‘I’m a psychologist – here’s three stages of dementia you should know’ | UK | News

A psychologist takes an in-depth look at the key stages of dementia, offering guidance on how to recognize them in yourself or a loved one. This comes at a time when more than 944,000 people in the UK are living with dementia; This includes one in every 11 people over the age of 65.

Dr Kelynn Lee, CEO of Dementia Care Hub, shared her expertise in a short TikTok video that was re-released this year. Although many people believe there are five or even 10 stages of dementia, he explained that it is more practical to divide it into three stages.

“I want to talk about the three stages of dementia. That’s why I hear so much about all these different stages,” he said on the platform. “Something I saw the other day had 10 stages, something else had seven stages, something else had five stages.

“I think sometimes it’s related to dementia, because it’s so uncertain and people are really anxious to understand people and support them as best they can, care partners can sometimes get stuck.

“Get stuck into what stage of dementia this person is in, because then it’s ‘I know what to expect’ and then ‘I can support them as much as I can’. I don’t think that’s particularly helpful. I think it’s much more helpful to think of dementia in three stages.”

It is important to understand that dementia is not a single condition, but an umbrella term that covers a variety of symptoms triggered by different diseases. Forms such as vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease all fall into the category of dementia.

Although each form has its own unique symptoms, Dr Lee offered a brief summary of the typical stages followed by cases of dementia. We’ve summarized his highlights below.

mild dementia

Dr Lee explained that ‘mild dementia’ generally describes the earliest stage of cognitive impairment. Accordingly Surrey LiveWhile someone is generally managing their daily life pretty well, they may begin to:

• Misplacing items
• If you have problems with short-term memory
• I’m feeling more and more anxious
• Experience mood changes
• Pay attention to changes in the taste of food
• I have difficulty concentrating
• I’m having some difficulty solving problems
• We are becoming more and more forgetful
• You have some communication problems

Most importantly, these indicators may differ from person to person. Accordingly Dementia United KingdomAlzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia associated with minor concentration and memory difficulties, especially in the initial stages.

In contrast, language and communication difficulties tend to be more pronounced in the early stages of frontotemporal and vascular dementia. However, Dr Lee explained: “You might be thinking here: ‘I’ve got quite a few of these, does that mean I have early stage dementia?’ No, it’s not like that.

“..What we do is we look at things where you go, ‘This isn’t right, this is a constant pattern,’ okay. It doesn’t change, it’s not because I’m too stressed, so I can’t concentrate very well right now.”

“Or I’m having trouble solving problems because my anxiety is pretty high. We’re looking for important patterns of behavior. So yes, we all have some of those in general life, but we’re looking for consistency in those patterns.”

moderate dementia

Moving towards the second stage of dementia, Dr Lee outlined several typical symptoms that may include:

• Forgetting events (for example, when you had breakfast or something from your personal past)
• Increase mood swings
• Difficulty in social/challenging situations
• feeling of withdrawal
• Getting lost and more restless
• increasing concerns
• Needing support getting dressed
• trouble sleeping
• urinary incontinence

On the second point, he added: “Urinary incontinence can become a problem because there are messages passing through the brain warning us that we need to go to the toilet. […and then] Going to the toilet, actually using the toilet, and then you know.

“That’s not necessarily happening or not happening fast enough. Changes in sleep patterns, so we can see people sleeping a lot more during the day but becoming a lot more restless at night.”

severe dementia

Once someone reaches the third stage of dementia, they will likely need constant personal care at all hours of the day, Dr Lee said. This stage typically presents the greatest challenges for both the individual and family members.

Typical symptoms may include:

• Changes in physical abilities (may be more prone to falls)
• swallowing problems
• communication difficulties
• Loss of awareness of recent experiences and surroundings
• Problem
• loss of recognition
• Becoming increasingly prone to infection

Dr Lee added: “But also in the later stages people become much more susceptible and vulnerable to infections, particularly diseases such as pneumonia. “That’s where we talk about dementia as a terminal condition; they’re much more prone to those things and it has a much greater impact than it would if the person didn’t have dementia.

“So three stages. Mild, moderate and severe. Much more beneficial.”