Contents:
- Medical Video: Dementia Linked to Strokes
- How do strokes affect memory?
- What is dementia and its relationship to stroke?
Medical Video: Dementia Linked to Strokes
Stroke and dementia aka senility are two general conditions that affect the brain. They often occur together. This is because both have a tendency to develop in old age. However, sometimes they occur together because certain types of strokes can cause symptoms of dementia.
How do strokes affect memory?
Stroke usually causes significant symptoms such as weakness, loss of vision, or difficulty speaking. However, sometimes mild stroke sufferers do not experience this.
When mild strokes occur at different locations in the brain, over time this causes changes in memory or changes in attitude. This condition is often called vascular dementia.
What is dementia and its relationship to stroke?
Dementia or senility is a neurological condition characterized by a combination of memory loss, difficulty caring for oneself, self alertness and attitudes and difficulties in making decisions. The causes of dementia vary and may include Alzheimer's disease or rare brain disorders called Pick disease and Lewy dementia. Another common cause of dementia is called vascular dementia, caused by several strokes and affects the part of the brain responsible for the integration of memory, behavior, alertness and self-care.
Vascular dementia usually appears over time, does not appear suddenly. However, those who experience mild strokes often experience a mild decrease in memory or thinking. The ability of the brain to handle minor strokes often makes patients and family members unaware of strokes.
In the end, family members may complain of significant symptoms of dementia after a mild stroke. The accumulation of brain damage from various minor strokes can ultimately have an impact on critical conditions where the symptoms of dementia are worse or real. The additive effects of passive strokes may overcome the brain's ability to compensate for a small part of brain damage. Sometimes, minor illnesses or mild infections can actually impact the symptoms of dementia. When this happens, some people improve after recovering from the disease, while some may continue to show signs of dementia even after recovery. The type of dementia caused by mild strokes, vascular dementia, is also sometimes referred to as 'small vascular disease' or multi-infarct dementia because it is caused by a mild stroke (infarction) caused by blood clots in small blood vessels in the brain. Usually there are characteristics of vascular dementia or small blood vessel disease that can be detected by imaging CT otal or MRI of the brain. Often a trained neurologist can detect vascular dementia through examination of medical and physical history.
Stroke that contributes to vascular dementia is most often caused by cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol or cigarettes.
This type of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease can occur at the same time as vascular dementia. In such situations, the symptoms of dementia are usually more significant than with other types of dementia.
Caring for patients with vascular dementia requires high level of support and medical care and management to prevent further stroke. Setbacks and decreased memory and understanding can occur together with fever, disease and infection.
Common symptoms of vascular dementia include forgetfulness, daze, confusion and mood swings. Appetite can change, and can cause loss of appetite. Some people tend to sleep more often. Some people lose important objects or may get lost, even in places they usually visit. It is important to see a doctor to get an accurate diagnosis of the causes of dementia because the treatment of vascular dementia is different from other types of dementia. Treatment of vascular dementia is focused on preventing stroke while other types of dementia treatment are focused on drugs that prevent damage to brain cells associated with Alzheimer's disease and similar causes of dementia.
