Sometimes when there is something wrong with people with dementia all that they can indicate to us is that they are in discomfort. This may be apparent from an increased level of agitation or a deterioration in their behavioural pattern. It can be extremely difficult to discover whether pain really is at the root of the increased confusion and, if so, what it is caused by. The source of pain can be a full bladder that won't empty, as happens in some men with an enlarged prostate gland, or perhaps an undetected broken bone; indigestion from ulcers can also be the culprit, and so on. A person with dementia is just as likely to develop all the physical problems that the rest of us can have. All that the doctor can normally do is exclude obvious and easily diagnosed causes of pain, and if a specific diagnosis is not apparent, treat the pain in a general way in the hope either that it will settle down or that other indicators of the underlying problem will eventually become apparent.
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General Health