Please, my 75- year- old mother can no longer recognize me, misses her way around the house and she is gradually becoming violent. This is very traumatizing for me. Could she be having dementia and how does this differ from normal aging? Her neighbours are now running away for her and my husband is complaining about my spending too much time with her. What are the statistics and please, explain the goals for dementia care to me. Thank you

Tope, Lagos.

Your mother, according to the symptoms highlighted above,  is definitely having a medical condition and dementia, like you said, is one of the differential diagnosis.

Although dementia mainly affects older people, it is not a normal part of aging. Dementia is a syndrome usually of a chronic or progressive nature, caused by a variety of brain illnesses that affect memory , thinking, behaviour and ability to perform everyday activities.

Likewise, caring for people with dementia is overwhelming for caregivers. The stress includes physical, emotional and economic pressures. Caregivers require support from the health, social, financial and legal systems.

Some statistics of dementia are that 36.5million people live with it as at 2010. Among this group, 58 percent live in low and middle income countries like  Nigeria. By 2030, it will be 65.7million and in 2050, it will be 115.4million. This means from 2010-2050, proportion is projected to rise to 71 percent. This literally means that for every four seconds, a new case of dementia is diagnosed.

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People with dementia and their families are often discriminated against, so what her neighbours are doing is just one of the lack of awareness about this medical condition in our society.

The principal goals for dementia care are:

1. Early diagnosis, which improves the quality of life with the dementia and their families; 2. Optimizing physical health, cognition, activity and wellbeing; 3. Detecting and treating behavioral and psychological symptoms: and 4. Providing information and long term support to caregivers.

By way forward, if she hasn’t seen a doctor, please let her have an assessment done by a neurologist or psychiatrist (especially due to the behavioural symptoms). If your mum has other medical conditions that could have led to this illness, that will also be taken care of by the specialist physician. By this, I mean if she has hypertension, which is common with those that have Alzheimer’s disease (a type of dementia), her antihypertensive will be very important in her care plan.

There is treatment for dementia just like some other medical conditions. This involves some medications, environmental modification, psychological interventions, and healthy lifestyle like good sleep, eating well, among others.