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Vascular DementiaStephanie RangelPsychology10/13/14The human brain is a very powerful organ; it allows humans to move, think, talk etc. The brain is parted into two main parts: left and right hemisphere. Within the two parts there’s the hind brain, mid brain, and the fore brain. Each part of the brain has several different structures that all have different functions. For example, the hind brain is located in the rear base of the skull and has structures such as: cerebellum, medulla, and pons. The cerebellum is located behind the spinal cord and its job is to help control balance and posture. The mid brain is located above the pons and the Fore brain is located in the central core. The structures included in the fore brain are, Thalamus and Hypothalamus. The Thalamus allows a person to store information from there to the cortex. The Hypothalamus is different in that it controls hunger, thirst, and sexual behavior. All of these three parts of the brain are important because they make the brain and make it function properly. Although, the brain is pour intelligence there are some dysfunctions such as brain diseases that can affect the way a human thinks or behaves. There are thousands of brain diseases that humans can get, however, “Vascular Dementia is the second most common form of dementia a human can consume” according to; WebMD (2014). Mayo a Clinic Staff introduces Vascular Dementia by stating, “Vascular Dementia is a general term describing problems with reasoning, planning, judgment, memory and other though processes caused by brain damage from impaired blood flow to your brain.” (Para. 1). Mayo is claiming that Vascular Dementia is not just one particular problem or damage to the brain. There are different issues that are involved in the general brain disease. For example, if a person gets Vascular Dementia that does not mean that someone is going to lose their memory or reasoning; it can be either or both. Another assertion that Mayor claims about getting vascular dementia is that, “You can develop vascular dementia after a stroke blocks an artery in your brain, but strokes don’t always cause vascular dementia. Whether a stroke affects your thinking and reasoning depends on your stroke’s severity and location.” (Para. 1). Mayor concludes that vascular dementia can be caused after a stroke but not all the time. Just because a person had a stroke and lost their memorization or reasoning does not automatically mean that it is vascular dementia; it may be possible. The location of the stroke has a lot to do if its dementia or not. Depending on the location of the stroke, then that will be determined if it’s vascular or another type of disease. Other forms of getting vascular dementia can be from conditions that damage blood vessels and reduce circulation. There are many several different symptoms when it comes to vascular dementia. “Symptoms can vary widely, depending on the severity of the blood vessel damage and the part of the brain affected. Memory loss may or may not be a significant symptom depending on the specific brain areas where blood flow is reduced.”; states (2014.) (Para. 1) This demonstrates that not the location of the stroke is very important because it may or may not be vascular dementia. However, if it is vascular dementia then, the common symptoms are confusion, disorientation, trouble speaking or understanding speech, and vision loss. According to (2014)., “These changes may happen at the same time as more familiar physical stroke symptoms, such as a sudden headache, difficulty walking, or numbness or paralysis on one side of the face or the body.” Any changes in the body like that may be symptoms for vascular dementia and can also affect the body. When a body is paralyzed there is no movement involved within that area of the paralysis. Multiple strokes can add up and slowly become into vascular dementia. “Quite often, vascular dementia draws attention to itself only when the impact of so many strokes adds up to significant disability.”; according to WebMD (2014). (Para.2). This clearly means that the more strokes a person has the more it is likely for a person have vascular dementia. There are several ways to avoid this disease. Living a healthy lifestyle will reduce the chance of a person getting a stroke and alone with vascular dementia. Some major risk factors for this disease can be; diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, and high cholesterol; it is important to avoid these risk in order to avoid vascular dementia. According to Mayor, “The health of your brain’s blood vessels is closely linked to your overall heart health. Taking these steps to keep your heart healthy may also help reduce your risk of vascular dementia: maintain a healthy blood pressure, keep your cholesterol in check, prevent or control diabetes, quit smoking, and get physical exercise.” (Para.1). Mayor strongly believes that taking care of your heart and body will prevent any chances of getting any type of dementia including vascular. Having a low-fat diet and lowering cholesterol will lower any ones risk. Mayor also believes that consuming drugs, alcohol, and smoking can increase your chance of vascular dementia so keeping that away would be helpful. A regular routine of exercise can also be the key to someone health and has many benefits when doing exercise. Is there any particular cure for vascular dementia? Unfortunately, there is no general treatment that can be given to someone with this disease. The disease may be preventable or noticed before it advances. Although there is not a special treatment for dementia, doctors do subscribe their participants with medications that will allow them to recover several necessities a body needs. For instance, vitamins, mental functioning, prevention of other strokes, and mood or behavior such as: depression. Within the disease of vascular dementia there are several types. According to (2014).; states that, “One type, called multi-infarct dementia (MID), is caused by numerous small strokes in the brain. Multi-infarct dementia typically includes multiple damage areas, called infarcts, along with extensive lesions in the white matter, or nerve fibers, of the brain.” (Para. 4) Multi-infarct dementia can cause damage in more than one area of the brain which means that the brain can be affected more. This type of dementia is caused by more than more strokes at different times and even days. The more strokes that take place the more the damage to the brain. Also, the more the person is affected with whatever harm the stroke has done. reports that, “Because of infarcts in MID affect isolated areas of the brain, the symptoms are often limited to one side of the body or they may affect just one or a few specific functions, such as language.” Infarcts are like strokes; they block the blood flow to any part of the brain and can cause injury to one side of the brain. It may affect their speech, depending on what side of the brain it happened. There is also a single-infarct dementia in the vascular dementia. The single-infarct dementia is one stroke that does not have to be more than one to cause the same damage as a multi-infarct dementia. (2014.); explains, “Although not all strokes cause dementia, in some causes a single stroke can damage the brain enough to cause dementia.” (Para.6). This means that the SID may be strong enough to even cause dementia and it also depends where the location of the brain was affected. analyzes that, “Another type of vascular dementia is called Binswanger’s disease.” Binswanger’s disease (also known as subcortical vascular dementia) is commonly known for the wide spread damage of the deep layers in the brain. This wide spread of destruction in the layers of the brain can cause a persons’ brain not to function properly. “Binswanger’s disease is a neurological disorder caused by widespread damage to the deep layers of white matter in the brain. White matter in the brain consists of “tails” of brain cells, which carry out communication to other cells. The gray matter consists of the “heads” of the cells which receive these communications.” (Para. 1).; states (2009). When a person is affected by this disease it is possible that their ability to walk or memorize can reduce because of the connections between the brain cells that carry out communication to other brain cells. According to (2014).; states that, “…urinary incontinence, difficulty walking, clumsiness, slowness, lack of facial expression, and speech difficulty. These symptoms, which usually being after the age of 60, are not always present in all patients and may sometimes appear only temporarily.” (Para. 7). (2014).; demonstrates that old people are usually the ones start to get these symptoms and does not mean that people with Binswanger’s disease are going to have all of these symptoms; all may apply or just some. Also, the affected parts of the body may only be affected for a short time. “Another type of vascular dementia is linked to a rare hereditary disorder called Cerebral auto dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy, which stands for cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarct...” (Para. 8). The CADASIL disease normally comes from genes either from family members or parents. This disease is can be caused by multiple strokes and migraine headaches. This disease is caused by the blocking of vessels to the brain and mainly affected the small vessels in the brain. Symptoms for this disease are seizure, vision problems, and depression. According to ninds. (2013).; asserts that, “Symptoms and disease onset vary widely, with signs typically appearing in the mid 30’s.” (Para. 1). This quotation can mean that many people don’t show these types of symptoms later in their life. Also, most people who are affected by this disease commonly die when they are about sixty five years old. Are there any treatments for CADASIL? “So far there is no cure for CADASIL, and there are no medications that reliably slow or prevent progression of the diseases. Cures or treatments might become available in the future as more is learned about mechanisms of CADASIL, but it is impossible to predict when this will happen.” Just like most vascular dementia diseases there is not a cure or treatment yet but can be one in the future. Even though there is not a cure for CADASIL, there are treatments for symptoms. For example, there are drugs for seizures and migraine headaches that can help. Also, different types of therapy such as: speech therapy etc. A person who lives with vascular dementia is completely different than a person without this disease. People who suffer from this disease have different behaviors such as: trouble thinking, walking, and performing every day activities. Also, people that have been affected by this disease are most likely to isolate themselves from the world and suffer from depression. Their motivation for their daily routine may be very dragging from them and may cause them to not perform their activities fully. However, people with dementia will often experience it differently. According to .uk (2014).; states that, “On average, people with vascular dementia live for around five year after symptoms being. In many cases, the person’s death will be caused by a stroke or heart attack.” People with vascular dementia know they are suffering from it and are more aware of their disease than Alzheimer’s. Unlike Alzheimer’s disease persons’ symptoms may suddenly worsen due to more strokes and that can increase the chance of a persons’ death. Vascular dementia is not very common in other countries but AD is; the main common type of dementia. According to (2014).; explains that, “In most countries, vascular dementia is a much less common form of dementia than AD. This is true in North America and Europe, but is not so in Japan, where it is more common than AD.” (Para.4). establishes the different demographics of AD (the most common dementia) and vascular dementia (the second most common dementia). It is clear that in most parts of the United States vascular dementia is shown to more affect than other countries such as: North America and Europe. The reason for this may be the different popularity in countries and also the different lifestyle factors installed each in culture. There is also a difference between females and males in the issue of vascular dementia. Men and women are not the same affected when it comes to this type of disease. “Vascular dementia is more common in men than in women, which may be because men are more likely than women to suffer from strokes.”; claims (2014). (Para. 4). However, there are many different studies that have been made that state the opposite than . Some say that women are most likely to receive strokes; so who is most likely to have vascular dementia? According to (2014).; contradicts by declaring that, “Women suffer more strokes each year than men, mainly because women live longer than men and stroke occurs more often at older ages.” (Para. 2). believes that women get strokes more because they tend to live longer and for that reason women get the strokes more since strokes are usually when people are elders. National stroke association also believes that even though women live longer, men have a greater chance to be affected by strokes at a young age rather than being old. People are affected by this vascular dementia and strokes every day. These diseases are huge negatives to all human beings because they mess with the brain and body. When the brain does not work properly the body will not function correctly and their will have to be modifications to a persons’ life. Communication, loss of memory, loss of reasoning, thinking, speech, etc. can be affected in a person; depending on where the stroke hit. A person with vascular dementia may be affected by more than one symptom or all of the symptoms. Although, there are different types of vascular dementia, they all tend to connect with vascular dementia because of the same symptoms they give. That is way people need to lower the risk of getting any type of dementia including vascular dementia. Some forms of lowering risk are by eating healthy, to lower risk of cholesterol and diabetes. When a person consumes the appropriate foods their body is most likely to be healthy and also when entering at an older ages the chances of getting damaged by strokes or vascular may be low. References MayoClinic. (2014). Diseases and Conditions Vascular Dementia Retrieved from . (2014). Vascular dementia Retrieved from ’s association. (2009). Binswanger’s Disease Retrieved from . Treatment & Management of CADASIL Retrieved from ’s Society. (2014). The progression of Alzheimer’s disease other dementias Retrieved from ................
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