Neuro Note #4-What is dementia?

Dementia. This is a disease that affects around 5 million Americans and is growing. Dementia is considered a disease of memory loss that goes along with other diseases as a person ages. However new research shows that dementia should be thought of more as a fatal brain failure/terminal disease. This is crucial to understanding, especially when talking to late stage patients. Even though dementia is widely recognized, there is very little understanding of "what it is" when walking family members or caregivers thought the treatment options. More often than not, overly aggressive end of life care is used to help those with dementia. A study mentioned in this article, follows those in a nursing home, diagnosed with dementia, through their final days. The study calls for palliative care to be administered, unlike the rigorous treatment options that are used today. The study also found that many in the study died from dementia and very few died from complications of their symptoms. This leads researchers to consider dementia a terminal disease. What is the link between the two findings? Once an individual enters the late stage of dementia, they typically are not making medical decisions. Their family or caregivers are making the decisions for them. An individual with dementia may be ready to go, but the family is not. This is why aggressive treatment for dementia is seen in the last months of a persons life. There needs to be a better understanding of what the disease is and how it works across all medical professions, so that the same, consistent information is given to families. They need to be allowed to make the best choices for a family member with dementia. Comfort needs to be considered over treatment.

I agree with the underlying message of this article, comfort need to be considered over treatment. Once an individual is diagnosed with dementia, there are treatments and therapies that can help slow the progression, but sadly the disease will end up winning in the end. It is not because someone is older that they will pass, but is is the deterioration of the mind that slowly overtakes the body. I think it would be better to comfort a client suffering from dementia, rather than wear them out and have them suffer through their last few days. I believe this can be achieved through a consistent message of what dementia is across all health care professions. For an OT, they may be asked to help clarify what the doctor has told them the treatment options are or even asked what they might do in this situation. An OT needs to be equiped with the current up to date research to effectively provide support to a client's family in need. The OT should never make the decision for the family, but should help clarify what the family has been told and what the research clearly says about the disease. This is one way that OT's can make a difference in how dementia is perceived and treated in hoping to provide comfort to client's diagnosed with dementia.



(May 23, 2017). Time. Retrieved from: http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1930278,00.html