What is dementia and what causes it?
A fellow caregiver asked...
What is dementia and what causes it?
Expert Answer
A social worker and geriatric consultant who specializes in dementia care, Joyce Simard is based in Land O' Lakes, Florida, and in Prague. She is a well-known speaker and has written two books, one focusing on end-of-life care and the other, entitled The Magic Tape Recorder, explaining aging, memory loss, and how children can be helpers to their elders.
Dementia is a group of symptoms that include short term memory loss, changes in personality, and problems with word finding, poor judgment and problem solving. Dementia is not a diagnosis but may be part of a disease like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease. If you know someone who has any of these symptoms that have started to affect their lives they should see a physician immediately to rule out any reversible causes for these problems.
No one understand what causes irreversible dementia but some of these symptoms could be caused by depression, poor diet thyroid problems and all of these are treatable.