Alternatives for treating dementia

Music, pets and aromatherapy could be used to calm agitated or delusional patients before using drugs, which may prove ineffective or have side effects. Dementia is usually associated with memory loss, but at least 60 percent of patients also suffer such symptoms as agitation, aggression, delusions, hallucinations, repetitive vocalisations and wandering. Dementia-related behaviour is very distressing to both caregivers and medical professionals and often leads to the patient being placed in a nursing home. Researchers from the Wake Forest University, North Carolina, USA, evaluated 29 studies and noted that it was discouraging to find that currently there were no good drug therapies for dementia-related behaviour. The study analysed data on more than 15 drugs commonly prescribed for dementia symptoms, including antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilisers. Of the drugs in a class called atypical antipsychotics, resperidone and olanzapine had the best record of effectiveness but both had potentially unhealthy side effects. Better treatments for dementia and improved training of caregivers are needed. Relying on music therapy, aromatherapy and pet therapy could be effective and should be tried.