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What is Cognitive Dementia?
Cognitive dementia can be confusing and scary. Dementia can cause you to lose your freedomand independence. It can cause you to become a burden to your children or other loved ones.As you read, you will find out the facts about cognitive dementia. You will discover differenttypes and their causes. You may be amazed to find there are types of cognitive dementia that arereversible. You may well be pleasantly surprised to find that you may be able to delay or avoiddementia altogether!
What is Cognitive Dementia?
Cognitive dementia is the loss of mental ability. The loss of the ability to think, remember andreason. To earn the label of dementia, the mental loss must get in the way of carrying out day-to-day activities. The reduced ability to fulfill day-to-day events must last for more than six months.Cognitive dementia is not a disease. It is a group of symptoms. These symptoms would go alongwith certain diseases or conditions. Signs of dementia might also include changes in mood, personality, and behavior.Cognitive dementia results when a number of factors affect parts of the brain. These factors caninclude infections, diseases, or aging. The parts of the brain involved with dementia withexamples are:
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Learning. Trouble learning a new kitchen appliance.
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Memory. Trouble remembering where you lived the past few years.
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Decision-making. Not able to make what used to be simple decisions.
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Language. Pausing to find words in the middle of a sentence.
What Are the Types of Cognitive Dementia?
There are two groups of cognitive dementia. The group depends on what part of the brain isaffected:
Cortical dementias.
The cerebral cortex is changed. The cerebral cortex is the outer layers of the brain. It has a vital role in cognitive processes like memory and speech. Patients with corticaldementia usually have severe memory damage. These patients also cannot recall words andcannot grasp common speech. This is aphasia. Alzheimer's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are twoforms of cortical dementia.
Sub-cortical dementias.
Beneath the cortex is affected. These patients show changes in their  personality and attention span. Their thinking slows down. They may not show the memory lossand language hardships as with cortical dementias. Huntington's disease, Parkinson's Disease,and AIDS dementia complex are examples of sub-cortical dementias.There are cases where both parts of the brain are affected. One case is with multi-infarctdementia.
 
What are Some of the Causes of Cognitive Dementia?
 The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease causes 50 to 70 percent of all dementia.The most common causes of cognitive dementia include:
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Degenerative neurological diseases. These include Alzheimer's, dementia with LewyBodies, Parkinson's, and Huntington's.
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Blood-flow (vascular) disorders. Including multiple-infarct dementia, which is caused bymultiple strokes in the brain.
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Infections that affect the central nervous system. These consist of HIV dementia complexand Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
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Chronic drug use.
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Depression.
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Certain types of hydrocephalus. This is a buildup of fluid in the brain. The fluid build upcan result from irregularities in development, infections, injury, or brain tumors.
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 Normal aging.
How Common is Cognitive Dementia?
Cognitive dementia develops mostly in elderly people. It has always been common. In recenttimes, it's even more common in the elderly. One reason is that we are living longer. A recentforecast is that the numbers of dementia cases will double every twenty years.Age-related cognitive dementia starts around age 35. It develops so slowly that it is not noticeduntil it affects day-to-day activities. This usually happens around age 65.About 5 to 8 percent of all people over 65 have some form of dementia. This number doublesevery five years above age 65. It's estimated that as many as half of people 85 or older suffer from dementia.Some researchers think that half of people over age 80 will get Alzheimer's disease.
Which Causes of Cognitive Dementia Can be Reversed?
Most thought of cognitive dementia as permanent. Especially when caused by disease or injury.However, within the past few years, ongoing research shows that this may not always be thecase. If done right, brain training can create new links and re-establish old ones. There are noguarantees. However, there is hope.Cognitive dementia may also be reversible if caused by:
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Aging.
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Drugs.
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Alcohol.
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Depression.
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