Insults, unexpected and acidic comments, harassment behaviors and even assaults. Relatives of pick’s disease patients suffer from the unspeakable with this type of unique dementia. Few phenomena are more shocking than seeing such a radical change in someone close to you that you are therefore incapable of respecting social norms.
It is not a common neurodegenerative disease, such as Alzheimer’s disease, in fact, its prevalence, according to a study by the University of Chile and Sydney, Australia, is 15 to 22 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. has a severe and fatal evolution.
- It occurs early.
- On average between the 50 and 53 years.
- However.
- There are known cases of young people in the twenties with this neurological disorder.
- A disease with a short life expectancy.
There is no cure and treatments do not prevent these radical changes in behavior and personality, which makes the management of these patients always very complicated and, above all, painful, many parents end up being physically and verbally abused by this parent or brother. who had so much love and respect for them until recently.
Let’s learn a little more about this type of dementia
As for dementia, the recurring stereotype is usually Alzheimer’s disease, in addition, it is also common to associate these neurodegenerative diseases with a very specific symptom: confusion, memory loss, orientation problems.
Pick’s disease has clear differences with Alzheimer’s disease, affects other areas of the brain and also has unique biochemical characteristics, in addition, the first symptom is always personality change, it is a serious brain disease that goes through three very specific phases and unfortunately culminates with the patient’s death as a result of this progressive degeneration.
At this time, we do not yet know what is causing this disease, the change focuses exclusively on the frontal and temporal lobes, forming frontotemporal dementia, pick’s disease patients have a peculiarity that psychiatrist Arnold Pick discovered in Prague in 1892.
The effect of this type of dementia on the frontal areas results in a rapid change in social skills, with the patient completely losing the ability to assume conventional standards.
We know that the sooner the disease appears, the worse the progression and the sooner the patient dies, it is a dementia of great gravity and personal impact, the family sees this loved one suddenly become someone completely different.
It is also a disease that occurs in people still young and who die on average 6 to 7 years after the first symptoms, there is no cure and the treatments available can only treat the emotional aspect, such as depression and emotional ups and downs. .
The most complex aspect of Pick’s disease is that it evolves very quickly and the changes the patient undergoes are constant, making it very difficult to give a quick medical response to avoid these changes, but we know that on average dementia goes through three stages:
Finally, in these situations, it is very important to provide adequate and complete assistance to the family, the emotional impact is immense. Caring for a patient with Pick’s disease is not easy; they have to deal with their hypersexuality and also their aggressiveness. These are situations of great suffering in which social and psychological support must be constant.