vascular dementia

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Vascular Dementia – what are the treatments for dementia?

Vascular Dementia

Vascular Dementia

Treatment can help prevent further damage to the brain in people with vascular dementia and may slow down its progression.

But there’s currently no cure for the condition or a way to reverse the damage that’s already occurred.

 

Care plans

Before treatment starts, your current and future health and social care needs will be assessed and a care plan drawn up.

This is a way of ensuring you receive the right treatment for your needs. It involves identifying areas where you may need some assistance, such as:

what support you or your carer need for you to remain as independent as possible – including whether you might need care at home or in a nursing home

whether there are any changes that need to be made to your home to make it easier to live in

whether you need any financial assistance

Read more about care plans.

Lifestyle changes

The main aim of treatment for vascular dementia is to treat the underlying cause to help stop the condition getting worse.

This will usually involve making healthy lifestyle changes, such as:

eating healthily, for example, you may be advised to follow a low-salt diet to manage high blood pressure

losing weight if you’re overweight

stopping smoking

getting fit

cutting down on alcohol

Medication

Medication may also be offered to treat the underlying cause of vascular dementia and help stop it getting worse.

These include:

medication for high blood pressure

statins to treat high cholesterol

medicines such as aspirin or clopidogrel to reduce the risk of blood clots and further strokes

anticoagulant medication, such as warfarin, which can also reduce the risk of blood clots and further strokes

medication for diabetes

Some medicines may also help with some of the symptoms of vascular dementia. For example, antidepressants can help relieve depression.

Alzheimer’s disease medications such as donepezil (Aricept), galantamine (Reminyl) or rivastigmine (Exelon) aren’t used to treat vascular dementia, but may be used in people with a combination of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Support and other therapies

There are also a number of therapies and practical measures that can help make everyday living easier for someone with dementia.

These include:

occupational therapy to identify problem areas in everyday life, such as getting dressed, and help work out practical solutions

speech and language therapy to help improve any communication problems

physiotherapy to help with movement difficulties

psychological therapies, such as cognitive stimulation (activities and exercises designed to improve memory, problem-solving skills and language ability)

relaxation techniques, such as massage and music or dance therapy

social interaction, leisure activities and other dementia activities, such as memory cafés (drop-in sessions for people with memory problems and their carers to get support and advice)

home modifications, such as removing loose carpets and potential trip hazards, ensuring the home is well lit, and adding grab bars and handrails

It may also be helpful to get in touch with a support group, such as the Alzheimer’s Society or Dementia UK.

Read more about living well with dementia.

End of life and legal issues

If you’ve been diagnosed with dementia, you might want to make arrangements for your care that take into account the decline in your mental abilities.

This may include ensuring that your wishes are upheld if you’re not able to make decisions for yourself.

You may want to consider:

drawing up an advance decision – this makes your treatment preferences known in case you’re unable to do this in the future

having a preferred place of care plan – this outlines where you would like to receive treatment

giving a relative lasting power of attorney – this is the power to make decisions about you if you’re unable to

Read more about managing legal affairs for someone with dementia and end of life planning.

Help and advice for carers

If you care for someone with dementia, you may find it helpful to read more about:

Looking after someone with dementia

Respite care – this can allow you to take breaks from caring

Benefits for carers – such as allowances and tax credits that may be available

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Vascular Dementia – what are the causes of dementia?

Vascular dementia.

Vascular dementia.


Vascular dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to the brain, which damages and eventually kills the brain cells.

This is usually due to:

narrowing of the small blood vessels deep inside the brain – known as subcortical vascular dementia or small vessel disease

a stroke (where the blood supply to part of the brain is suddenly cut off, usually as the result of a blood clot) – called post-stroke dementia or single-infarct dementia

lots of “mini strokes” that cause tiny but widespread damage to the brain – known as multi-infarct dementia

Some people with vascular dementia also have brain damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease. This is known as mixed dementia.

Who’s most at risk?

Things that can increase your chances of getting vascular dementia in later life include:

high blood pressure (hypertension)

smoking

an unhealthy diet

high blood cholesterol

lack of exercise

being overweight or obese

diabetes

excessive alcohol consumption

atrial fibrillation (a type of irregular heartbeat) and other types of heart disease

These problems increase the risk of damage to the blood vessels in and around the brain, or cause blood clots to develop inside them.

Can I reduce my risk?

By making healthy lifestyle changes – such as stopping smoking and exercising regularly – and treating any health conditions you have, you may be able to reduce your risk of vascular dementia.

This may also help slow down or stop the progression of vascular dementia if you’re diagnosed in the early stages. See treating vascular dementia for more information.

But there are some things you can’t change that can increase your risk of vascular dementia, such as:

your age – the risk of vascular dementia increases as you get older, with people over 65 most at risk

your family history – your risk of problems such as strokes is higher if a close family member has had them

your ethnicity – if you have a south Asian, African or Caribbean background, your risk of vascular dementia is higher, as related problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure are more common in these groups

In rare cases, unavoidable genetic conditions can also increase your risk of vascular dementia.

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Dementia – What are the early signs of vascular dementia?

Memories to help with dementia

Memories to help with dementia

Vascular dementia causes problems with mental abilities and a number of other difficulties.

The symptoms can come on suddenly or gradually. They tend to get worse over time, although treatment can help slow this down.

Early symptoms

Early signs of vascular dementia can include mild:

slowness of thought

difficulty with planning

trouble with understanding

problems with concentration

mood or behavioural changes

problems with memory and language (but these aren’t as common as they are in people with Alzheimer’s disease)

As this point, these problems may be barely noticeable or mistaken for something else, such as depression. But they indicate some brain damage has occurred and that treatment is needed.

Later symptoms

The symptoms often continue to get worse over time. This may happen slowly, or in sudden steps every few months or years.

The symptoms depend on the part of the brain that’s affected, but can include:

significant slowness of thought

feeling disorientated and confused

memory loss and difficulty concentrating

difficulty finding the right words

severe personality changes, such as becoming aggressive

depression, mood swings and lack of interest or enthusiasm

finding it difficult to walk and keep balance, with frequent falls

loss of bladder control (incontinence)

increasing difficulty with daily activities

Some people also have some symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Getting medical advice

See your GP if you think you have early symptoms of dementia, especially if you’re over 65 years of age.

If it’s spotted at an early stage, treatment may be able to stop the vascular dementia getting worse, or at least slow it down.

If you’re worried about someone else, encourage them to make an appointment with their GP and perhaps suggest that you go with them.

Symptoms of dementia can have several causes. Your GP can do some simple checks to try to find out the cause and may refer you to a specialist for further tests.

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Dementia Awareness Week 2015 – share to show your support for the Alzheimer’s community #DoSomethingNew

Dementia Awareness Week

Dementia Awareness Week

Tomorrow (Sunday 18th May 2015) sees the first day of Dementia Awareness Week.

PatientTalk.Org are delighted to once again throw our digital wight behind this important event!  For a great overview of dementia please check out our interview with Dr Nori Graham who is Medical Director of Red and Yellow Care, Vice President of Alzheimer’s Disease International and The Alzheimer’s Society.

The Alzheimer’s Society  have developed five key informational points that they wish to promote this Dementia Awareness Week.

Dementia is not a natural part of ageing

Dementia is more common among older people , and some of us do become more forgetful as we get older, during times of stress or, in fact, illness. But dementia is a very  different sort of forgetfulness. Your memory loss will be very noticeable, and may be accompanied by mood changes and confusion/brain fog. It’s important to ask your doctor to check out any unusual symptoms as these can sometimes be treated quite easily.


Dementia is caused by diseases of the brain

Dementia is the name for a Syndrome  (collection of symptoms)  that includes memory loss, mood changes/brain fog and problems with communication and rational thought. These symptoms are brought about by a number of diseases that affect the brain. The most common of these is Alzheimer’s disease, which causes the brain cells to die. Other types of dementia include vascular dementia and Pick’s disease.

It’s not just about losing your memory

People often think of dementia as a form of memory loss. And that is often true in the first instance. But it’s more than that – it can also affect the way people think, speak, perceive things, feel and behave. Dementia makes it harder to communicate and do everyday things, but there is a lot that can be done to help.

It’s possible to live well with dementia

Many people with dementia continue to drive, socialise and hold down satisfying jobs. Even as dementia progresses, many people lead active, healthy lives, continue their hobbies, and enjoy loving friendships and relationships. Of course dementia does make it harder to do certain things, but  it is possible for someone with dementia to get the very best out of life.

There’s more to a person than the dementia

When someone is diagnosed, their plans for the future might change and they may need more help and support to keep doing the things they enjoy – but dementia doesn’t change who they are.  Where there is life there is hope.

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Dementia Awareness Week 2014. Please like and share to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia


Dementia Awareness Week

Dementia Awareness Week

This Sunday sees the start of Dementia Awareness Week 2014.  We have produced the graphic above to help promote the week and raise awareness of the issues surrounding dementia.  

It would be really great if you could like and share this with family and friends. To find out more about the week check out the website which will give you loads of ideas for great awareness raising events.

On their website Alzheimer’s Society have a great introduction to dementia in their media section which we reproduce here.  The term “describes different brain disorders that trigger a loss of brain function. These conditions are all usually progressive and eventually severe.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, affecting 62 per cent of those diagnosed. Other types of dementia include; vascular dementia affecting 17 per cent of those diagnosed, mixed dementia affecting 10 per cent of those diagnosed.
Symptoms of dementia include memory loss, confusion and problems with speech and understanding. Dementia is a terminal condition.”