Before talking about vascular dementia stages and prognosis, first let’s clearly understand what actually it is! In older people, it is one of the common major causes (after Alzheimer’s disease) of dementia.
About 15-20 percent of dementia cases are caused by vascular dementia. But unfortunately, there is no exact number of individuals with this certain form of dementia, because it is not easy to diagnose. Many experts believe that it can occur because of a poor supply nutrients & O2 to the part of the brain (not due to break down of the brain’s nerve cells like in the Alzheimer’s disease)!
Although, the major process of developing Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia is different, but there is chance for an individual to have both at the same time.
Vascular dementia stages
Another familiar name of vascular dementia is MID or multi-infarct dementia. Many people with MID will experience two major stages, early MID stage and a later MID stage.
Early vascular dementia stages
In these stages, the symptoms are more likely to become gradual. In many cases, patient for these stages will experience difficulties in performing daily activities, thinking, and even walking (poor balance of their body).
Moreover, patients may also experience problems in remembering short-term memory, following certain conversations, and even they may also be difficult to concentrate (lack of concentration). The symptoms will be worse over time and the progress of them occurs slowly.
And the symptoms in these stages are relatively more difficult to diagnose, because in several cases patient in these early stages only require small cues or reminders to maintain their normal lifestyles.
Later vascular dementia stages
Patients in these stages usually require more supports from family or even a nursing facility. The drastically decreased of the mental ability will influence significantly daily lives of the patients.
Some serious symptoms of later MID stages are; delusions, hallucinations, wandering, confusing, and even in line the progress of the disease patients will be immobile, incontinent, and frail! Furthermore, patients may also become strike out or violent at caregivers, which one of the most serious behavioral changes in late MID stages.
Vascular dementia prognosis
The prognosis of vascular dementia is relatively getting worse over time, especially if the conditions that can worse of MID are not treated successfully. It is important to determine correctly the root cause in order to find best action strategy and plan. Many experts believe that significantly changes in lifestyles can be so helpful to minimize further damages.
An individual with MID may seem to get better for periods of time until other serious diseases (particularly like a stroke) that can worse the function & memory of the brain. Finally, untreated MID usually ends in death from heart disease, stroke, or another serious infection!
MID is a serious problem to the mental ability, but if it and its causes can be catch & indentified as earlier as possible will be so helpful to prevent further damage with best action plan.
And don’t miss to talk with your doctor if you in doubt to get more detailed information about vascular dementia stages and prognosis!
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