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A Guide to Vascular Dementia Stages and Symptoms
The first step to treating vascular dementia is knowing the vascular dementia symptoms. Not only that, but you also need to know the vascular dementia stages. To help our elderly loved ones face vascular dementia, we must know what to look out for. That’s why doing the appropriate research is important. Here in this article, I included all the things to know and to look out for when it comes to Vascular Dementia. I hope this article will help you know which stage they’re in. I’ll also give information on how to spot vascular dementia by knowing its symptoms. If you want to learn more, then please keep on reading.
What is Vascular Dementia?
According to the NIH, vascular dementia is changes in memory, thinking, and behavior. It results from conditions that affect the blood vessels in the brain. Brain function become affected by the size, location, and number of vascular changes.
The main point to remember is that the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen in vascular dementia. Damaged blood vessels are to blame for this situation. It becomes worse when other types dementia kicks in at the same time. The unfortunate combination results in a lot of serious problems.
What Causes Vascular Dementia?
Again, vascular dementia results from damage to the blood vessels in your brain. There are a lot of causes that damage blood vessels. Here are some of the causes of vascular dementia which we should look out for:
Stroke
A stroke or a “brain attack” happens when there is a lack of blood supply to the brain. Vascular dementia occurs when there is damage to our brain arteries. Because of this, a stroke may increase the risk of said disease. Some don’t have easy to spot symptoms but they still increase the risk of vascular dementia.
Usually people get strokes from ruptured blood vessels in the brain. Each stroke also causes lasting damage to different parts of the brain. The more strokes a person has, the higher the risk of getting vascular dementia.
Atherosclerosis
A condition in which the walls of the arteries become thickened and narrowed. This occurs due to the buildup of fatty deposits, which can reduce blood flow to the brain. If you are experiencing these symptoms, it is best to consult your doctor immediately. Better to be sure than unprepared!
Hypertension
High blood pressure or hypertension is blood pressure higher than normal. When there is higher blood pressure, it may cause damage to the blood vessels in the brain. Which when it occurs, may cause vascular dementia!
Hypertension may be hereditary. If your family history has shown risks of hypertension, you may be more prone to such. The symptoms of hypertension are easy to catch but I still suggest you consult your doctor.
Diabetes
Diabetes is too high blood sugar levels and the body can’t lower them. Diabetes can damage the blood vessels all over the body. Of course, this includes those in the brain. That is why diabetes can increase the risk of vascular dementia.
Different Types of Vascular Dementia
We’re done with the what and causes of vascular dementia, lets move to the different types. The four that I’m listing are the general types. Here are the types of vascular dementia:
Subcortical Vascular Dementia
Research shows that this is the most common one people often get. You only need to know that it’s caused by the small blood vessels in your brain going bad. The parts of the brain connected to theses small blood vessels wont get the needed blood and oxygen.
This type of vascular dementia usually happens in the “subcortex” part of the brain. That part deals with management and control of emotions. It also deals with movement, balance and even facial movement.
Stroke Vascular Dementia
Again, strokes can cause vascular dementia. Strokes deal with lack of blood supply to the brain because of damages to blood vessels. The most common cause would be through a blood clot.
The blood clot blocks the blood vessel in the brain and may result to it bursting or getting damaged. Again, each stroke damages a part of the brain and also increases the risk of getting another one. That’s why symptoms of stroke vascular dementia depends on the damaged part of the brain.
Multi-infarct Vascular Dementia
Multi-infarct Vascular Dementia results from succeeding small strokes. The same damage done by a regular stroke may occur and result into this type of vascular dementia. Though the severity often varies.
Since the strokes are small and quick, the damage may not be much. Not a lot of people will notice that they have these small strokes. The blockage done on the blood vessels in the brain may clear up immediately. That’s why the severity varies on how long the blood vessels stayed blocked.
Mixed Vascular Dementia
This type of vascular dementia is the easiest to remember but doesn’t often happen. Those that are unlucky or have complications during their younger years may get this. Though it still won’t be a guarantee.
Mixed Vascular Dementia is having both vascular dementia with another type of dementia. The most common one would be having it with Alzheimer’s. The symptoms overlap at times and handling this type can be very challenging.
Vascular Dementia Symptoms
There are a lot of known vascular dementia symptoms. Most of them depend on the specific circumstances of the cause. Though there are common ones that happen regardless of the circumstances. Here are the most common symptoms according to my research on the topic:
1. Confusion
Being confused every once in a while isn’t a bad thing. What makes it bad though is the fact that it isn’t voluntary. Anyone who gets confused about something without warning can be very frustrating. This is especially true for the elderly.
Vascular dementia causes confusion since the brain isn’t getting enough blood and oxygen. People end up having problems and difficulties with their mental facilities. This symptom is actually one of the easiest tell-tale signs to look out for in vascular dementia.
2. Memory Issues
Age often factors in on difficulties with memory, particularly remembering. But, with vascular dementia, it becomes even more difficult to even remember! Although this symptom is a bit tamer when compared to other types of dementia.
3. Cannot Concentrate or Communicate Well
This symptom is another easy-to-tell sign for vascular dementia. Again, this type of dementia causes difficulty in thinking and inability to concentrate. Your mind is unable to process information well since it isn’t getting enough blood.
Aside from concentration, people often are unable to communicate well too. Mind you it’s not in the form of constant stutters. It’s more of saying something but forgetting or mismatching words mid sentence.
4. Cannot Think Well
Again, vascular dementia messes up the ability to think well. This symptom doesn’t actually only mean that you’d have difficulty thinking. It goes so far as having broken thoughts. An example of this would be getting jumbled up thoughts when thinking of a particular topic.
5. Very Irritable
This symptom is more of what happens when you get any of the other common symptoms of vascular dementia. People become more irritable out of frustration and feelings of helplessness. This is especially true for the elderly.
Elderly that suffer from vascular dementia symptoms are very unfortunate. Most of the symptoms are actually ones you get, in a milder way, through aging! But with vascular dementia, these things get cranked up a notch. That’s why it’s important to be extra understanding when dealing with irritable elderly.
6. Depression
This symptom can also be easy to identify but is also easy to neglect. Extreme mood changes like depression happens when you get vascular dementia. But, depression, unlike the other symptoms, is often well hidden by the elderly.
More often than not, the elderly will try to mask feelings of depression. The way to counter this is by being extra attentive to them and catching it early on. Depression has and will always be something that needs addressing and resolution.
7. Cannot Move or Balance Well
Again, vascular dementia results in damages on particular parts of the brain. One of the most common area would be the ones responsible for body balance and coordination. This symptom is also easy to tell but easy to neglect as well since age can also be a factor. Regardless, you knowing better will help catching vascular dementia as early as possible!
8. Urinary Issues
Last but not the least, vascular dementia also causes urinary issues. This is one of the most common vascular dementia symptoms as well. So if you find someone having this symptom then get them checked!
To be clear, these are not all the vascular dementia symptoms. Research are still going on and more will pop up as time goes by. But, what I can guarantee is that these are the most common and easy to spot symptoms.
Vascular Dementia Stages
Now we move on to the different vascular dementia stages. In summary, the different stages can actually divided into three parts. These are the mild, moderate and severe vascular dementia stages. Here’s a more detailed explanation on the differences between stages:
1. Initial Stage
The initial or beginning stage will generally be undetectable. The premise is that this is the stage where any of the causes of vascular dementia stated earlier happen. Most people won’t be able to tell but it can help if you are attentive.
2. Mild Changes Stage
The second stage is where any of the vascular dementia symptoms pop up. Most of the time it’ll be one or even two or more at the same time. What you need to note is that this is the most important stage if you want to help, especially for elderly loved ones.
As I’ve been advocating in several articles, communication will always be the key. If you find it difficult to spot for vascular dementia symptoms, then ask your elderly loved one. Ask them for any and all bothers, worries or changes that they feel have been affecting them.
3. Start of Decline
The third stage is where the degeneration or weakening of the brain really starts and gets worse. Here, especially for the elderly, their mental facilities become more difficult to manage. What was once a simple “oops, I forgot” moment becomes a worrying erasure of instances through the day!
Physicians consider this vascular dementia stage as the early stage. Its never too late to get professional help, especially since it’s still the early phase. Get a proper diagnosis on the problem based on the symptoms as soon as possible!
4. Moderate Decline
The symptoms enumerated earlier become even more obvious in this vascular dementia stage. Going about the day becomes a bit more dangerous, especially to the elderly! Simple daily tasks or habits become difficult to do and most people aren’t able to function well.
Sadly, this vascular dementia stage is when most people get the urge to seek a physician. That is because this is the stage where the symptoms are almost impossible to ignore or gloss over. Again, its never too late and get a diagnosis, especially for your elderly loved one.
5. Moderate-Severe Decline
This is the vascular dementia stage that most people want to avoid at all cost! In this stage, the people affected, especially the elderly, cannot live well anymore. The symptoms have become so bad that even changing clothes becomes a problem to do!
In this stage, independence is the one that gets taken out almost entirely. Most, if not all, of people that experience vascular dementia symptoms at this stage need a lot of help! They’ll need support in almost everything that they do.
6. Severe Decline
This is the vascular dementia stage that people hope and pray they never reach! In this stage, high level care and constant supervision is a must. In fact, its recommended that they are to have professional help in their daily living.
The basic bodily movements become very difficult to do in this stage. To put it into perspective, I’ve heard that even swallowing food becomes difficult to do! That is why you need to do your best to avoid ever reaching this phase by consulting a physician early on.
7. Very Severe Decline
The final and worst vascular dementia stage. Although most people end up passing away at the severe decline or 6th stage, some make it this far. The worst part of reaching this stage is that the cognitive decline breeds more problems.
Most of the bodily functions become near impossible to independently do. Based on the research and personal experience of what I saw, being in bed 24/7 is a must. Most are lucky if they can even still move their hands or fingers.
Physician Diagnosis
Physician diagnosis is a must, especially for elderly loved ones at the early stages. Vascular dementia symptoms can go from mild to moderate or even to worst without warning. That’s why its important to always be attentive and avoid brushing off any of the symptoms.
The most common reason why people get late diagnosis is that they don’t think the symptoms are a big deal. Regret is only ever available in hindsight! Don’t let prevailing mental health prejudices affect your loved one’s health and wellbeing.
Treatment, Management and Support
Prevention will always be better than a cure! In the case of vascular dementia, this is very true since there is no current cure for it. You can get treatment options but it’ll only be to slow down the degenerative process.
Depending on the vascular dementia stage, you’ll need specific management and support. The reason being, in the early stages you only really need to supervise and help out. But in the later stages, you’ll need professional help.
Preventive Measures
The effective or best way to prevent getting vascular dementia symptoms is to take care of the body! This means not only exercise but also eating healthy and avoiding destructive substances. It especially means avoiding alcohol, smoking and eating blood vessel clogging foods!
For the elderly, it simply means that they get their daily exercise and balanced meals. Of course, it won’t hurt get get more “Brain food” like nuts or other superfoods. There are a lot of ways to keep an elderly’s brain healthy!
Last Few Points
I hope I was able to give enough knowledge and details on vascular dementia. The best advice to take from this article is just be attentive and never be afraid to get professional help! As soon as vascular dementia symptoms pop up, trust your gut and get it diagnosed. Vascular dementia stages can quickly slip and slide into the more dangerous stages!
FAQs
Are there any known treatments available?
The short answer is no, for now. That is because medical science hasn’t advance enough. Promising treatment since 2011 have become available against dementia in general. In fact, in the same year, treatment recommendations became available. But, the only actual treatments available now are mostly physical or speech therapy. Rehabilitation services are also available and recommended.
What is the most common cause of vascular dementia?
ased on what I’ve gathered, living an unhealthy lifestyle is the most common cause. The key thing to remember is that brain clots can be random but clogging happens with intent! Eating cholesterol high foods have a chance to clog blood vessels in the brain. Of course, getting your daily dose of exercise will help keep blood pumping properly!
How can I best support my elderly loved one with vascular dementia?
The best way will always be to show sincerity. You can do this by being there for them when they need your help. You can also do this by taking the initiative to get them diagnosed early on. Last but not the least, you can show sincerity by communicating with them. Listen to what they say, about how they feel and what they need! Love and care go a long way when it comes to dealing with illnesses or diseases.
