Causes & Conditions
Stress, effects of medication, depression, vitamin deficiency, thyroid disease, alcohol use, fever, head trauma
Temporary causes of cognitive impairment/dementia
Normal functioning
No memory loss
Stage 1 - No impairment
Occurs in the evening when darkness arrives
Sundowning
Clocks, calendars, and signs are useful tools
Reality Orientation
New details lost first, recent memory worse, some language problems, misspeaks, more impulsive, gets lost
Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
Caused by brain damage/disease, end-stage of serious illnesses (cancer, AIDS, kidney failure, diabetes, etc), alcoholism, stroke, and Alzheimer's Disease and is usually permanent
Cognitive impairment
Needs maximum assistance with ADL
Abnormal reflexes
Stage 7 - Most severe
Hallucinations/Delusions
Changing the resident's focus of attention in a clam, gentle manner
Redirection
Movement problems, fall, visual disturbances, delusional thinking, fine motor problems, insomnia, nightmares that seem real
Lewy Body (LBD)
Most common cause of dementia
Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
May feel memory lapses
Forgets familiar words or objects
Stage 2 - Very Mild
May be caused by habit or hearing a particular phrase/word repeatedly, such as "I love you."
Repetitive Phrasing
Life review
Reminiscence Therapy
Sudden changes in ability - some recover, symptom combinations are highly variable, can have bounce back and bad days, judgement and behavior not the same,
Vascular Dementia (VD)
2-20 years
Life span of most individuals with AD after symptoms begin
Tends to wander and get lost
Dresses inappropriately
Incontinent
Unable to recognize family
Stage 6 - Severe
May be caused by delusions, hallucinations, acute illness, pain, hunger, excessive noise or provocation by another resident
Violence/Aggressive behavior
Allows the resident to live in the past or in imaginary circumstances
Validation Therapy
Impuls and behavior control changes, language change, related to tau pathologies
Frontotemporal Dementia
2-3 million
Number of Americans affected by AD
Forgetfulness of recent events
Difficulty performing tasks: dinner or bills
Forgets own history
Stage 4 - Moderate
Examples of this type of behavior include: shouting, hitting, crying, laughing loudly, etc.
Catastrophic Reactions
A form of sensory stimulation
Music Therapy
Huntington's Disease (HD)
Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD)
Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (WKS; Alcohol-induced)
Other Dementias