Cognitive impairment is one of the most common neurological symptoms that indicates a disorder in the functioning of the brain. These violations directly affect the ability to intelligent knowledge of the world. And the reasons for this can be a number of different diseases. What is the essence of this pathology?
What is cognitive impairment?
The cognitive properties of the body include such functions of our nervous system that are responsible for awareness, perception, study, understanding and processing of information from the environment around us. Without this important function, a person is not able to correctly perceive and cognize the world around him. Below are the functions that will suffer as a result of this pathology:
- Perception. A person cannot perceive information from the external environment.
- Intellect. The ability to analyze information is impaired. A person is unable to draw conclusions.
- Psychomotor function. Loss of ability to performvarious motor skills.
- Memory. The ability to store and reproduce the received information is impaired.
- Attention. A person with great difficulty can isolate any information from the general flow, he has difficulty concentrating.
- Speech.
Causes of violations
The causes of cognitive impairment are conditionally divided into two categories: organic and functional.
The latter is characterized by the fact that a person does not have any direct brain damage. Stressful situations, overwork, negative emotions can lead to such a state. It can be observed in people of all ages and does not carry any particular danger. Usually the symptoms go away on their own after the cause of their appearance is eliminated. Rarely, there is a need for mild medical therapy.
Brain Damage
Organic disorders always mean brain damage. These conditions are more common in older people. But competent treatment in most cases will achieve significant improvements even with cognitive impairment in old age.
The most popular causes of the named pathology:
- hypothyroidism;
- diabetes mellitus;
- various injuries;
- vascular diseases of the brain - atherosclerosis (leads to occlusion of the great vessels), stroke, arterial hypertension;
- liver failure;
- renalfailure;
- irrational consumption of medicines;
- addiction;
- alcoholism;
- brain tumor;
- multiple sclerosis;
- Alzheimer's disease;
- Parkinson's disease;
- poisoning.
How does cognitive impairment syndrome manifest itself?
Symptoms
Symptoms of the disease are very diverse. In many ways, they will be determined by the severity of the pathological process and its location in the brain. With cognitive impairment, most often, not one function is damaged, but several at once:
- getting lost in unfamiliar places;
- the dynamism of thinking decreases - new information may not be perceived, it is difficult for the patient to draw conclusions;
- there is a lack of criticality in assessing one's behavior;
- concentration of attention decreases - difficulties are experienced in solving specific problems;
- memory functions decrease - at first a person forgets events that have recently occurred, and as he progresses, he forgets what happened a long time ago.
Views
Based on the degree of manifestation of violations, three types can be identified.
With mild cognitive impairment, the symptoms look like a decrease in concentration, an imperceptible deterioration in memory, high fatigue during various types of mental work. A person can forget the names of acquaintances, is not able to find his way in an unfamiliar place, it is difficult for him to choose words. Often he cannot remember whereleft some thing.
Examinations of these disorders are carried out using psychological and clinical research. So, when performing neuropsychological tests, a violation of serial counting can be established. The patient is characterized by the absence of global changes in the emotional and behavioral sphere, there is no damage to the brain. There is a slight disruption of professional and social activities.
Mild cognitive impairment is caused by a deterioration in one or more functions. The patient may need outside help, as he almost does not remember some situations from life, is not able to find his way.
Dementia
A severe form of cognitive impairment is dementia. This type is characterized by the presence of complex problems in the professional and social sphere, and even in banal self-service. He constantly needs outside help. A person has disorientation in time, he does not remember many life events. The situation can be complicated by the appearance of obsessions, anxiety, delusions and hallucinations. The most severe manifestation is the complete absence of psychomotor skills, urinary incontinence, loss of speech.
Cognitive Impairment in Children
This problem is quite common in children and adolescents. Its causes may lie in the deficiency of vitamins and minerals necessary for the body, trauma during childbirth, previous diseases, cerebral hypoxia, intrauterine infections.
It is important to know that the most common cause of cognitive impairment in children is hypovitaminosis. Scientists conducteda number of studies, as a result of which they found a clear pattern of cognitive decline in children, the cause of which is their insufficient supply of micronutrients.
Characteristic signs of cognitive impairment in children are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, unstable mentality, impaired behavioral reflexes, difficulty in mastering writing and reading skills.
Drugs
Treatment of children with cognitive impairment should be carried out in a complex, including drug and non-drug methods of therapy. Of the drugs, in most cases, nootropics are used. They increase metabolic functions and interneuronal transmission in the central nervous system, which has a good effect on intellectual activity, memory, speech, attention and learning ability. These drugs include Encephabol, Piracetam, Piracetam, Instenon.
The positive effect is also acquired during sessions with a psychotherapist, as well as with the help of memory training, for example, memorizing songs and poems.
How to identify cognitive disorders occurring in the brain
In order to detect the presence and degree of cognitive impairment of the brain, it is necessary to interview the patient and his relatives in detail. It is necessary to take into account the presence of injuries in history, heredity, the mental and emotional state of the patient, the use of drugs, bad habits.
Neurologists examine the patient for the presence of an underlying disease that can giveneurological symptoms.
Mental state will help to determine the profile specialist using a neuropsychological test. Such tests are unique exercises for reproducing words and pictures, solving problems, performing any motor exercises and similar actions.
For cognitive impairment in the elderly, it is very good to use the MMSE scale - this is a list of questions that can assess what position they are in memory, perception, speech, reading, drawing, orientation in space, etc. This scale can also be used to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of treatment.
Special laboratory tests should be performed in patients with acquired cognitive impairment. The doctor needs to have data from biochemical and clinical blood tests, the level of thyroid-stimulating hormones, lipid profile and some other indicators.
Of the hardware methods, electroencephalography, computed and magnetic resonance imaging, dopplerography of the main vessels are used.
The patient needs to eliminate possible somatic diseases.
If there is any suspicion of Alzheimer's disease, a differential diagnosis of this disease with vascular dementia should be made.
How is cognitive impairment treated?
Therapy Methods
If you observe even the slightest signs of cognitive impairment, you need to start using vitamin-mineral complexes and takeamino acid glycine. Of course, self-medication is not recommended, so you should consult your doctor before starting any therapy.
Correction of cognitive impairment, of course, will largely depend on the cause of their origin. But its most important goal is to correct the pathological changes that occur in the brain. In addition to treating the underlying disease, doctors advise taking neuroprotective agents to improve cognitive function. These include: "Cavinton", "Piracetam", "Nootropil", "Ceraxon", "Cerebrolysin", "Mildronate". It is also a good prevention of the further occurrence of this disorder.
If the patient has severe cognitive impairment and identified dementia, he will be prescribed the following drugs: Nicergoline, Galantamine, Memantine, Rivastigmine, Donepezil. The duration of the course and dosage are determined strictly individually.
The patient is also shown medicines that will help cope with hypercholesterolemia - Simvastatin, Torvacard, Atorvastatin. In addition, doctors recommend following a cholesterol-free diet. It is necessary to add vegetables, fruits, low-fat milk, cottage cheese and seafood to the diet. It is also important to give up bad habits, if any. A course of psychotherapy will be useful.
Additional information
Doctors advise everyone to learn poetry, draw, knit, or do some other activity where you need to use your hands. Crossword puzzles are also helpful. Suchpastime is a wonderful exercise for the brain.
How to prevent cognitive impairment?
Prevention and prognosis
It is impossible to make a general prognosis for cognitive impairment. In each case, the results are individual. But if you seek help from a doctor in a timely manner and follow all the instructions, you will be able to slow down the development of the disease process.
It should be noted that there are two forms of cognitive impairment: reversible and irreversible. The first form can be adjusted, but the second one cannot.
Prevention includes special activities that are aimed at reducing stress and increasing mental and physical activity of a person. In order to avoid the appearance of such pathologies, one should try to constantly perform any intellectual tasks from a young age. In addition, in order to prevent dementia, it is necessary to treat vascular diseases, liver diseases in time, and also replenish the lack of B vitamins.
Treatment of cognitive impairment should be timely.
Most of the cases indicate that the symptoms are only getting worse. So an important goal of prevention is to slow down the further course of destructive processes, to reduce pathological effects on the brain. To do this, you must follow certain rules:
- Perform various cognitive exercises we have already mentioned.
- Take medication prescribed by your doctor.
- Savestable mental and emotional state, beware of negative emotions, stress.
- Because there is a link between cognitive functions and physical activity, it is essential to do some kind of sport (gymnastics, swimming, yoga, Pilates, walking).
- The importance of social activities cannot be ignored. People who are socially isolated are at high risk for these disorders.
- You also need to focus on your diet. It needs to be balanced. The positive effect will be if you follow the Mediterranean diet. You can take vitamins and nutritional supplements: vitamin E, B vitamins, copper, zinc, omega-3.
In closing
Cognitive development disorders are, of course, a very serious problem for human he alth. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to detect it at the first stages of its occurrence. This can help in taking adequate measures to prevent the progression of the disease.
