Understanding Dementia Symptoms in Elderly: Causes, Signs, and Care Tips

You may notice your loved ones forgetting things or struggling to keep up with daily tasks, and these difficulties can increase with age. Such signs may indicate dementia, a condition that requires attention. Recognising the early symptoms and understanding the causes of dementia in elderly can help ensure they receive timely and appropriate care, which can make a significant difference in their quality of life.

What is Dementia?

Dementia is a cognitive condition that typically arises in the later stages of life, often affecting those over 65. It impairs memory, leading individuals to experience frequent forgetfulness, which disrupts their daily routines. While memory loss is a hallmark of dementia, the condition also has various underlying causes that can impact physical health and overall well-being.

Common Dementia Symptoms in Elderly

Some of the common dementia symptoms in elderly include the following:

• Forgetting recent events.
• Displacing used items from their regular spot.
• Unfamiliar about the month, season and year.
• Repeating the same thing spoken just a while ago.
• Frequent mood and behavioural changes
• Difficulty in forming sentences or using right words

These are just common symptoms which can get worse with time. Initially a few symptoms will show and eventually these will get bad making it difficult for the patients. Thus, it is advisable to keep an eye out for the worsening signs and symptoms of dementia in the elderly, like:

• Memory will decline at a rapid rate.
• Difficulty in doing their daily basic tasks like brushing teeth, making a cup of coffee, or cooking.
• Worsening signs and symptoms of anxiety.
• Becoming agitated and annoyed frequently.
• Constant need of help with daily activities like eating, bathing, and more.
• Declining ability to solve problems.
• Frequent change in sleeping patterns.

Causes of Dementia in Elderly

One of the main causes of dementia in elderly is damage to the brain cells. This brain cell damage can interfere with the ability of communication thereby preventing normal thinking, behaviour, and feelings.

Different types of dementia can be associated with different types of brain cell damage. In Alzheimer’s, there are high levels of protein in and out of the brain cells making it difficult to stay healthy. This interferes with the ability of communicating with each other.

Vascular dementia occurs when blood vessels supplying oxygen and nutrients to brain cells become damaged. This blockage can lead to strokes, which may harm the brain’s white matter fibres. In Lewy body dementia, protein deposits, resembling small balloon-like clumps, accumulate in the brain.

Some of the major causes of dementia in elderly include the breakdown of nerve cells in the temporal and frontal lobes. People over the age of 80 start experiencing mixed dementia.

Various aspects often play an important role in the onset of dementia among the elderly, like:

• Old age
• Genetics
• Lifestyle habits

Different health conditions like brain stroke, Parkinson’s disease or cardiovascular diseases also increase the risk of people developing dementia.

Final Stages of Dementia

The final stages of dementia in elderly can be very challenging for the individuals. The risk of dementia usually rises around the age of 65 years. However, the final stages do not kick in by late 70s or 80s. During this stage people start showing a combination of dementia due to different causes. Therefore, they exhibit symptoms of Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

Not only does their mental health decline affecting their ability to speak or do things, but their physical health declines severely. In the final stages of dementia, the elderly experience severe memory loss, with difficulty in judgment, thinking or coordinating things. It’s during this stage that they need extra care and support. Therefore, one has to be available full-time around these patients to keep a check on them.

Samarth Elder Care has professionals who have experience in dealing with dementia patients. Therefore, connecting with them for taking care of a final stages of dementia in elderly patient at your home will guarantee you complete safety and security to overcome issues in the challenging times.

Activities for Elderly Dementia Patients

The activities for elderly dementia patients can stimulate their brain and keep them active. These activities play an important role in avoiding major damages, especially in terms of reducing their anxiety. As a result, practising these activities allows the dementia patients to be calm and composed.

The activities for elderly dementia patients need not be too extensive, they can be something very simple. These activities are usually designed depending on the comfort level of the patients. The activities are usually the ones that can help the experts stay focused and reduce anxiety, such as:

• Art therapy
• Memory games
• Solving puzzles
• Basic colouring

The experts at Samarth Elder Care can help in designing customised activities for elderly dementia patients. They can connect and help the patients practice these activities thereby delaying the symptoms from getting worse.

How to Support a Loved One with Dementia?

Dementia patients often have a tough time coping with things. Since they do not remember things around them mostly, it becomes difficult for them to analyse different factors. Family members should come together during this difficult time to offer their support to the elderly suffering from dementia.

Some of the common ways to support a loved one with dementia include:

• Communicate with them daily. They have difficulty thinking and speaking and may lose their ability completely. Therefore, communicating with them daily keeps them in practice as well as engaged.
• Grooming the loved one with dementia is crucial to maintain them at their best condition. Since they’re not able to take care of themselves, you may step up to take care of them.
• People suffering from dementia are likely to get scared of things around them. Therefore, try to foster a safe environment around them and make them believe the same.
• Be patient with people with dementia. They are likely to become confused and may not understand a lot of things around them. So, be patient and explain things to them.
• Take them to therapy. Speech and cognitive behavioural therapy can help your loved ones feel okay.

Offering physical and emotional support to your loved ones with dementia can be really helpful. While it may not cure the problem completely, it does help in preventing the situation from escalating.

How Can Samarth Elder Care Help?

Samarth Elder Care offers support to the elderly community in India. With their vast network across the Indian cities, they are available to offer maximum support to the elderly suffering from dementia in India. They have built the #1 community for seniors in India.

Samarth Elder Care has a team of compassionate and experienced individuals who aim at helping the seniors with diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Offering personalised and customised care to the dementia patients, Samarth Elder Care also aims at ensuring that the family members understand how to do it.

The experts at Samarth Elder Care take care of dementia patients at home and help them indulge in dementia-friendly activities. Their unique approach ensures that the patients’ symptoms and conditions aren’t worsening.