Friday, November 9, 2012

Dementia causing death: How the illness is taking life


The illness dementia is causing more death. Many people are not aware that this illness is taking lives. A common question asked is” how the illness kills”. The answer is in what the illness does to the sufferer. What is needed is a better understanding of the illness and that is what this article is about. Dementia and death are linked because of what the illness does to the person losing their mental ability.

The Office for National Statistics states that deaths the illness have doubled in only 10 years

One of the ways the disease robs the life is by attack a person who cannot defend their mental ability. There are those who cannot take care of themselves because the illness robs the mind. The confusion, loss of memory and loss of identity causes many to “forget” how to take care of themselves. Combined with a physically weak body this can be deadly. Some do not have the energy or the mind to protect from other illnesses; for example, many who die may contract pneumonia. A mentally unsound person may not “remember” how to protect themselves from pneumonia. Dementia often leads to death because the person had a weak immune system and did not “remember” (or did not have the ability to) take care of themselves.

The best example is to think of a 3 year old trying for one year to live without an adult. The child would not know how to protect themselves from cold, flu, pneumonia or any other illnesses.  Of course we are not speaking of a child but the result can be the same, loss of life. Dementia and death are linked because the sufferer cannot take care of themselves; in addition they are usually older and weaker so they are a prime target for illness. The loss of memory and mind causes a great loss of independence.  It can also lead to loss of life. 

0 comments:

Post a Comment