When you are a child, your parents take care of you, hold your hand to cross the street, teach you how to ride a bike, and even feed you in your mouth when you don’t know how to use cutlery yet. In your eyes, they are titans, heroes, strong and invincible, who know everything and can do everything.
But as the old saying goes, time forgives no one. So while you are getting more robust, more intelligent, and more skillful, you are losing physical and mental faculties. And mental illnesses are just one of the cruelest.
The mental illnesses that attack older adults undermine their ability to fend for themselves, perform their work, and even remember the names and faces of their loved ones. One of the most common is dementia.
Senile dementia is a series of symptoms caused by a change in the brain’s functionality and is characterized primarily by the deterioration of the person’s memory both in the short and long term. In addition, this disorder is also associated with the loss of decision-making and changes in the older adult’s personality.
All these symptoms affect and interfere in a very significant way with the routine and social life of the elderly; this will make their relationships no longer the same, leaving aside their hobbies or making it very difficult for them to perform tasks they usually did.
Dementia can occur in several types, such as Alzheimer’s disease, vascular or multi-infarct vascular disease, mixed dementia, Parkinson’s disease, post-traumatic dementia, dementia caused by HIV (AIDS), and others. Unfortunately, these two types of conditions are not reversible, which means that they cannot be cured; little by little, parts of the brain deteriorate until they cease to function. In general, senile dementia appears in older adults after 65 years of age.
The eight symptoms that alert to the presence of dementia are:
- Loss of memory, especially of recent events.
- Disorientation in time and place.
- Ideas that you are being robbed or that they want to harm you, including your own family.
- Inability to learn.
- Loss of language.
- Loss of emotional control.
- Loss of social behavior.
- Lack of motivation
The exact origin of dementia is not known, but there is talk of slow-acting viruses, stress, chronic depression, among others. But providing adequate and timely dementia care can make a difference in the quality of life for your senior.
There are several actions that the caregiver can take to both ensure a good quality of life for the cared-for person and to prevent disease progression. About dependence, dementia poses new challenges to society and the health system, such as respect for patient autonomy, information to the patient and family, the possibility of supplementing the advance directives document, informed consent, and, in particular, the choice of a guardian or representative, issues that we discussed in the previous post on the dignity of the elderly.
On many occasions, the person in charge of dementia care will have to gradually control daily aspects, such as managing money or driving the older adult’s car. This should be done slowly as the disease progresses and with special care not to interfere with the older adult’s autonomy, self-esteem, or dignity. The key to dementia care is to strike a balance between the elder’s independence and their safety, taking care of both aspects simultaneously. As the disease progresses, dementia care should take over certain parts of the older adult’s life, always seeking a balance between independence and security.
This disease, if left untreated, will progress, leaving the patient in a state of mental prostration. Unfortunately, there is still no cure for dementia, but thanks to dementia care, it can be controlled periodically because it is a long-standing disease.
