The Future Of Dementia Treatment
Dementia is a condition we wish we could leave in the past. However, we do not have a cure and the pain it has already caused is too much to forget.
A prerequisite step to resolving a problem is understanding it. If you feel that you or a loved one may have dementia, dont keep quiet. Be open and seek medical advice.
Learn to recognize the main 3 stages of dementia and check out our online forums to learn more.
How Is Alzheimers Disease Defined In The Updated Diagnostic Guidelines
In summary, the updated diagnostic guidelines describe three stages of Alzheimers disease:
- PreclinicalBrain changes, including amyloid buildup and other nerve cell changes, may already be in progress, but significant clinical symptoms are not yet evident.
- Mild cognitive impairment A stage marked by symptoms of memory and/or other thinking problems that are greater than normal for a persons age and education, but that do not interfere with his or her independence. People with MCI may or may not progress to Alzheimers dementia.
- Alzheimers dementiaThe final stage of the disease in which symptoms of Alzheimers, such as memory loss, word-finding difficulties, and visual/spatial problems, are significant enough to impair a persons ability to function independently.
Caregiving In The Middle Stages
According to the Alzheimers Association, this can be the most prolonged period you will face as a caregiver. The symptoms associated with the middle stage can continue for most of your loved ones later years. During this time, you will need to learn to develop patience, flexibility, and understanding as their day-to-day functions become more difficult to achieve. Your loved one might need assistance with ADLs, act out in strange ways, or grow frustrated and angry with you, which can be stressful. Be sure to take care of yourself and reach out to family, friends, and other support services to make this transition smoother.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Dementia
Each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way. The different types of dementia tend to affect people differently, especially in the early stages.
A person with dementia will often have cognitive symptoms . They will often have problems with some of the following:
- Day-to-day memory difficulty recalling events that happened recently.
- Repetition repeating the same question or conversation frequently in a short space of time.
- Concentrating, planning or organising difficulties making decisions, solving problems or carrying out a sequence of tasks .
- Language difficulties following a conversation or finding the right word for something.
- Visuospatial skills problems judging distances and seeing objects in three dimensions.
- Orientation losing track of the day or date, or becoming confused about where they are.
Some people have other symptoms including movement problems, hallucinations or behaviour changes.
Are There Any Treatments For Dementia
There are treatments that can help with the symptoms of some forms of dementia for a period of time, but there are currently no treatments that slow, halt or reverse the changes in the brain caused by the diseases. There are currently no treatments specifically for vascular dementia or frontotemporal dementia.
In the case of vascular dementia, a doctor may prescribe medication to treat underlying cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure or diabetes. Physiotherapy, speech therapy or occupational therapy may be offered to help with speech or movement problems. Non-drug treatments such as cognitive therapies may be available and can help some people with dementia to manage their symptoms.
Alzheimer’s Society has more information on treatments for dementia.
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Stage : Moderately Severe Dementia
When the patient begins to forget the names of their children, spouse, or primary caregivers, they are most likely entering stage 6 of dementia and will need full time care. In the sixth stage, patients are generally unaware of their surroundings, cannot recall recent events, and have skewed memories of their personal past. Caregivers and loved ones should watch for:
- Delusional behavior
Stages Of Frontotemporal Dementia
The rate at which FTD progresses varies greatly and research has found that the differences between different types of FTD become less obvious as dementia progresses. Those who originally exhibited symptoms of behavioural variants may eventually experience language difficulties and similarly, a person originally diagnosed with a language variant of FTD will typically develop behavioural problems. The symptoms and signs of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia are generally unaware of their behaviour and will rely on their loved ones to identify new and unusual characteristics.
Mild
Unlike Alzheimers, the early stage of frontotemporal dementia doesnt usually affect memory or cognitive functioning. Someone with FTD may go walking without obvious purpose but, unlike someone with Alzheimers, will return home without getting lost.
During the early stages of behavioural FTD, changes to personality and behaviour become noticeable. Typical behavioural changes include:
- Becoming uncharacteristically selfish or apathetic
- Acting impulsively
- Confusion regarding the meaning of familiar words,
- Difficulty in finding the right word
- Difficulty with recognising familiar objects
Severe
In the later stages of all types of FTD, more structures of the brain become damaged. Someone living with later stages of FTD usually experiences symptoms that are similar to the later stages of Alzheimers disease such as:
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Stage : Severe Cognitive Decline
At this stage, the person may require a high degree of care, as they may have symptoms such as:
- Difficulty remembering the names of their spouse, children, or primary caregivers
- Lack of awareness regarding all the recent events and experiences in their life
- Patchy or skewed recollection of their early life
- Difficulty counting backward or forward to 10
- Lack of awareness regarding their surroundings as well as the time and place
- Inability to travel alone without assistance
- Tendency to wander
The person is also likely to experience emotional and personality changes, such as:
- Paranoia, hallucinations, and delusional behavior, such as talking to themselves or believing their caregivers are trying to harm them
- Obsessive symptoms, such as repeatedly performing cleaning activities
- Agitation, anxiety, and even violent behavior
- Loss of willpower, due to being unable to carry a thought long enough to complete the action
During this stage, the person is likely to still be able to remember their name, as well as distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people in their environment. They will probably need assistance with daily living activities and may experience incontinence as well as sleep-related difficulties.
The 3 Stages Of Dementia
Depending on the underlying cause, dementia generally presents with a very gradual onset and progressively worsens over the course of several years.
There are several ways to classify dementia based on the severity of the symptoms of dementia. The vast majority of patients will fall into one of three categories but there may be some overlap.
Here are the three main stages of dementia
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Psychological And Psychosocial Therapies
Psychological therapies for dementia include some limited evidence for reminiscence therapy , some benefit for cognitive reframing for caretakers, unclear evidence for validation therapy and tentative evidence for mental exercises, such as cognitive stimulation programs for people with mild to moderate dementia. Offering personally tailored activities may help reduce challenging behavior and may improve quality of life. It is not clear if personally tailored activities have an impact on affect or improve for the quality of life for the caregiver.
Adult daycare centers as well as special care units in nursing homes often provide specialized care for dementia patients. Daycare centers offer supervision, recreation, meals, and limited health care to participants, as well as providing respite for caregivers. In addition, home care can provide one-to-one support and care in the home allowing for more individualized attention that is needed as the disorder progresses. Psychiatric nurses can make a distinctive contribution to people’s mental health.
Some London hospitals found that using color, designs, pictures and lights helped people with dementia adjust to being at the hospital. These adjustments to the layout of the dementia wings at these hospitals helped patients by preventing confusion.
Cognitive training
Personally tailored activities
Understanding The Main 3 Stages Of Dementia
Rather than occurring immediately, dementia develops over the course of time. Learn more about the main 3 stages of dementia here.
According to the World Health Organization , there are nearly ten million new cases of dementia each year. This is a condition that has touched all of our lives in some way.
Once considered to be simply a part of aging, scientists have been studying this condition for many years. Although there is still much work to do, we know more than ever before.
Are you interested in learning more about how this condition develops? Read on to learn about the 3 stages of dementia
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Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnostic Guidelines
In 2011, clinical diagnostic criteria for Alzheimers disease dementia were revised, and research guidelines for earlier stages of the disease were characterized to reflect a deeper understanding of the disorder. Development of the new guidelines was led by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimers Association. Read more about the updates to the guidelines.
A Person With Dementia Doesnt Always Fit Into One Stage
Dementia affects each person in a unique way and changes different parts of the brain at different points in the disease progression.
Plus, different types of dementia tend to have different symptoms.
For example, someone with frontotemporal dementia may first show extreme behavior and personality changes. But someone with Alzheimers disease would first experience short-term memory loss and struggle with everyday tasks.
Researchers and doctors still dont know enough about how these diseases work to predict exactly what will happen.
Another common occurrence is for someone in the middle stages of dementia to suddenly have a clear moment, hour, or day and seem like theyre back to their pre-dementia abilities. They could be sharp for a little while and later, go back to having obvious cognitive impairment.
When this happens, some families may feel like their older adult is faking their symptoms or just isnt trying hard enough.
Its important to know that this isnt true, its truly the dementia thats causing their declining abilities as well as those strange moments of clarity theyre truly not doing it on purpose.
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The 7 Stages Of Dementia
Living with and understanding Dementia stages can be difficult. Here we offer a more clearly defined picture of the whole Dementia journey. What are the signs of Dementia to look out for in a loved one? And if you do spot these signals of Dementia, what actions can you take?
What Are The Seven Stages Of Dementia
The most common types of dementia, including Alzheimers, are progressive, meaning cognitive decline worsens over time. Dementia is categorized as mild, moderate, or severe as well as early stage, middle stage, and late stage dementia.
Health care providers often use a more comprehensive tool to assess the seven stages of dementia in elderly patients. Its called the Global Deterioration Scale , or the Reisberg Scale, and was developed by Dr. Barry Reisberg, a geriatric psychiatrist and professor, in 1982.
The GDS enables caregivers and health professionals to determine how quickly dementia progresses in elderly patients, and which symptoms to expect during each of the seven stages of dementia.
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What Is The Life Expectancy For Someone With Dementia
This is an incredibly difficult question to answer as there are many influencing factors, including the persons age and gender, the type of dementia and the stage of the condition at diagnosis. The average life expectancy after diagnosis for someone with Alzheimers, the most common form of dementia is 10 years. However, dementia progresses differently in everyone, meaning people can live anywhere from 2 years to 26 years after diagnosis.
The main way in which health care professionals estimate dementia life expectancy is by using the Global Deterioration Scale , also called the Reisberg Scale. It shows the average time someone is expected to live depending on which stage of dementia they are at.
Stage : Preclinical Alzheimer’s
In stage 1, your brain may have begun to change. For example, imaging studies may reveal changes in nerve cells and the build-up of amyloid-ß , an abnormal protein that forms masses in the brain called plaques.
During this stage, you may have no symptoms or symptoms that are too mild to notice. Your ADLs remain unimpaired. Stage 1 can last for many years or even decades.
This stage is most often diagnosed in research studies, not in clinical practice.
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Are Early Signs Of Dementia Obvious
Changes in a person in the early stages of dementia can be so gradual they can often be mistaken for normal ageing. Because dementia affects people in different ways, symptoms may not always be obvious. In fact, failure to recognise early signs often leads to people not being diagnosed for several years.
So what to look for? Perhaps someone you care for is struggling to remember what they did yesterday and forgets the names of friends or everyday objects. They may have difficulty following conversations or TV programmes, repeat things over and over, or have problems thinking or reasoning. They may feel angry, anxious or depressed about memory loss or feel confused even in a familiar environment.
The healthtalk website presents a range of carers experiences of identifying the early signs of dementia. One carer put it this way.
The first stage is not recognisable I think, or certainly wasnt recognisable as far as I was concerned initially . I was certainly not understanding… the fact that my wife was at the beginning of a serious problem, a serious mental health problem. Because I was with my wife continuously, I think I was less likely to recognise some of the changes that were taking place than people who saw her less regularly.
From Mild Cognitive Impairment To Alzheimers Dementia
Alzheimers disease is the most common dementia type in people over 65. It’s a progressive disease that impairs your cognitive ability and interferes with your ability to function. Common symptoms include:
- Inability to problem-solve
- Lack of judgment
While no two cases of Alzheimer’s follow the same path, the progression of AD generally falls into three primary stages based on signs and symptoms.
This article looks at the three stages of Alzheimer’s disease recognized by the National Institutes of Health , how they interfere with activities of daily living , and what stage 3 of Alzheimer’s is like depending on the severity of dementia.
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Stages Of Lewy Body Dementia
Lewy body dementia usually takes five to eight years to progress from diagnosis to death. Some cases may progress faster, while others may progress much more slowly. Regardless of the speed of progression, the timeline of Lewy body dementia is usually distinguished by early, middle, and late stages.
Unlike other forms of dementia, Lewy body dementia does not always progress predictably through each stage. This makes it impossible to know for sure how many years each stage will last or how slowly or quickly the disease will progress.
What Is The Life Expectancy For Later Stage Dementia
A person with later stage dementia often deteriorates slowly over many months. They gradually become more frail, and will need more help with everyday activities such as eating, dressing, washing and using the toilet. People may experience weight loss, as swallowing and chewing become more difficult.
A person with later stage dementia may also have symptoms that suggest they are close to death, but continue to live with these symptoms for many months. This can make it difficult for the person and their family to plan for the end of life. It also makes it difficult for those supporting them professionally.
For more information on supporting someone with later stage dementia, see Alzheimers Society factsheet, The later stages of dementia .
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Signs And Symptoms Of Later Stage Dementia
The symptoms of later stage dementia include the following:
- Severe memory loss including forgetting recent memories , thinking they are living in an earlier time period and difficulties recognising themselves and others .
- Problems with concentration, planning and orientation. They may only be able to carry out very simple activities and become increasingly disorientated in time and place.
- Problems with verbal communication. The person may not understand what is being said to them, they may lose speech and use sounds, gestures and body language instead. They may also repeat the same word or phrase.
- Mobility and physical problems. Many people gradually lose their ability to move around, stand or get themselves out of a chair. Not all people in the later stages will have problems with mobility.
- Changes in behaviour. The person may behave in ways that are out of character such as becoming distressed or agitated, repetitive or aggressive. This can be very upsetting for the person themselves, and their family and friends. These behaviours are often the result of the person having needs that arent being met or because they are confused, distressed, or have delirium. Behaviour is often a means of communication.