loss. Each individual will be affected differently depending on the type of dementia they have and the way their brain is affected.
Some signs of dementia can initially be mistaken for another condition and vice versa, as the signs can be similar for both. We can all become forgetful and misplace thing when we are stressed for example.
Conditions which could be mistaken for dementia include:
- Depression – people who are depressed may not be able to concentrate, have difficulty sleeping and may lose their appetite or eat to excess.
- Other health conditions – individuals can become confused, anxious, delusional or suffer from hallucinations as a result of an infection, dehydration or as a reaction to their medication.
Brain tumour or brain injury – the person could present with any of the previous signs.- Stress – a person who is stressed usually has difficulty sleeping, they may not feel like eating or eat too much, they can become
short tempered and have difficulty concentrating.
Types of dementia
There are many different types of dementia. Alzheimer’s is the most common type followed by Vascular Dementia. It is also possible to have ‘mixed dementia’ – more than one type; for example Alzheimer’s with Vascular Dementia.
Alzheimer’s is caused by the malfunction of proteins found in the brain. Normally these proteins help to keep our brains healthy, but when they malfunction they form plaques and tangles on the neurons, that is, the parts of the brain that receive and transmit messages. These plaques and tangles prevent messages being passed between
Vascular Dementia is caused by a disruption in the blood supply to the brain. This is usually because the blood vessels supplying the brain have become narrow due to a build-up of deposits such as fat.
Sometimes the deposits (plaque) will break off and block a blood vessel completely or the blood vessel may rupture, causing it to leak into the brain tissue and cause damage. Without a constant supply of the oxygen carried by these blood vessels, parts of the brain will die.
Dementia with Lewy Bodies is caused by tiny, distinct, deposits of protein in the brain. These particular protein deposits are also found in those with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). It is estimated that about
The impact of dementia
Being told of a dementia diagnosis can be a huge shock to a person and their family. Each individual and their support system, their family and friends are unique. Their personal situation, the effect of a diagnosis and their ways of coping with this will
We have written 4 blogs for Dementia Action Week
EduCare for Health & Social Care contains other essential training courses that map to both the Care Certificate and Core Skills Training Framework for Health.
To mark Dementia Awareness week we are offering 10% off the entire package.
To find out more speak to an advisor today; call us on 01926 436 212, send us an email or complete the
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