5F-1 Dementia: Treatment Options

Dementia is a devastating disease, particularly for our senior citizens, as you can see from the statistics below:

• Dementia is the top cause of disabilities in later life.
• 1 in 3 seniors dies with some form of dementia.
• Life expectancy after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis is 4-8 years.

While there is no cure for any of the different types of dementia, there are some medications available that may reduce symptoms.

Dementia-related psychosis is the most common symptom associated with this disorder and may include delusions, hallucinations (usually visual) and delusional misidentifications.

• Delusions are unshakable beliefs that are out of context with a person’s social and cultural background.
• Hallucinations are false sensory perceptions that are not only distortions or misinterpretations. They usually are not frightening and therefore may not require treatment.
• Delusional misidentification may result from a combined decline in cognition, poor vision or hearing loss. For example, individuals may fail to recognize even close family members. They may forget that their child is now an adult, which can then cause the individual to believe that a stranger is living in their home.

At this time, there are no approved medications for dementia-related psychosis.