The doctor warned about the risk of developing dementia due to the flu

Dementia is not only memory loss, but also a complex condition affecting thinking, speech and spatial orientation, which can be triggered even by the common flu or hypertensive crisis. On January 28, a psychiatrist, candidate of medical sciences, and expert of the Dementia social project told Izvestia about this.net Maria Shtan.

According to the expert, dementia is a chronic progressive condition that lasts at least six months and seriously disrupts daily life. The manifestations depend on its cause: with Alzheimer's disease, memory for current events suffers first, with vascular disorders, problems can arise with both the past and the present, and with frontotemporal degeneration, memory persists for a long time, but personality and behavior change dramatically.

The development of clinical symptoms is often triggered by provoking factors that expose the hidden course of the disease.

"This may be a decompensation of vascular pathology — a hypertensive crisis or a sharp drop in blood pressure, a spike in blood sugar levels, an exacerbation of chronic diseases, a serious infection like the flu, traumatic brain injury, or even anesthesia," explained Shtan.

The risks of developing dementia are divided into controlled and uncontrolled. Modifiable factors that depend on a person include high blood pressure, diabetes, and excess weight, which gradually damage the blood vessels of the brain and disrupt the nutrition of nerve cells. The situation is aggravated by lack of physical activity, rare communication, smoking and frequent alcohol consumption, which reduce the stability of the brain. Even a single event—a serious head injury, surgery, or severe infection—can be a turning point.

Unmodifiable factors that cannot be influenced include age (a sharp spike in morbidity after age 65), heredity, and gender — statistically, women suffer from dementia more often than men.

Controlling blood pressure and sugar levels, as well as feasible physical and mental activity, which create the necessary cognitive reserve for the brain, helps to reduce risks. If you experience disturbing symptoms — frequent forgetfulness, confusion in words, inability to plan the day — the doctor recommends that you immediately make an appointment for a consultation with a neurologist or psychiatrist.

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On January 26, Anna Khakimova, a therapist and rheumatologist at the CMD clinic, spoke about the signals of Parkinson's disease and stroke. According to her, this may be indicated by an imbalance. The specialist emphasized the importance of strengthening stabilizer muscles and drew attention to the fact that prevention and balance control may be especially relevant in the elderly.

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