TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – You suspect a family member who Alzheimer’s Dementia. Get screened right away. Early symptoms of this condition include forgetting to put down personal items, experiencing significant changes in emotions and behavior, and forgetting the way home.
“If you find a number of these symptoms, you should do a screening examination dementianamely the MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination),” said Dr. Sheila Agustini, Sp.S. from the Association of Indonesian Neurologist.
MMSE is an examination of cognitive function as an early detection to determine whether there has been a decline in cognitive function or dementia.
“Those who are healthy will give normal results, while for ODD (people with dementia) a decrease in score will be detected,” said Champion Alzheimers Indonesia (ALZI).
Sheila said the family has a role in early detection of Alzheimer’s Dementia. According to him, sensitivity is needed to feel changes in memory decline in family members. If there are people with Alzheimer’s dementia in the family, other members must become a support system to maintain the quality of life for ODD, for example by knowing more details about Alzheimer’s Dementia so that they can accompany ODD while paying attention to their own physical and mental health conditions.
Dementia generally occurs in the elderly aged over 65 years. The presence of other risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, a history of head injury, obesity, high cholesterol can be a trigger factor for the elderly to experience diabetes Alzheimer. In ODD, drugs will be given for pharmacological treatment which is solely to slow the decline in brain function. In addition, there are also non-pharmacological (psychological and social) treatments, namely a series of therapies to provide social support and meaningful activities so that ODD can still stimulate the brain and improve quality of life.
Sheila reminded that the cost of treating ODD is not small and the stages of treatment are quite complex. Therefore, he suggested that people can take precautions by living a healthy lifestyle, including consuming a balanced nutritional diet, avoiding cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, getting enough rest, exercising regularly, and managing stress.
Alzheimer’s dementia has the potential to occur more quickly if an unhealthy lifestyle is not corrected. In addition, you should do regular health checks so that if there are causes of degenerative disease factors, you can immediately get early treatment before it becomes a trigger for chronic disease.
Also read: 5 Easy Ways to Keep Your Memory Sharp
–
