Alzheimer's and vascular dementia are the most common forms of dementia in older people.
Medical tests that are used to test for dementia are laboratory tests for thyroid stimulating hormones, and the level of vitamin b12 in the blood.
Usually magnetic resonance imaging is done along with a medical history and physical exam.
The family is consulted to check for personality changes.
Almost all people with dementia have personality and behavior changes as the disease gets worse.
Psychotic behavior tends to start later in the illness and becomes a terrible weight to bear for caregivers, often resulting in the patient being placed in an institution.
Symptoms of dementia include delusions and hallucinations.
The most common symptom is cognitive decline.
Some other symptoms may include: Anger, restlessness, yelling, wandering and cursing.
The first step in managing the treatment of dementia is finding out what symptoms are causing distress: 1.
Pay special attention to the circumstances under which the behavior problems occur.
2.
Review the patient's entire history with regards to psychiatric and social history.
3.
Make sure the medication could not be the cause of the behavior issues.
4.
Ask questions about the patient's life and their relationships prior to the illness.
5.
Be sure that there are no physical problems causing the behavioral issues.
Case studies show that trazodone, buspirone, and sertraline has been shown to help when irritability is a concern.
Quetiapine is another dementia behavior medication that has showed promising results for the treatment of agitation in dementia, but with fewer side effects than other medicines.
The drugs Namenda and Aricept used together may: 1.
Improve memory and slow down memory loss.
2.
Radically improve the behavior of people with behavioral problems.
3.
Helps the patient maintain the ability to manage daily activities on their own.
4.
Help delay negative behavioral symptoms like agitation, and aggression.
More than 5 million people in the U.
S.
have Alzheimer's.
Most patients live for 8 to 10 years with the disease, and some can live for up to 20.
Another treatment for dementia is stem cell treatment.
They are taken out of the patient bone marrow and put back in the body a few days later.
Before it is placed back in the body, it is checked in a lab for quality and amount.
The re-injected stem cells form new cells which can replace damaged tissue or nerves.
The goal for treatment is to stop or slow down the disease.
Dementia behavior medications include: Atypical anti-psychotics, which are started at a low dose and gradually increased until the medicine reaches its effectiveness.
The next medication for dementia is typical anti-psychotics.
Less frequently, anticonvulsants and antidepressants are prescribed.
Ginko Biloba is used in the treatment of early stage Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.
Studies have shown that it is an effective dementia behavior modification, meaning that is helps with the symptoms of the disease.