Dementia, different typologies and causes

Dementia can have different types and causes, depending on its origin, although it always involves a brain disorder that leads to loss of cognitive abilities

Dementia, its typologies and causes is an article that will try to explain the different origin of each of the most important types, as well as the causes that can lead us to suffer from it.

"Grandpa is senile"

This may be a statement that you may have heard before; however, this is a claim with little, if any, scientific support. Senile dementia is not a medical term. Although it is true that some cognitive faculties deteriorate as a result of ageing, dementia as such is not a consequence of ageing.

Dementia should be understood as the set of symptoms derived from a brain disorder that involves the loss of cognitive abilities. It is a decline in mental abilities that ends up interfering with activities of daily life, such as the ability to reason, communicate or remember.

Therefore, we cannot associate senile dementia with aging, since the deterioration of mental functions is not a consequence but an associated pathology.

Dementia has its roots in various causes such as brain injuries, brain tumors, chronic alcoholism, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's or Pick's disease. For this reason, the concept of senile dementia should not be used as a generic diagnosis because dementia can be due to very diverse causes that have nothing to do with old age.

SO WHAT IS DEMENTIA?

As described above, dementia is the loss of brain function so severe that it affects the person's day-to-day life. Dementia can affect memory, language, reasoning, spatial vision, etc.

Dementia affects people's daily life

Among its main symptoms are:

• Memory loss
• Impairment of verbal communication
• Worsening of visual/spatial abilities
• Impaired abstract reasoning
• Fatal planning and difficulty organizing
• Disorientation
• Loss of motor functions

As a consequence, these symptoms can lead to personality changes. The person may develop depression, anxiety; You can also have paranoid thoughts and even hallucinations. Dementia is caused by loss or damage to nerve cells and their connections in the brain.

That is why, depending on the affected area, dementia will manifest itself in different ways. To delve deeper into the subject, you can go to the following Mimoonline entry where it delves into this concept:

WHAT TYPES OF DEMENTIA ARE THERE?

Within dementia, this can be caused by non-reversible diseases or affections or by reversible disorders. Among the most common causes are three types:

vascular dementia .

This is caused by a stroke that causes an interruption in blood flow to the brain. This can happen for two reasons:

• Thickening of the walls of blood vessels.
• Thinning of white matter in the brain.

Lewy body dementia .

First, Lewy bodies are abnormal deposits of the protein alpha-synuclein. Although it is not clear why these deposits are formed, it is known that the accumulation of these elements in the areas of the brain responsible for memory and thought are what trigger dementia with all its pathologies.

Alzheimer disease.

Indeed, Alzheimer's and dementia are different concepts but that one can suppose the presentation of the other. Alzheimer's is the main cause of dementia , however it is not exclusive. This disease involves a progressive loss of intellectual abilities, memory and learning.

It is a very gradual progression of neuron loss and replacement of new ones; in addition to affecting the secretion of hormones and neurotransmitters.

Alzheimer's is not derived from aging, as it can manifest itself even at 41 years of age, although it is true that its symptoms are usually more noticeable the older the patient is. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that worsens over time. Therefore, the worsening is gradual. It can start with mild memory loss or disorientation, leading to loss of the ability to speak, eat, or even walk.

Currently, research points to two structures that may be the cause of brain degeneration, namely:

• Plaques or deposits of beta-amyloid protein
• The protein tangles or fibers of TAU;

Without being generically confirmed, research points to a blockage in communication between nerve cells caused by these elements.

In addition to the above, there are other causes of dementia, although it is true that compared to vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer's do not have as much impact. Among them are:

• frontotemporal dementia
• mixed dementia
• Huntington's disease
• traumatic brain injury
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Parkinson's

IS THERE TREATMENT FOR DEMENTIA?

In the first place, it is important to highlight that since there are multiple causes of dementia- There is no single treatment to combat it, depending on its typology, there may be treatments of one type or another; or even no treatment at all.

For dementia caused by Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Parkinson's or Lewy body dementia, there are pharmacological treatments such as cholinesterase inhibitors . These include drugs known as Aricept, Exelon or Razadyne. But as mentioned, depending on the origin, the applicable pharmacology will vary.

On the other hand, there are non-pharmacological treatments that are applicable to dementia regardless   of its origin. Of this typology are social, occupational or rehabilitation therapies. These treatments seek the brain and physical stimulation of people with the disease. Memory exercises, manual activities, sensory-motor stimulation, mindfulness, psychotherapy and language therapy are some of the non-pharmacological treatments that, although they do not cure dementia, do mitigate its effects, reducing the disorder suffered by the person.