Vascular Dementia: Strokes, Heart Attack, Alzheimer's

With the passage of time, there is no doubt everyone will see changes in their capacities related to cognition or intellectual functioning. These capacities help us to be able to remember names of people, places and things and to remember how to solve complicated math problems. The ability to remember is one of the most indispensible cognitive abilities and it is one of the first signs of dementia. Dementia affects more than memory. Problem solving, decision making and the capacity to make good judgments are just a few skills impacted by dementia. Dementia often affects changes in personality as well.

Dementia - Vascular Dementia

Vascular dementia is the second highest occurring form of dementia. The highest type of dementia is Alzheimer's. Vascular dementia accounts for about 20% of dementia cases and when combined with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's with vascular dementia, the percentage rises to 40%. Vascular dementia most commonly affects persons 60 to 75 years of age. It appears to be diagnosed slightly more frequently in women than men. This condition acquired its' name because it is caused by issues associated with blood circulation to the brain. The medical term for this is cerebrovascular disease. There are a number of diseases related to decreased vascular flow to the brain with the primary symptom being reduced or lost intellectual capacities.

Dementia - Vascular Dementia Causes

When someone is diagnosed with vascular dementia, they have had a obstruction within the small blood vessels or arteries in the brain. When an area of the brain has been deprived of oxygen, due to a blockage of blood flow for a significant period of time, it dies. This is called an infarct or stroke and creates necrosis or tissue death. The death of brain tissue results in a loss of functioning that was controlled by that part of the brain. As mentioned earlier, the most common symptom of dementia is memory loss. Memory functioning is located all over the brain and is not controlled in just one area. With this said, death of tissue anywhere in the brain has a high probability of affecting memory skills.

Vascular dementia is in many cases preventable. Since vascular dementia is caused by having a stroke, it is preventable by controlling for those conditions most associated with strokes such as: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Once someone has a stroke, there is no reversing the damage. The best course of action is to start to address the medical/health issue(s) that caused the stroke in the first place.

Dementia - Vascular Dementia Treatment
There are times when dementia is created by treatable causes such as hydrocephalus-cerebrospinal fluid that has collected in the ventricles of the brain, metabolic disorders- chemical reactions which help organisms sustain life and tumors. In general though, dementia increases over time and is irreversible

All in all, there is documentation of over 50 diverse causes of dementia which includes Alzheimer's, vascular disorders resulting in multi-infarct - locations in the brain where the tissue has died because of oxygen deprivation, genetic disorders like Huntington's and infections that invade the brain such as HIV. People with dementia become progressively incapable of caring for themselves and may ultimately require 24/7 care.

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