Differentiate Between Delirium And Dementia

Patient living in the nursing homes with diagnosis of dementia experience Disruptive behavior. According to Burton et al. (2015) more than 44 million people have dementia. Dementia affects memory, thinking and social abilities. These symptoms severely interfere with daily functioning of the patient. Approximately 90% of dementia patients demonstrate psychological and behavioral symptoms such as anxiety, agitation, depression, hallucination, delusion, and aggression (Chen et al., 2014). Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a varied group of non-cognitive symptoms affecting demented patients. These symptoms are delusion, hallucination, agitation, anxiety, euphoria, disinhibition, night-time behavioral disturbances

I have been in care for a while and started out as a health care support worker so I have seen all different levels of progression with all different types of dementia. However the importance of early diagnosis is the same.

Dementia Syndrome is a condition caused by a set of symptoms. These symptoms can include but are not limited to: - memory loss, mood changes, communication difficulties, difficulty understanding or thinking.

b) Delirium – this illness comes on quickly and advances rapidly. It is caused by infections, dehydration, and thyroid dysfunction and can be a side effect from certain drugs. Once the individual is receiving treatment they will be on their way to returning to their normal state. The symptoms are similar to dementia as it can cause memory loss, disorientation, language disturbances and hallucinations.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a form of dementia which shares characteristics with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. It accounts for around 10% of all cases of dementia in older people and tends to be under-diagnosed. 
Named after the doctor who first identified them in 1912, Lewy bodies are tiny, spherical protein deposits found in nerve cells. Their presence in the brain disrupts the brain’s normal functioning, interrupting the action of important chemical messengers. Lewy bodies are also found in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological disease that affects movement. 
Dementia with Lewy bodies is

Delirium is a state where patient is confused and there is a rapid change in brain function that occur in physical or mental illness. It is temporary and when treated reverses the confusion.

Dementia is a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities enough to interfere with daily functioning. Dementia can also make changes in memory. Delirium is a serious disturbance in mental abilities that results in confused thinking and reduced awareness of your environment. Delirium usually starts rapidly with abrupt confusion, emerging over days or weeks and represents a sudden change from the person’s previous course of Dementia.

Dementia describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language. These changes are often small to start with, but for someone with dementia they have become severe enough to affect daily life.

Depression, memory problems, and delirium may be mistaken for dementia because these are often the onset symptoms of dementia, and therefore may be mistaken for the start of dementia in the elderly.

Classic symptoms of delusional disorder are varying degrees of visual hallucinations (although not normally as prominent as shown in the story) and olfactory hallucinations related to the delusional theme(s) or object(s). Delusional disorder does not markedly impair psychosocial functioning or cause a person to display odd or bizarre behavior when other people are known to be present. Undetected and/or untreated delusional disorder often degenerates into schizophreniform disorder, or even full blown schizophrenia, and the delusions take control over the person's mind (DSM - IV Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 290, 296 - 301). The person's every action is in response to the perceived actions of the delusion, very similar to what occurred to Jane in the story. In Jane's case, the symptoms ended up flying way out of proportion simply because she had nothing else on which to focus.

Hypothyroidism, vitamin B12 lack, ordinary weight hydrocephalus, and sorrow are illustrations of sicknesses that can bring about reversible dementia or a dementia-like ailment (pseudodementia) (British Geriatrics Society, 2006). Nonetheless, the intellectual decrease saw in reversible dementia is generally steady rather than the fast subjective decay found in delirium. Alternately, there is likewise an extent of patients whose delirium is not transient; their side effects can hold on for quite a long time or even years (British Geriatrics Society,

Delirium can be described as a disturbance in the mental abilities of an individual that ultimately results in things like decreased awareness of the surrounding environment and disoriented thinking. The beginning of delirium is usually quick, being within a couple hours or just a few days. Delirium can sometimes be traced to one or more factors, such as changes in metabolic balance, infections, surgery, chronic illnesses, and even alcohol or drug withdrawal.

Acute brain syndrome is delirium, confusion, disorientation, and develops suddenly in a person that used to be psychologically normal. The indian research on acute organic brain syndrome is based mainly on delirium.Their research concluded on articles, published articles, from many types of sources they were able to attain to write the article based on Indian research. In the research they found that the word delirium comes from Latin and means when someone is not on track. Their research concluded that it varies from patient to patient because it constantly changes and because it overlaps with other syndromes.When treated and diagnosed at an early stage it would have a favorable outcome. The research has shown that delirium happens in 30%

Dementia is a progressive diagnosis that takes place over months or years. Dementia occurs in stops compared to other psychological diagnoses in the elderly and age is a major risk factor. The older the adult the increased risk of dementia occurring. There are different forms of dementia, but Alzheimers is the most prevalent of all the types. Dementia, as stated above, is associated with delirium during an acute illness and is hard to identify in patients with underlying dementia. Dementia causes a decline in executive fncitoning and memory, as a result, decreasing the patient's overall quality of life because their activities of daily living become more and more limited. Behaviors and changes in mood are also noted in these patients, such as;

This course has taken me on a pleasant journey and taught me more about compassion and my role as a care giver than my previous courses. It has been rewarding to work with you (my instructor) and learn more about the older adult. The final chapter on delirium and dementia certainly taught me more skills than I had going into it. I haven't had any personal interaction with anyone who has had delirium or dementia yet. I now feel better equipped to deal with those situations now.