Dementia: Diagnosis and Treatment – Express Urdu

Dementia is a disease in which the memory becomes very weak. This disease is caused by a deficiency of Acetylcholine, a brain chemical that plays a very important role in memory. Deficiency of this chemical leads to behavioral changes and memory loss.

Dementia affects people of all walks of life, whether male or female. About seven lakh people are suffering from this disease in Pakistan. Dementia has many causes. For example, vitamin B12 deficiency. People who eat more vegetables.

This disease is very common among them. Apart from this, hypothyroidism and meningioma, these are the causes which, if treated, can cure the patient’s memory loss. Apart from this, alcohol consumption, excessive use of sleeping pills also cause dementia. Injury to the head for any reason is also a cause of this disease.

The main cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, which causes brain cells to die. It is very common in western countries, whereas we have more ‘vascular dementia’ ie weakening of the blood vessels of the brain, because we have diabetes and high blood pressure.

NPH (Hydrocephalus Normal Pressure) is a disease with this, which means that the water in the vessels of the brain is filled with more than the normal amount and the pressure of the brain increases. In this patient forgetfulness along with difficulty in walking and loss of urinary control. This is also a sign of memory weakness and can be treated.

Memory loss in dementia starts with the patient forgetting small things. For example, forgetting the names of family members, putting anything somewhere, forgetting the way to the house, the way to the mosque, forgetting the prayer, etc. He will remember all the old stuff, like the 65 war, the 92 world cup, but he will forget the new stuff. This disease also affects the communication part of the brain. For example, difficulty in explaining oneself, and in understanding what others say, repeating the same thing over and over again.

The disease also affects the part of the brain that allows a person to recognize everyday objects. For example, looking at the key, the key will not speak, looking at the mobile phone, the mobile phone will not speak. In this disease, the daily activities that the patient does on his own will be affected. For example, changing clothes, eating, doing hair and shaving. All of these will be affected.

As the disease progresses, some psychological problems develop in the patient. For example, Hallucination means he starts seeing things that are in the room and not visible to people. Hallucination Auditory means hearing sounds in the ears. Along with Delusion means the patient will doubt others. With these types of symptoms, the patient becomes anxious and depressed and avoids going out in front of people and isolates himself.

These types of patients should be managed very carefully. Especially such patients should not be allowed to leave the house. Even if they go out of the house, a card or band should be tied around their neck or hand.

Home address and mobile number should be mentioned on it. Communicating with the patient, sitting in the sun early in the morning, giving sugar and blood pressure pills regularly and along with all these, taking kalonji and honey before breakfast every morning is very beneficial for the patient.

This disease can be controlled by the use of some medicines etc. but it cannot be completely eradicated. Along with this, daily 30-minute walk, daily interaction of the family with the patient, taking care of the cleanliness of the patient is very important.