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Last modified: November 16, 2021
Written by Sharon Boves• December 18, 2020• 10:42 am• Articles, Home
Dementia is a syndrome where a person experiences a decline in cognitive and personal functioning that cannot be explained by normal ageing. Dementia is not a disease in itself but a collection of symptoms that signal that there is an underlying disease that is causing the changes affecting the person’s overall functioning.
With mental illness being clouded in stigma and a lack of acceptance, awareness about dementia is also lacking. It is a disease that is very often confused with normal aging. This leads to regular delays in its diagnosis and management. While it doesn’t have a cure yet, there are medication and techniques for the management of dementia.
Awareness of Dementia has increased over the years but despite of that, it’s diagnosis and management is still delayed in the majority of cases.
Creutzfeld Jacobs Disease, Huntington’s Disease and HIV associated dementia are some of the more rare presentations of dementia. Dementia can sometimes also be caused by Traumatic Brain Injury.
About 50 to 80% of people will Parkinson’s also eventually develop dementia. This is known as Parkinson’s Disease Dementia.
While symptoms can vary from person to person, we can look out for any noticeable change in the cognitive functioning of our family member. Early detection of these symptoms can allow a person with dementia and their family, to better plan the management of symptoms.
In early stages, the person may also be able to get the opportunity to take part in treatment and management themselves and also make decisions about how they want their family to manage their dementia at later stages. With increasing awareness and knowledge about Dementia, we hope that more and more persons and family get early support with this progressively degenerative disease.