Dementia And Smelling Things That Aren’t There

The Impact Of Taste And Smell Changes

Although taste and smell problems after a stroke can have a big impact on your life, they arent always discussed as part of medical treatment. It may affect up to 30% of people soon after a stroke, but changes to taste and smell can and do improve. There may be some things you can do to help your recovery.

People often tell us that problems with taste and smell affect their quality of life or stop them from eating a healthy diet. It can also have an impact on your physical and emotional well-being, and can even affect your recovery. So if youre having difficulties, contact your GP or stroke nurse and ask for help.

Discuss The Symptoms Calmly

The first thing you should do if you suspect your loved one is hallucinating is talk about what he or she is experiencing. Dementia can cause seniors to mix up words, so your loved one might just be confused instead of hallucinating. Check to see if a hallucination is real instead of dismissing anything odd your loved one says as being a hallucination. In cases where your loved one is clearly hallucinating, its fine to calmly state what he or she is seeing isnt real. Reassure your loved one the hallucinations cannot harm or bother him or her.

Symptoms such as hallucinations, confusion, and agitation are common in elderly people with dementia. Certain age-related conditions can make it more challenging for seniors to age in place safely and comfortably, but Anchorage 24-hour care experts are available around the clock to help seniors manage their health. Whether your loved one is living with dementia or is recovering from a stroke, you can trust the professional live-in caregivers from Home Care Assistance to enhance his or her quality of life.

Paranoia In People With Alzheimers Disease And Dementia

Paranoia involves intense feelings and thoughts that are usually related to conspiracies, threats or persecution. In people with Alzheimers disease and dementia, paranoia is usually related to memory loss. People may feel as if other people are out to get them, especially if they cant remember where they put things or recognize you or another loved one. For example, if your loved one forgets what you just told them, they may think that you are trying to trick them in some way.

If your loved one exhibits paranoia, try not to overreact. Even if your feelings are hurt, its important to stay calm, acknowledge their feelings and let them know youre committed to protecting them. Explain to other family members that your loved one is paranoid due to Alzheimers disease or dementia, not because of anything a family member said or did. If the paranoia gets worse, contact your loved ones primary care physician or neurologist for guidance.

Unfortunately, people with Alzheimers disease and dementia are often the targets of scams and financial abuse. If you think your loved one is being paranoid, stop and think about whether its possible someone really is taking advantage of them. You may want to pull copies of their credit reports to make sure no one has signed up for credit accounts in their name. Checking bank account and credit card balances can also help you determine if someone is stealing from your loved one.

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Phantom odors may also be a sign of a more serious health problem. Recent studies show that phantom odors can be an early marker of severe neurological conditions, which highlights the importance of seeking early intervention.

The study found only 11 percent of people who report phantom odors have actually discussed a taste or smell problem with a doctor.”Most people who have this condition dont go to a physician,” Bleier said. “The value of these studies is that they reveal findings of certain disease states that were not as previously well known.”

The authors hope that increased awareness of phantom odors could prompt doctors to ask about them more, too, which could help more people with the problem receive accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Ryan Guinness M.D., M.P.H., is an internal and preventive medicine resident physician, currently in the ABC News Medical Unit.

Impact On Your Health And Stroke Recovery

• Reduced appetite

The taste and smell of food give you an appetite and help you enjoy what youre eating. If you cant taste or smell properly, it can reduce your appetite and you might end up eating and drinking less than you need to. This can lead to losing weight, or not getting the nutrients you need. If you dont drink enough you could become dehydrated.

Being undernourished or dehydrated can make you feel tired and low, and have trouble concentrating. Infections can be more likely, and injuries can take longer to heal.

• Eating too much

Some people may over-eat, perhaps because they are seeking to get more satisfaction from food when its lacking in flavour. This can lead to weight gain, which can raise the risk of another stroke.

• Seeking out certain tastes

Some people start to seek out foods with a certain taste and avoid others, perhaps because some things are very bland, or tastes are distorted. This can stop you from having a balanced diet, and can lead to more health problems. For example, having more sweet food and drink can lead to weight gain and tooth decay, and having a lot of salty food can raise your blood pressure.

• Safety and hygiene

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Smell And Taste Are Often Reduced In Dementiaso Spice Up Your Cooking

• Find a therapist to help with dementia

Weve all heard that some people with COVID-19 lose their sense of smell. But there are lots of reasons why that can happen. It turns out that many viruses can temporarily diminish your sense of smell, in addition to COVID-19. Even the common cold virus can do it. Other common problems that can affect your smell include sinus disease, seasonal allergies, head injuries, and cigarette smoking.

Smell is usually one of the first senses affected by many types of dementia including Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies. Together, these disorders are the cause of dementia in three out of four cases.

Why is smell diminished in these disorders? No one is exactly sure. One explanation may be that the place in the brain where smell is processed is right next to the hippocampusthe place in the brain where memory is processed. Since Alzheimers disease starts in this part of the temporal lobe and spreads, Alzheimers may simply spread quickly to the place in the brain where smell is processed. Another theory is that both Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease may start with an unusual reaction to a viral infectionand the viral infection may start in the nose! But this is just a theory so please dont worry that youre going to develop one of these diseases because you have a cold.

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Alzheimer’s And Hallucinations Delusions And Paranoia

Due to complex changes occurring in the brain, people with Alzheimer’s disease may see or hear things that have no basis in reality.

• Hallucinations involve hearing, seeing, smelling, or feeling things that are not really there. For example, a person with Alzheimer’s may see children playing in the living room when no children exist.
• Delusions are false beliefs that the person thinks are real. For example, the person may think his or her spouse is in love with someone else.
• Paranoia is a type of delusion in which a person may believewithout a good reasonthat others are mean, lying, unfair, or out to get me. He or she may become suspicious, fearful, or jealous of people.

If a person with Alzheimers has ongoing disturbing hallucinations or delusions, seek medical help. An illness or medication may cause these behaviors. Medicines are available to treat these behaviors but must be used with caution. The following tips may also help you cope with these behaviors.

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What Are The Causes Of Lewy Body Dementia

While the exact cause of LBD isn’t known, we do know it’s characterized by the irregular buildup of proteins that create masses called Lewy bodies. This exact protein is also associated with Parkinson’s disease. Individuals with Lewy bodies in their brain will also have tangles and plaques that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

It’s known the accumulation of Lewy bodies is associated with a decrease of certain brain neurons that create two vital neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that serve as messengers between brain cells. One of these messengers is dopamine, which plays a key role in cognition, motivation, behavior, movement, mood, and sleep. The other messenger is acetylcholine, which is critical in learning and memory.

Signs Of Dementia You’ll Smell First Doctors Say

With so many different types of dementia, symptoms can vary from person to person. The first sign of trouble could be anything from difficulty with daily tasks like driving to an increase in financial problems. The wide range of potential precursors for dementia often make it hard to pinpoint a diagnosisbut one body part may provide some foresight into the future: your nose.

Dung Trinh, MD, an internal medicine specialist and founder of the Healthy Brain Clinic, tells Best Life that when it comes to dementia, our sense of smell might be one of the first things affected. “Knowing what to look for when it comes to changes in smell can provide important clues that may be useful for diagnosing dementia,” he explains. Read on for five signs of dementia that Trinh and other experts say your nose might detect first.

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Avoid Arguing About The Hallucinations

Some seniors might find it helpful to be told their hallucinations arent real, but others may respond by becoming upset and belligerent. Try to pay attention to your loved ones response, and avoid spending a lot of time saying he or she is mistaken. Never raise your voice or tell your loved one he or she is crazy, and drop the subject if he or she gets upset. Trying to convince your loved one the hallucination isnt real will just be frustrating for both of you.

Causes Of Auditory Hallucinations

Mental illness is one of the more common causes of auditory hallucinations, but there are a lot of other reasons, including:

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Sniffing Out Dementia With A Simple Smell Test

In a study that followed almost 3,000 older people with normal cognition, researchers found that a simple smell test was able to identify those at higher risk of dementia.

Senior author Jayant M. Pinto, a professor of surgery at the University of Chicago in Illinois, and colleagues report their findings in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

They found that participants who could not identify at least 4 out of 5 odors in the simple smell test were twice as likely to have dementia 5 years later.

These results show that the sense of smell is closely connected with brain function and health, says Prof. Pinto, who is also an ear, nose, and throat specialist.

He explains that losing ones sense of smell is a strong indicator of significant damage, and that this simple smell test could provide a quick and inexpensive way to identify those who are already at high risk.

Dementia is a progressive brain disorder that erodes many aspects of cognitive function for instance, it diminishes a persons ability to remember, reason, solve problems, and hold a conversation.

As it progresses, dementia encroaches on daily life, eventually robbing people of their independence and personality.

The number of people worldwide with dementia is growing. Currently, around 47 million people are thought to be living with the disease. This number is likely to approach 75 million by 2030 and 132 million by 2050.

Lewy Body Dementia Symptoms

People with Lewy body dementia typically demonstrate symptoms impacting movement, cognition, behavior, and sleep. The symptoms can vary from person to person, and someone with the condition may not demonstrate every symptom. If you’re a caregiver to a loved one with LBD and you notice any major or sudden change in behavior or abilities, you should report it to their doctor. Some of the most common symptoms experienced by those with LBD include the following:

• Visual hallucinations can be one of the initial symptoms of LBD and will often recur. Your loved one may hallucinate seeing people, animals, and shapes that aren’t there. Touch, smell, and sound hallucinations are also a possibility.

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S To Take For Preventing Wandering

If your loved one has any of these risk factors, there are several steps you can take to prevent wandering. The first is to make sure that all exits have working locks. If your loved one does start to wander, a lock can prevent them from opening a door and putting themselves in harms way. You should also consider adding alarms to doors and windows to alert you and other caregivers if your loved one is trying to get out of the house.

Mobile Apps

The digital age has made it much safer for people with dementia to leave their homes, as many companies now offer apps to help track their whereabouts. If youre concerned about your loved ones risk of wandering, consider downloading one of these apps and installing it on their mobile phone. Senior Safety App is one of the most popular options on the market. The free app monitors the users phone location and makes it easy to request help when needed.

Tracking Devices

Not everyone with Alzheimers disease or dementia has a mobile phone, so some companies offer watches and pendants with GPS tracking capabilities. These products track a loved ones location every few seconds to every few minutes, depending on the product and its settings.

Additional Steps

Even when you take as many precautions as possible, theres a chance your loved one will manage to wander at some point. If this happens, you can protect them by taking the following steps ahead of time:

Stroke Damage In The Brain

A stroke happens when the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off, killing brain cells. A stroke can cause changes to any of your senses, including vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell. If a stroke damages the parts of the brain that interpret information about taste and smell from your nose and tongue, it causes changes to your senses of taste and smell.

Your stroke is unique to you, so the exact effect depends on how big the area of damage is, and where it is in your brain.

Like many effects of stroke, taste and smell changes can recover in the first few weeks and months after a stroke. If you have longer-lasting changes, there are treatments and practical steps that may help.

What else could be causing my problems with taste and smell?

Its a good idea to speak to your GP or stroke nurse to find out if something else could be causing or contributing to your problems with taste and smell. Other causes include:

Some common medications can cause a bad taste, loss of smell or dry mouth. They include some medications that are often used after a stroke, such as blood pressure, cholesterol and muscle relaxant medications. Some antibiotics, diabetes medication, antidepressants and anti-inflammatories can also do this.

Infections in your nose or sinuses can cause a bad taste in the mouth or loss of taste and smell. Infections of the mouth and teeth can also have this effect, so good oral hygiene is important.

• Swallowing problems

• Other brain conditions

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Signs That A Person With Dementia May Be At Risk Of Wandering

Now that you know the most common causes of wandering, you may be wondering if your loved one is at risk. Although anyone with Alzheimers disease or dementia can develop a habit of wandering, some people present a higher risk than others. Be on the lookout for these risk factors:

• Displaying a high level of nervousness or anxiety when visiting new places

• Asking for family members or friends they knew in the past

• Forgetting how to get around the house or navigate familiar places

• Returning from activities later than usual

• Making repetitive movements