Memory disorders result in a deteriorated ability of judgment, reasoning, and decision making. This causes difficulty in communicating, memory loss, and confusion which may interfere with the individual’s daily life and activities. The onset of memory disorders may either be sudden or it can take a few years before the symptoms appear.
There are many factors attributing to memory disorders such as aging, trauma, substance abuse, heredity, cardiovascular disease, untreated infectious or metabolic disease, brain tumors, or vitamin deficiencies.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that worsens over time by causing changes to the nerves of the brain. Being the seventh leading cause of death in America, it has affected an estimated 5.3 million people. Although it’s usually seen to occur in older adults, it can happen to people as early as 40 years old. Other factors that may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in people include heredity, diabetes, poor nutrition, hypertension, and a history of traumatic brain injury.
Some of the common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include:
- Memory loss
- Confusion
- Restlessness
- Changes in personality and behavior
- Issues with making judgment and choices
- Issues communicating with others
- Inability to follow directions
- Lack of emotion
Over time as the disease develops, you may notice that the severity of memory loss worsens, making daily life and everyday activities more challenging and difficult. Individuals with Alzheimer’s disease may find themselves gradually requiring more assistance with daily activities and necessities as the disease gets more severe. In those with the severe form of the disease, individuals may become dependent on others to ensure that they are getting the proper nutrition they need and that their personal hygiene is maintained.
Dementia
Many people associate dementia as a part of growing older, but this is far from true. In fact, dementia is a progressive disease that worsens over time and is primarily caused by ongoing damage to brain cells. Dementia comes in a variety of forms such as vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Lewy body dementia. Out of all the types of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia.
Dementia symptoms vary across individuals and are dependent on which parts of the brain are affected. Some of the most common symptoms of dementia include:
- Memory loss
- Having issues with directions and doing daily tasks
- Difficulty in communicating or understanding what is being said
- Difficulty in concentrating, making judgments, planning, and organizing things
- Changes in personality and behavior
There are various stages of dementia and the progression of the disease may be different.
In the early stage, although you may notice that the individual is more confused or forgetful than normal and see changes in their personality and behavior, the individual will still be able to do most of the daily tasks without help. In the middle stage, the individual will require more help with their daily tasks and may have more trouble recognizing the faces of their friends and family, wander around, and get lost more often. They may also get easily agitated and have mood swings. In the advanced stage, the individual will generally become dependent and require help with nearly every task and aspect of their daily life as their memory and judgment skills become severely affected.
