The brain is an essential organ that works in line with the central nervous system to ensure that body functions are deliberated as expected or as designed. Like other parts of the body organs, the brain can fail for various reasons. Consequently, the inability to adequately function as intended may contribute to the developing of a cognitive disorder. There are so many cognitive disorders recognized by experts, the main ones being dementia, amnesia, and delirium. While the significant effects of the cognitive disorders include memory loss, inability to solve problems, learning issues and deterred perception among others, the causes are not precise since they vary from patient to patient. The primary reason of these disorders is observed to be the damage to essential parts of the brain that can be brought about by many different conditions. Throughout this research paper, delirium will be analyzed and discussed to find out everything that revolves around it.
Causes of Delirium
According to the professionals at Mayo Clinic (2015), delirium is a mental condition whose symptoms slightly match that of dementia. It is a psychological disorder that is viewed as a disturbance to the abilities of the brain which lead to confusion and a decline in the awareness of an individual’s surroundings. Many factors contribute to the development of delirium which usually starts rapidly within hours or days with constant fluctuations of the symptoms. Some of these factors may include an imbalance in the nutrient composition of the metabolic system like reduced sodium or calcium, an infection, withdrawal of drugs or alcohol, and a possible surgery among others. Physicians have approved that some medication trigger delirium hence is a side effect brought up by identified drugs. Some of these medications include sleeping pills, painkillers, allergy, and moods disorder and asthma medications among others. As analyzed by experts, delirium has three types of the condition which include: hyperactive, hypoactive and mixed delirium. The critical difference between the three types of delirium is based on the fact that hyperactive delirium involves quick changes of moods swings, restlessness and possible hallucinations. It is the type that is easily identified from the rest. As for hypoactive delirium, the individual suffering from it is always observed as a sluggard, drowsy and with a decreased motor activity (Fjell and Walhovd, 2010) . Mixed delirium has a combination of both hypoactive and hyperactive symptoms. As it is noted by medical professionals, there are risk factors that have been identified to increase the chances of developing delirium in individuals. For instance, patients who stay long in hospitals like in Intensive Care Unit and surgical wards are at a high risk of having delirium disorder. Other risks factors of delirium include dementia, old age, multiple medical problems, previous delirium episodes and visual or hearing impairment.
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Symptoms of Delirium
In reference to Millan et al., (2012), highlighted symptoms of delirium in its victims as mentioned earlier are a reduced knowledge of their surroundings, poor thinking skills, change in behavior, and emotional disturbances. Considering that each has their way of bringing out the symptoms, individuals with a declined awareness of the environment may portray inability to focus on a particular topic and find difficulty switching from one topic to the other. They are easily distracted by simple things and withdraw indefinitely without response to the environment. In the case of cognitive impairment, the individuals are observed to be forgetful, have difficulty in a speech in which they ramble or make no sense from whatever they say, and they are not able to understand which all affect their reading and writing abilities. In the behavioral change, delirium patients hallucinate and easily get agitated. Their cycle of sleep and waking up changes from night reversing to daytime which is also disturbed, whereas the older individuals tend to withdraw from the environment. As for the case of younger patients, some are often observed to moan, make funny sounds and always call out. Most of the time psychological experts focus on the emotional symptoms when it comes to researching on cognitive disorders. Therefore, the core emotional disturbances of delirium are identified as paranoia, anxiety, fear, depression, euphoria, unpredictable change of moods, apathy, and change of personality.
Complications
As reckoned by Inouye, Westendorp, and Saczynski (2014), the intensity of delirium differs from one individual to the other, mainly because of its underlying causes. Moreover, the period taken to recover from the condition depends on the health and mental state of the patient. It is possible that the individual may not improve their memory or other essential cognitive functions that includes thinking. On the other hand, a series of delirium may contribute to the future decline of good health, poor recovery from surgery; increase the risk of mortality and the need for care from health institutions.
What to do
Since delirium has symptoms that are slightly similar to those of dementia, patients have to be accompanied by a family member who closely observes their behavioral changes. The person attending to the patient must be in a position to know the health history, medication that was taken, and when the condition began. Besides, it is essential for them to be ready to respond to all possible questions that will be raised by the doctors for proper diagnosis and treatment.
Tests and Diagnosis
For efficiency in delivering the right treatment, the doctor must ensure they get the correct diagnosis of the condition. In approving that the disease is delirium, the doctors make different assessments of the mental state. For example, physician use methods like a conversation or perform tests or screening purposely for identification of the possible existence of confusion, the level of memory and the patient’s memory. Furthermore, the doctor can use different other methods to monitor the attention, thinking and the awareness ability of the patient. Physical examinations are also necessary for identifying possible underlying illnesses that may be a cause of the disease (Girard et al., 2010) . For example, the standard condition that may be tested include vision balance, reflexes and the coordination of body parts that may be a cause of neurological diseases which highly contribute the development of delirium. For further clarifications, the doctor may require performing more tests that include diagnostic tests of urine, blood samples, and other relevant substances.
Treatment and Medication
After clear clarifications of the tests and diagnosis of the condition, the development of delirium requires immediate treatment and prescriptions of drugs. The significant steps taken by the doctors are first to identify the factors that trigger delirium as in accordance to the patient in question. First of all, the doctor has to stop the patient’s intake of drugs that trigger delirium. On the other hand, if the patient has illness whose side effects include delirium, the doctor must treat the condition first then later provide measures that will help in dealing with the mental disorder. Considering the complication mentioned earlier, the doctors offer supportive measures that help prevent the occurrence of other severe conditions. The preventive measures include protection of the airway, provision of fluids, support with movement, addressing incontinence, avoidance of change in surroundings or caregivers and involvement of family and loved ones who are familiar with the patient for support.
As for the medication, the doctor may stop intake of drugs that enhance the pain of delirium where-as he may prescribe medicines that calm the distress caused. Depending on the severity of the mental disorder, doctors sometimes prescribe antidepressants that help the patient to calm down. Depending on the patient’s response to the medication provided, the physician may either be forced to increase or reduce the doses. Besides medication, the inclusion of therapy may be necessary. Through therapy, the patients can be involved in activities that help recover mental functions like memory and perception. Furthermore, besides the efforts of the doctor’s family are required to play a role in supporting their loved one’s recovery. Some of the activities that can be enhanced from home through the help of friends and loved ones include ensuring that the patient develops good sleeping habits, stay in a calm environment, and following doctor’s advice to the latter like giving the patient medication at the right time. Prevention is better than cure. Hence it is important to consider keeping off conditions and risk factors that may trigger delirium. As a result, it will be easier for the doctor’s and family members to handle a possible development of delirium.
Conclusion
Some conditions are inevitable especially when they develop mostly because of other problems or illness. Cognitive disorders are unpredictable but can be managed when a correct diagnosis is performed. The treatment of delirium on the other hand highly depends on the health history of the patient. Common symptoms of mental disorders include depression, anxiety, confusion, hallucinations and inability to identify the environment in which one is in. Besides, allocation of treatment that deals with the underlying illness, physicians also advocate for therapy sessions to help in recovering from mental impairments like loss of memory, poor thinking and perception. On the other hand, the help from loved ones plays a significant role in supporting the patient to quickly recover.
References
Fjell, A. and Walhovd, K. (2010). Structural Brain Changes in Aging: Courses, Causes and Cognitive Consequences Reviews in the Neurosciences , 21(3).
Girard, T., Jackson, J., Pandharipande, P., Pun, B., Thompson, J., Shintani, A., Gordon, S., Canonico, A., Dittus, R., Bernard, G. and Wesley Ely, E. (2010). Delirium as a predictor of long-term cognitive impairment in survivors of critical illness Critical Care Medicine , 38(7), pp.1513-1520
Inouye, S., Westendorp, R. and Saczynski, J. (2014). Delirium in elderly people. The Lancet , 383(9920), pp.911-922
Mayo Clinic. (2015, September 5). Diseases and Conditions: Delirium . Retrieved October 19, 2017, from Mayo-Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/delirium/basics/symptoms/con-20033982
Millan, M., Agid, Y., Brüne, M., Bullmore, E., Carter, C., Clayton, N., Connor, R., Davis, S., Deakin, B., DeRubeis, R., Dubois, B., Geyer, M., Goodwin, G., Gorwood, P., Jay, T., Joëls, M., Mansuy, I., Meyer-Lindenberg, A., Murphy, D., Rolls, E., Saletu, B., Spedding, M., Sweeney, J., Whittington, M. and Young, L. (2012). Cognitive dysfunction in psychiatric disorders: characteristics, causes and the quest for improved therapy. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery , 11(2), pp.141-168
