Anthem Senior Living Dementia Care In Phoenix And Types Of Dementia

  • August 22, 2019 BY  Anthem Seniors
  • Anthem Senior Sanctuary
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The most common health condition among adults over the age of 65 is dementia, the condition’s impact goes beyond the patients who are diagnosed—it affects their families, the healthcare industry, and our society as a whole. Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life that typically occurs in older adults and is caused by damaged brain cells that cannot effectively communicate with each other. Under the umbrella of dementia, there are many different diseases and types of memory loss that fall with Alzheimer’s being the most common form. A healthcare provider through physical examination, tests, behavior studies and medical history can help diagnose dementia or another memory loss condition.

Symptoms and Signs of Dementia:

Symptoms of dementia vary from person to person depending on which area of their brain is affected and which stage of dementia they are in. The Alzheimer’s Association has created a checklist to help distinguish between when a loved one is exhibiting typical forgetful behavior and when it may be necessary to seek additional help, which includes

  1. Memory loss
  2. Confusion or disorientation
  3. Changes in personality
  4. Vision problems
  5. Social isolation
  6. Impaired judgment
  7. Losing/misplacing objects
  8. Difficulty completing daily tasks
  9. Difficulty selecting the right words

At Anthem Senior Living- an award-winning North Phoenix assisted living facility, we provide residents with custom-tailored care that promotes and preserves their happiness, their health, and their dignity.

Types of Dementia:

Nearly 4.4 million people have dementia worldwide, making it one of the most common health issues among adults 65 and older.

Some types of dementia include:

Alzheimer’s Disease– Alzheimer’s affects the brain with abnormalities, including plaque deposits and twisted strands of proteins, and causes problems with memory, thinking, and behaviour. It is the most widely known form of dementia, as it accounts for roughly 60-80 percent of all dementia diagnoses.

Depression or apathy; difficulty completing familiar tasks; forgetfulness with names, events or recent conversations- are common early symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Vascular Dementia– Vascular dementia is a decline in thinking skills caused by conditions that block or reduce blood flow to the brain–depriving brain cells of vital oxygen and nutrients, it accounts for roughly 10 percent of all dementia diagnoses.

Symptoms include impaired judgment, loss of motivation and inability to make decisions, plan or organize.

Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) – It is one of the most common types of dementia, after Alzheimer’s, and is an umbrella term for both dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia. Dementia with Lewy bodies starts with movement problems, and thinking and memory problems develop within a year.

Symptoms include memory loss, hallucinations, sleep disturbances, sudden changes in alertness and gait imbalance.

Parkinson’s Disease– It is a neurological disorder caused by damaged or impaired neurons in the brain. Body tremors are the most common symptom as the nerve cells that are damaged from Parkinson’s control muscle movement and function. As Parkinson’s advances, it begins to affect the memory and other mental functions.

Other symptoms of Parkinson’s include sluggish movements, depression, balance troubles, muffled speech patterns and stiffness, hand cramps, frozen facial expressions.

Frontotemporal Dementia– It is defined by progressive nerve cell loss in either the frontal lobe or temporal lobe of the brain, and includes dementias such as behavioral variant FTD, primary progressive aphasia, Pick’s disease, corticobasal degeneration, and progressive supranuclear palsy.

The symptoms of frontotemporal dementia include decreased empathy, loss of inhibition, compulsive behaviour, loss of motivation and anxiety and/or depression. There is a genetic component to the disease in almost a third of all frontotemporal dementia cases.

Mixed Dementia– There is some combination of both a neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s, and a vascular degenerative disease such as vascular dementia in mixed dementia. Studies have shown that it is more common than previously thought.

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