Vascular Dementia with Mood Disorder

The Vascular Dementia with mood disorder affects many people and it is very hard to diagnose such a problem making it hard to ensure there is treatment and avoid adverse effects. The Vascular Dementia with mood disorder is the Axis 1 whose diagnosis in the case study reveals that the disease starts setting at an early age and triggered by the genetics in a patient (Alexopoulos, 2006). The common signs and symptoms on the patient suffering from the condition indicate that there are issues in their emotional and mental capability hence their normal functioning affected by the same. They have a slower thinking capacity and have the signs to forget things, which make them, have no memory of things they did or are supposed to do.

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In the case study, the patient got lost on their way home from work on many instances, which was an issue that affected him and the way he reasoned making it hard for the wife to keep track of his actions. There is also the case, which they had lost their original personality and they were more irritable which are all the telltale signs that they were suffering and they had a high case of the condition. They could also not hold a conversation for more than five minutes without getting a form of distractions, which would take their attention away. They also got bored very fast and this made their irritability rate increase as they found no means through which they got any type of happiness (Baldwin, 2005). Their behavioral signs has also changed and they have difficulty in explaining what they feel or what they want making it hard for normal relationships which would otherwise be the daily way of life for them. It becomes very hard if the person with the condition is the only family breadwinner as they lose many resources through the forgetting nature that comes with the disease.

Other issues that affect the patient are the medical history of the person who is at a higher risk of getting the disease. An examination on the patient reveals that there are indications that show they are at a higher risk to get the condition through internal organs. Other indications are on the behavioral pattern in regards to their sleep pattern. Other inquiries about the patient is to find out whether there have been earlier cases where they had visual hallucinations and homicidal ideation, which is hard for the patient to admit that they have felt like taking their life in the past.

A complete plan of care would indicate that having a total life change would take the first step in moving in the right direction for the treatment of the condition. It is a form of brain damage and it takes great care that will slow down the progression at which the brain is deteriorating. Other diseases come with having the condition like getting high blood pressure. One of the major steps is taking therapies in the speech to regain the ability to hold a conversation in order they can communicate about what they feel (Simpson et al, 2000). Other forms of therapies are the physiotherapy and the occupational therapy, which treat the cognitive symptoms, which work for the Alzheimers disease, which also work for the people with the Vascular Dementia with mood disorder. Taking painkillers regularly will help in controlling the pain that the patients feel. Having the loved ones around is also an indirect form of treating the condition as they talk with the patient and try to remind them of things that happened in the past, which are acts as forms to trigger their memory in remembering their past.

Eating right and losing weight and an overall adoption of a healthy lifestyle is another major prevention and treatment method of the condition. The risk of getting stroke is higher in patients with the dementia condition (Baldwin, 2005). Those who live with the patient need some form of counselling on order to know how to deal and treat the patients as they require much care than any other person and need a new level of understanding as it is hard sometimes to understand them.

Each patient is unique and they all require a different way of treatment depending on the kind of examination they have as well as the level at which they know they ail from the dementia disease (Alexopoulos, 2006). Patients with a higher risk have the worst case of treating, as the physicians have to take caution to avoid triggering other diseases like the case of developing high blood pressure and one with the diabetes condition. Such patients require much attention and care in the choice of treatment that their doctors choose. Any type of medication they use should be under the doctors prescription as they may have other indications, which may affect them negatively and have adverse effects on their health. It is important for a doctor to take a detailed examination of the patients before they can settle on the kind of treatment fit for them to avoid triggering other independent conditions or worsening the conditions the patients already have in their system.

References

Alexopoulos, G. S. (2006). The vascular depression hypothesis: 10 years later. Biological psychiatry, 60(12), 1304-1305.

Baldwin, R. C. (2005). Is vascular depression a distinct subtype of depressive disorder? A review of causal evidence. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 20(1), 1-11.

Simpson, S., Baldwin, R. C., Jackson, A., Burns, A., & Thomas, P. (2000). Is the clinical expression of late-life depression influenced by brain changes? MRI subcortical neuroanatomical correlates of depressive symptoms. International psychogeriatrics, 12(04), 425-434.