Unfortunately, over the years, almost everything becomes unusable, even such a perfect mechanism as the human body. In old age, it makes sense to talk about directly senile diseases that can occur only after sixty years.
For example, at this time you can easily notice any symptom of dementia, but if you do not pay attention to it at the time, further developments may not be very pleasant. If we talk about this disease from a medical point of view, then it is a disorder of the so-called "nervous activity" of the body, caused, in turn, by an organic lesion of the brain - the main organ responsible for all actions. Decrease in mental abilities is far from the only unpleasant consequence that senile dementia entails. Its symptoms can manifest itself in memory impairment, speech disorder, as well as a decrease in the ability to think abstractly.
In principle, the clinical picture of the disease will depend entirely on the cause that caused the brain damage, as well as on the extent of the spread of the disease. However, a symptom of dementiain all cases it has the same nature - the ability to think and mental activity as such is completely reduced. It is worth noting that this disease in medicine is usually divided into several types, depending on the degree of damage to the cerebral cortex, as well as on what it was originally caused by.
Moreover, specific types should be noted when a symptom of dementia occurs directly as a result of Alzheimer's, Pick's or Lewy's disease. In this case, the destruction of the cerebral cortex will be an independent and leading process.
It is noteworthy that in some cases it is worth talking about the secondary nature of such a phenomenon as vascular dementia. The symptoms in this case will be similar to the signs of the usual type of illness, however, it will occur against the background of other diseases, for example, as a result of infections, injuries and vascular pathologies that have an age limit. Especially common in this case will be vascular atherosclerosis or advanced hypertension.
It is also worth paying attention to the AIDS virus, in the last stages of which the symptom of dementia in the form of scattered consciousness will manifest itself in any case. In addition, such a diagnosis can be detected as a result of almost any advanced viral diseases, such as meningitis or encephalitis, when the acquired virus gets directly to the brain cells.
To recognize dementia at an early stage, one should especiallycarefully monitor the patient's emotional state. For example, often this ailment will initially be expressed in increased tearfulness and emotional lability. It is also worth noting that today dementia is no longer recognized as a problem characteristic exclusively of older people, since it can occur against the background of post-traumatic syndromes or acquired viruses.
