What are the treatments for dementia?
Treatment of dementia begins with treatment of the underlying disease, where possible. The underlying causes of nutritional, hormonal, tumor-caused and drug-related dementias may be reversible to some extent. Treatment for stroke-related dementia begins by minimizing the risk of further strokes, through smoking cessation, aspirin therapy, and treatment of hypertension, for instance. No therapies can reverse the progression of AD. Aspirin, estrogen, vitamin E, and selegiline have been evaluated for their ability to slow the rate of progression. However, none of these have been proven effective. In fact, in 2002 and 2003, research revealed that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) did not help prevent AD and dementia. In the same two years, the Women’s Health Initiative, a large clinical trial, was halted because of detrimental effects of combined estrogen and progestigin therapy, or hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Not only was HRT found to increase risk of breast cancer, s
