Informational only — Not medical advice. Always consult a licensed healthcare provider.

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Vascular dementia

Vascular dementia

brain-nerves-and-spinal-cord nervous
0 medicines 7 symptoms

Dementia is a term for a group of diseases that affect different brain functions, including your memory.

Vascular dementia is a common type of dementia. It's caused by reduced blood flow to your brain.

Common Symptoms

slowness of thought difficulty with planning and understanding problems with concentration changes to your mood, personality or behaviour disoriented and confused difficulty walking and keeping balance symptoms of alzheimer’s disease, like problems with memory and language

⚠️ This symptom list is for educational purposes. Having these symptoms does not mean you have this condition. See a doctor for proper diagnosis.

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Medicines Commonly Used

⚠️ These medicines are commonly used for confirmed diagnoses of this condition. This is NOT a recommendation or prescription. Treatment must be determined by your doctor.

No medicines have been linked to this condition yet.

Causes

Vascular dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to your brain. Over time, this damages and eventually kills brain cells.

The reduced blood flow can be caused by:

  • small blood vessels inside your brain narrowing and becoming blocked
  • a single stroke, where the blood supply to part of your brain is suddenly cut off
  • lots of "mini strokes" (transient ischaemic attacks or TIAs) that cause tiny but widespread damage to your brain

Risk factors for vascular dementia

This reduced blood flow is often linked to underlying conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes and irregular heart rhythms. It can also be linked to lifestyle factors like smoking and being overweight.

Tackling these might reduce your risk of developing the condition in later life.

When to speak to a doctor

If you're worried about your memory or think you may have dementia, you should speak to a doctor.

When you're worried about someone else, you should encourage them to make an appointment. You could suggest that you'll go with them.

More advice if you're worried about dementia

Diagnosis

Vascular dementia is not the only cause of memory problems. They can also be caused by depression, stress, medications, or other health problems.

Your doctor can do some simple checks to try to find the cause. If necessary, they can refer you to a specialist for more tests.

Treatment

There is currently no cure for vascular dementia. However, there are treatments that can help manage the symptoms. Your doctor can discuss the best treatment options for you.

There are things you can do to live well for as long as possible with dementia.

Your future health and social care needs will need to be assessed, and a care plan drawn up. This is a way of making sure you receive the right treatment for your needs. It involves identifying areas where you may need some help, such as:

  • what support you or your carer need to help you remain as independent as possible
  • whether any changes need to be made to your home to make it easier to live in
  • whether you need any financial assistance