Causes

Dementia is caused by the death of brain cells. The two major degenerative causes of dementia are Alzheimer's disease (the progressive loss of nerve cells without known cause) and vascular dementia (loss of brain function due to a series of small strokes). In some people, depression can cause memory loss that seems like dementia.

Symptoms

In most cases, the symptoms of dementia occur gradually, over a period of years. Usually the first symptom is memory loss. Often the person who has a memory problem does not notice it, but family and friends do.

Other symptoms include difficulty with spoken communication, personality changes, problems with abstract thinking, poor personal hygiene, trouble sleeping, and poor judgment and decision making. As the disease progresses, patients lose the ability to function independently and become increasingly disoriented to time and place.

Treatment

There are medicines you can take for dementia. They cannot cure it, but they can slow it down for a while and make it easier to live with.
Dementia caused by intoxication, hyperthyroidism, pernicious anemia, benign brain tumors, hydrocephalus, or insulin shock can be reversed or improved by treating the condition.
When dementia is related to an irreversible destruction of brain tissue, such as with Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, or multiple strokes, treatment involves improving the patient’s quality of life as much as possible. Some medications, such as donepezil and tacrine, have been effective in improving the mental functions of those in the beginning stages of dementia.