Dementia is a loss of brain function over weeks, months, or years that occurs with certain diseases. It affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behavior. Similar changes that occur over hours or a day or two is called delirium or encephalopathy.
Metabolism refers to all the physical and chemical processes in the body. Dementia due to metabolic causes is a loss of brain function that can occur with Diabetes, thyroid disease, and other metabolic disorders.
Causes, incidence, and risk factorsHow often this condition affects different ages, genders, and races varies based on the disorder that is causing the dementia.
Metabolic causes of dementia include:
Dementia that occurs with metabolic disorders may cause confusion and changes in thinking or reasoning. These changes may be short-term or lasting.
The early symptoms of dementia can include:
As the dementia becomes worse, symptoms are more obvious and interfere with the ability to take care of yourself:
Note: The person may also have symptoms from the disorder that caused dementia.
Signs and testsAn examination of the nervous system (neurologic examination) can show different problems, depending on the cause. Abnormal reflexes may be present.
Tests to diagnose a medical condition causing the dementia may include:
To rule out certain brain disorders, a head CT scan or head MRI scan is usually done.
TreatmentTreatment focuses on managing the disorder and controlling symptoms.
Medications used to treat Alzheimer's disease have not been shown to work for this type of dementia. However, sometimes these drugs are used anyway, when other treatments are unable to control the underlying problems.
See: Dementia - home care for information about taking care of a loved one with dementia.
Expectations (prognosis)The outcome varies depending on the cause of the dementia and the amount of damage to the brain.
ComplicationsComplications may include the following:
Call for an appointment if symptoms get worse or continue. Go to the emergency room or call the local emergency number (such as 911) if there is a sudden change in mental status or a life-threatening emergency.
PreventionTreating the metabolic disorder may reduce the risk of developing this type of dementia.
ReferencesDeKosky ST, Kaufer DI, Hamilton RL, Wolk DA, Lopez OL. The dementias. In: Bradley WG, Daroff RB, Fenichel GM, Jankovic J, eds. Neurology in Clinical Practice. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Butterworth-Heinemann; 2008:chap 70.
Brewer JB, Gabrieli JDE, Preston AR, Vaidya CJ, Rosen AC. Memory. In: Goetz CG, ed. Textbook of Clinical Neurology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders;2007: chap 5.
The three main irreversible causes are Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and multi-infarct dementia (also called vascular dementia).
We do not know what causes dementia, we only know that it becomes more common as people age.
No dementia is hereditary which means it's DNA not THC smoke on brotha!
If one is experiencing black urine, it can be due to several causes incuding specific medications or metabolic disorders. Please consult a doctor should you have concerns.
It is not dementia that causes brain lesions. It is the brain lesions that could have caused Dementia. Dementia Praecox was the type of dementia that involved brain lesions post mortem. You can try to read passages from the "Dementia Praecox Studies: A Journal of Psychiatry of Adolescence," (1920 Vol. 3-4 by Holmes, B.T.)
It is very likely that Margaret Thatcher has Alzheimer's. Most people are confused by the term dementia. Dementia is a set of symptoms and is not a disease. To have dementia symptoms, one must have an overlying disease that causes the dementia symptoms. Alzheimer's disease causes 70-80% of all cases of dementia symptoms. Other diseases such as Huntington's disease, Picks disease, Lewy Body disease, Front Temporal also causes dementia symptoms. Parkinson's disease in late stages also may cause dementia symptoms. If one were to say that a person exhibiting dementia symptoms had Alzheimer's disease, one would be right 4 out of times based on statistics alone.
Dementia itself does not typically cause a catatonic state, which is characterized by motor immobility, rigidity, or excessive movement. However, some individuals with advanced dementia may exhibit symptoms that resemble catatonia due to severe cognitive decline, agitation, or other neurological factors. Additionally, certain types of dementia, such as frontotemporal dementia, may lead to behavioral changes that could be misinterpreted as catatonia. It's essential to differentiate between symptoms of dementia and true catatonia, as they may have different underlying causes and treatment approaches.
metabolic causes of coma consist of those conditions that change the chemical environment of the brain, thereby adversely affecting function.
Low Thyroid hormone can causes hair loss, sluggishness and low metabolic rate.
Metabolic acidosis occurs when the body does not get rid of the build up of acids in the body. Acidosis can occur due to kidney failure, uncontrolled diabetes, alcohol poisoning, and prolonged lack of oxygen.
Dementia is a horrible disease that causes you to forget things. It occurs in the brain. Aggressive Dementia is when the disease fights hard and gets worse faster often times at the ending (death) the person with Aggressive Dementia has very severe memory loss, more than a person with regular demetia.
Dementia is the progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Particularly affected areas may be memory, attention, language, and problem solving. In the later stages of the condition affected persons may be disoriented to time, place and person. The many different causes of dementia can be classified as either reversible or irreversible. Less than 10% of cases of dementia are considered reversible, and even in these cases it usually is not fully reversed.