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Can A Fall Accelerate Dementia

Could It Be Rapidly Progressive Dementia

Falls Prevention in People with Dementia | David Ganz, MD | UCLAMDChat

RPD can be difficult to diagnose. However, accurately diagnosing these conditions is critical in order to identify any treatable causes and protect against further brain cell damage. An early hospital assessment by a specialist can help pick up problems so that, where available, appropriate treatment can be initiated. Cancers, infections, toxins and autoimmune conditions could all cause a fast decline in mental function, as well as the more common neurodegenerative causes of dementia such as Alzheimers, strokes and Parkinsons disease.

The Hidden Risks Of Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is frustrating for those who have it and for their loved ones. But recent research from Johns Hopkins reveals that it also is linked with walking problems, falls and even dementia.

In a study that tracked 639 adults for nearly 12 years, Johns Hopkins expert Frank Lin, M.D., Ph.D, and his colleagues found that mild hearing loss doubled dementia risk. Moderate loss tripled risk, and people with a severe hearing impairment were five times more likely to develop dementia.

Small Vessel Disease And Vascular Cognitive Impairment

Vascular dementia can also be caused by small vessel disease. This is when the small blood vessels deep within your brain become narrow and clogged up. The damage stops blood from getting to parts of your brain. The damage can build up over time and may cause signs of vascular cognitive impairment. This can eventually lead to vascular dementia.

Many of the things that increase your risk of small vessel disease, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, also increase your risk of stroke.

You can read more about how to reduce your risk of stroke and small vessel disease.

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What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Rapid Onset Dementia

Signs and symptoms of dementia can vary depending on the underlying cause. However, the most common signs include cognitive change, memory loss, difficulty with problem-solving or completing complex tasks, and confusion or disorientation. Many people with dementia will also experience psychological changes such as depression, anxiety, personality changes, paranoia, hallucinations, agitation, and inappropriate behavior. Some causes of rapid onset dementia can be treated and possibly reversed if a diagnosis can be found quickly enough. For other people with this disease, there is no cure and a progression of symptoms is unavoidable.

Hearing Aid Myths That Hold You Back

Are you âstrongâ enough to keep diabetes, heart disease ...

Can hearing aids reduce these risks? Lin hopes to find out in a new study, still in the planning stages. These studies have never been done before, he notes. What we do know is that theres no downside to using hearing aids. They help most people who try them. And in those people, they can make all the difference in the worldallowing people to reengage with friends and family and to be more involved again.

Although nearly 27 million Americans age 50 and older have hearing loss, only one in seven uses a hearing aid. If you think your hearing has diminished, its worth making an appointment with an audiologist for a hearing check, Lin says. If you have hearing loss, dont let the following myths keep you from getting help.

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Treatment For Dementia After A Head Injury

The head-injured person who has become demented will benefit from any of the following:

  • Family or network intervention
  • Social services

One goal of these interventions is to help the head-injured person adapt to their injury cognitively and emotionally. Another is to help the person master skills and behaviors that will help them reach personal goals. These interventions also help family members learn ways that they can help the head-injured person and themselves cope with the challenges a head injury poses.These interventions can be especially important in establishing realistic expectations for outcome and pace of improvement.

Behavior modification

Behavior modification has been shown to be very helpful in rehabilitation of brain-injured persons. These techniques may be used to discourage impulsive, aggressive, or socially inappropriate behaviors. They also help counteract the apathy and withdrawal common in head-injured persons.

  • Behavior modification rewards desired behaviors and discourages undesirable behaviors by withdrawing rewards. The goals and rewards are, of course, tailored to each individual. The family usually becomes involved to help reinforce the desired behaviors.
  • Persons who have insomnia or other sleep disturbances are taught “sleep hygiene.” This instills daytime and bedtime habits that promote restful sleep. Sleeping pills are generally avoided in persons with head injury, who are more sensitive to the side effects of these drugs.

The Links Between Hearing And Health

Brain scans show us that hearing loss may contribute to a faster rate of atrophy in the brain, Lin says. Hearing loss also contributes to social isolation. You may not want to be with people as much, and when you are you may not engage in conversation as much. These factors may contribute to dementia.

As you walk, your ears pick up subtle cues that help with balance. Hearing loss mutes these important signals, Lin notes. It also makes your brain work harder just to process sound. This subconscious multitasking may interfere with some of the mental processing needed to walk safely.

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Factors Contributing To Falls Among The Elderly With Dementia

The human walking requires an intact motor, sensory, balance, vision and postural control to maintain an upright posture and to move safely through space. In addition, higher cognitive functions like attention, executive function, reaction time, navigation and visuospatial skills are important to navigate the environment and avoid the hazards on the path. People with dementia can have abnormalities of any of the functions mentioned. In addition, the people with dementia are often impulsive and take unnecessary risks due to their lack of insight and poor perception of the environmental hazards. The factors which may predispose to falls among the elderly with dementia are summarized in .

Table 1. Factors predisposing to falls among the elderly with dementia

Dementia

Type and severity of dementia

Depression

Slow gait, cognitive symptoms, unstable gait

Attention, executive dysfunction, orientation, judgement

Gait abnormalities

Gait speed, stride length, extrapyramidal signs

Drugs

Polypharmacy, anticholinergic properties, drugs which cause gait instability, sedation, cognitive dysfunction, orthostatic hypotension.

Delirium

Physical restraints, assistance with ADLs.

Urinary incontinence

Postural hypotension, frailty, neuropathy, syncope, etc

Environmental

Footwear, wet floor, clutter, etc

Gait abnormalities and dementia:

  • Gait Apraxia
  • Gait speed
  • Dementia type and gait abnormalities

Strategies To Reduce Falls Among The Elderly With Dementia Or Cognitive Impairment:

Dementia Alarm & Automatic Fall Detector. Automatic fall alert even if not wearing pendant alarm.

For the elderly with delirium in the acute hospital setting, routine assessment for fall risk and mental state is important to reduce hospital falls. This include putting up routine falls precaution, diagnosis of delirium and background cognitive issues. The elderly patients with cognitive impairment and delirium have difficulties retaining information and instructions and their care needs are higher. Once cognitive issues are identified, supportive care such as reorientation, ensuring regular sleep pattern , using appropriate sensory aids , adequate pain control, monitor elimination needs, regular ambulation and implementing a daily routine are all helpful to reduce in-patient delirium and falls.

There is currently insufficient evidence for interventions to reduce falls specifically among the elderly with dementia or cognitive impairment in the community or living in long term care. Shaw and colleagues were unable to show benefits of multifactorial interventions in fall prevention among the elderly with dementia presenting to the emergency department.

The elderly with dementia were able to comply with prescribed interventions like modifications of gait and balance, environmental factors, medications and exercise programmes. The effect of interventions on fall reduction was observed among the elderly with higher MMSE scores compared to the elderly with lower scores.

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Things That Can Make Your Loved Ones Dementia Worse

By Shital Rane 9 am on May 15, 2020

Dementia is an umbrella term that encompasses many different conditions, including Alzheimers disease. While there are many forms of dementia, its generally a chronic and progressive condition that becomes more noticeable over time. Its sometimes possible to manage or even reverse symptoms under certain circumstances. However, there are also some things that could cause dementia to worsen, such as those discussed below.

Fauci Flu Shots Massively Accelerate Progression Of Prion Diseases

Under normal circumstances without a vaccine, the progression of prion diseases, which is demarcated by the abnormal folding of certain proteins, takes many years. After a Fauci Flu shot, however, that process greatly accelerates you might say at warp speed.

Classen believes that Chinese Virus injections could be piggybacking on mild prion disease that is already in motion in some people, while in others the shots could be actively prompting the misfolding of essential RNA and DNA binding proteins called TDP-43 and FUS, thus catalyzing a toxic chain reaction process.

It is probably a little bit different in every persons body depending on their unique biology, but the end result is still the same: neurodegeneration. For some it happens quickly and in others more slowly, but the common denominator is that it happens.

Classen also says that the vaccine spike proteins could be causing other protein, including proteins already in cells, to form what he describes as abnormal clumps called Lewy bodies that can lead to relatively rapid cell death.

Research has shown that the development of Lewy bodies in monkeys exposed to the Chinese Virus resulted in some or all of the motor symptoms of Parkinsons disease.

All this pain and suffering to maybe avoid a case of the sniffles? Tragic and idiotic.

As injected people continue to fall ill and die from Chinese Virus injections, we will keep you informed about it at ChemicalViolence.com.

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Symptoms Of Dementia In Head Injury

Dementia-related symptoms in head injury include those that affect thinking and concentration, memory, communication, personality, interactions with others, mood, and behavior.Individuals experience different combinations of these symptoms depending on the part of the head injured, the force of the blow, the damage caused, and the personâs personality before the injury. Some symptoms appear rapidly, while others develop more slowly. In most cases, symptoms have at least started to appear in the first month after the injury.

Symptoms of dementia in people with head injuries include:

  • Vague, nonspecific physical symptoms
  • Apathy

Some people develop seizures after a head injury. These are not part of the dementia, but they can complicate the diagnosis and treatment of dementia.

Major mental disorders may develop after head injury. Two or more of these may appear together in the same person:

Can A Person With Dementia Recover After A Hip Fracture

Apathy âthe forgotten symptom of dementiaâ?

Although dementia makes it more challenging and decreases the likelihood of full recovery, people can regain their previous level of functioning. Dementia influences the recovery process, but research demonstrates that functioning level prior to hip fracture is a stronger predictor of successful rehabilitation than cognitive status.

In other words, if you were quite strong and mobile before breaking your hip, you are more likely to regain that strength and mobility, even if you have some memory loss or a diagnosis of dementia.

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Problems With Vision And Hearing

Sensory limitations, too, can create a picture like cognitive impairment that worsens as the affected person becomes increasingly isolated as a result of hearing or vision problems. Recent research has emphasized that there is a relationship between hearing loss and the risk for development of cognitive impairment.

Low Protein Diets Could Accelerate Dementia But Amino Acids Can Slow The Progress

Summary: While a low-protein diet can accelerate neurodegeneration, consuming Amino LP7, a combination of essential amino acids, could slow the progression or inhibit the development of dementia. Source: The National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology. Dementiaa condition involving the extreme loss of cognitive functionis caused by a variety…

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What Is Vascular Dementia

If you are worried about vascular dementia or know someone who is, this guide can help you understand what you need to do. It explains what vascular dementia is and how it is linked to stroke. It also explains what you can do if you or someone you know is diagnosed with vascular dementia.

Its aimed at people who’ve had a stroke or who think they may have vascular dementia, but there is information for family and friends as well. If you have a question that is not answered in this guide call our Stroke Helpline.

The information on this page can be accessed in the following formats:

  • as a pdf or large print Word document.
  • To request a braille copy, email .

Common Causes Of Falls In People With Dementia

How to Talk to Someone With Dementia

People with Alzheimers and other types of dementia tend to be at a high risk of falling. They are more than three times more likely to fracture their hip when they fall, which leads to surgery and immobility. The rate of death following a hip fracture for those with Alzheimer’s is also increased. Thus, fall prevention for people with dementia is critical.

One way to reduce falls in people with dementia is to understand why they fall. If we know what makes our loved ones more likely to fall, we can try to anticipate those needs and decrease falls.

Laura Porter / Verywell

These factors are the most common causes of falls in people with dementia.

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Hip Fractures In People With Dementia

People with dementia have a higher chance of experiencing a hip fracture. People with dementia who live in their own homes and take antipsychotic medications are also more likely to fracture their hips. And not surprisingly, those with both dementia and osteoporosis have the greatest risk for a hip fracture, according to some research.

Those with dementia who fracture their hip also have a higher likelihood of developing delirium during their hospital stay. If delirium develops, it can lead to longer hospitalizations, poorer recovery in terms of mobility and longer facility care. The recovery and rehabilitation of someone with dementia after a hip fracture can be complicated by memory loss. Often, a weight-bearing limit is placed on someone after surgery and the individual with dementia may not remember that she can’t just get up and walk.

Mortality rates in people who fracture their hip are between 12-33% after one year.

When an older adult with Alzheimer’s or other dementia experiences a hip fracture, several complications are possible.

  • Less likely to rehabilitate to their previous level of functioning
  • More likely to require ongoing facility care
  • The higher rate of death following a hip fracture
  • More likely to develop pneumonia related to decreased mobility
  • Less likely to receive adequate pain medication, potentially increasing narcotic use when severe hip pain develops

Outlook For Dementia After A Head Injury

The outlook for persons with dementia after head injury is difficult to predict with certainty. Some people recover fully from severe injuries others remain disabled for long periods after much milder injuries. In general, outcome relates to the seriousness of the injury.

Dementia from head injury usually does not get worse over time and may even improve over time.

Brain Injury Association of America

3057 Nutley Street #805

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How To Protect Elderly People From The Effects Of Isolation

The results of this gigantic uncontrolled population experiment created by the social isolation imposed in several countries around the world will be understood more clearly in the future.

In the meantime, Porto and medical colleagues emphasize that it is necessary to protect the elderly and other vulnerable groups from its negative effects. And the solutions go through the same path: digital technology.

We have to promote digital inclusion, cognitive stimulation and physical exercise among the elderly, he says. The digital inclusion of the elderly will allow contact, even at a distance.

Once access to the internet is guaranteed, it is also necessary to seek group activities that act on some cognitive function.

Everything that is collective and stimulates cognition is valid. Bingo, games, movies and conversation, music. Cognitive stimulation linked to something that gives pleasure, says the doctor. Very likely, these are some of the things that were missed .

Another key point: exercise. Those who manage to exercise via digital inclusion alleviate the deleterious effect of isolation, says Porto.

And on this subject the neurologist understands well.

Everything that is collective and encourages cognition is valid. Bingo, games, movie and conversation, music. Cognitive stimulation linked to something that gives pleasure, says doctor

My doctoral thesis was on the effects of exercise on the brain, I am a strong advocate of exercising to improve brain function.

A Condition That Can Fool Even Experienced Doctors

Head injuries can age your brain by 5 years and may ...

In fact, Mrs. M was suffering from delirium, at that time called acute organic brain syndrome that results in rapidly changing mental states, and causes confusion and changes in behavior. She returned to her previous healthy cognitive status very quickly after her eye patches were removed and her post-operative recovery continued.

The lesson I learned from her recovery was that delirium can fool even experienced doctors into misdiagnosing dementia, which is now called Major Neurocognitive Disorder . Confustion, disorientation, and memory impairment are signs of delirium that are shared with MaND.

Delirium looks very different, though, in other ways. It comes on rapidly, often after a medical or surgical event or toxic combination of medications. It is accompanied by shifting alertness, resulting in moments of sleepiness alternating with moments of agitation. Delirium is more often associated with visual hallucinations or psychotic delusions than MaND. And, most importantly, delirium can often be reversed once the cause is found and treated.

Its causes are many and include infection, metabolic disturbances, toxic medication reactions, withdrawal from alcohol, and the effects of head injury, just to name a few.

What makes this especially tragic is that distinguishing delirium from MaND is usually not too difficult and just requires careful attention to history, symptoms, physical and mental status examinations, and the results of common laboratory tests.

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