About Dementia
What is Dementia?
Dementia is not a normal part of aging. It is a syndrome caused by damage to the brain. This damage is progressive and affects a person’s memory, judgment, emotions and motivation. There are several different types of dementia including Alzheimer's disease, Lewy Body, Frontotemporal, Vascular and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. For more information on these forms of dementia visit the Alzheimer Society of Canada website at www.alzheimer.ca.
Age is the number one risk factor for developing dementia. Currently in Canada 1 in 13 people over the age of 65 has Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia and 1 in 3 over the age of 85 has Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. It is estimated that 1,900 people in Algoma District are affected by Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia accounting for 64 per cent of all dementias in Canada.
10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer's Disease (from the Alzheimer Society of Canada)
1) MEMORY LOSS THAT AFFECTS DAY-TO-DAY FUNCTION
It’s normal to occasionally forget appointments, colleagues’ names or a friend’s phone number and remember them later. A person with Alzheimer's disease may forget things more often and not remember them later, especially things that have happened more recently.
2) DIFFICULTY PERFORMING FAMILIAR TASKS
Busy people can be so distracted from time to time that they may leave the carrots on the stove and only remember to serve them at the end of a meal. A person with Alzheimer's disease may have trouble with tasks that have been familiar to them all their lives, such as preparing a meal.
3) PROBLEMS WITH LANGUAGE
Everyone has trouble finding the right word sometimes, but a person with Alzheimer's disease may forget simple words or substitute words, making sentences difficult to understand.
4) DISORIENTATION OF TIME AND PLACE
It’s normal to forget the day of the week or your destination – for a moment. But people with Alzheimer's disease can become lost on their own street, not knowing how they got there or how to get home.
5) POOR OR DECREASED JUDGMENT
People may sometimes put off going to a doctor if they have an infection, but eventually seek medical attention. A person with Alzheimer's disease may have decreased judgment, for example not recognizing a medical problem that needs attention or wearing heavy clothing on a hot day.
6) PROBLEMS WITH ABSTRACT THINKING
From time to time, people may have difficulty with tasks that require abstract thinking, such as balancing a cheque book. Someone with Alzheimer's disease may have significant difficulties with such tasks, for example not understanding what the numbers in the cheque book mean.
7) MISPLACING THINGS
Anyone can temporarily misplace a wallet or keys. A person with Alzheimer's disease may put things in inappropriate places: an iron in the freezer or a wristwatch in the sugar bowl.
8) CHANGES IN MOOD AND BEHAVIOUR
Everyone becomes sad or moody from time to time. Someone with Alzheimer's disease can exhibit varied mood swings – from calm to tears to anger – for no apparent reason.
9) CHANGES IN PERSONALITY
People’s personalities can change somewhat with age. But a person with Alzheimer's disease can become confused, suspicious or withdrawn. Changes may also include apathy, fearfulness or acting out of character.
10) LOSS OF INITIATIVE
It’s normal to tire of housework, business activities or social obligations, but most people regain their initiative. A person with Alzheimer's disease may become very passive, and require cues and prompting to become involved.
“The 7 A’S of Dementia”
The “7 A’s” categorize the most common losses of dementia and can help us to better understand the meaning of behaviour. This information is adapted from the P.I.E.C.E.S Learning Initiative Resource Guide 2003-2004.
1. Amnesia means loss of memory. At first, short term-memory will be lost, but eventually long-term memory will also be affected. A person with short-term memory loss may not remember what was just said, and this is why we will often hear repetitive questions or statements. Since people with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia (ADRD) may only have access to long-term memories, they may talk about things from long ago.
2. Apathy is when an individual appears to be depressed or simply uninterested in activities. The person with apathy experiences a loss of drive or initiative. The part of the brain that controls initiation of activity is damaged to the point where it may not occur to the person to do anything at all.
3. Aphasia means loss of language, and can include both speaking and understanding others. The person may have trouble thinking of the word they would like to use or may “mix up” words. Difficulty understanding what other people are saying may lead to misunderstandings.
4. Altered perception means misinterpretation of sensory information, which may lead to illusions and/or delusions. This can be upsetting for both the person and their care partners. Another perceptual loss is loss of depth perception—the ability to see in three dimensions. It becomes difficult for the person to judge how high, deep, long, wide, near or far things are.
5. Agnosia means a loss of recognition of sensory information and includes all senses—sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. People with agnosia are not able to sort out what they see, hear, etc. People with ADRD may not recognize family members or friends, or even themselves in the mirror. Safety can be compromised if the person with ADRD confuses objects and their use.
6. Apraxia means loss of ability to initiate purposeful movements and patterns of movement. People with apraxia may have trouble understanding directions—back, front, left, right, up, down, etc. They may have difficulty controlling their body parts to do familiar tasks, such as making a pot of coffee or brushing one’s teeth. They know what they want to do but, for some reason, the message does not get to the part of the brain that tells their muscles what to do. Since the message does not get from the brain to the body parts, people with apraxia often do not know how to start a movement or what order to follow.
7. Anosognosia means loss of ability to realize there is anything wrong. The person with anosognosia is not pretending and it is not “denial”. The person with ADRD honestly does not realize there is a problem because the part of the brain that allows one to reason is now damaged. This can cause challenges when the person resents being told what to do or what not to do.
For more information on Alzheimer Disease visit the Alzheimer Society of Canada website at www.alzheimer.ca.