Effects Of Mild Cognitive Impairment Research Paper Example

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) refers to a condition of losing memory. Most of the people relate memory loss to the old age. However, mild cognitive impairment can affect every age. It becomes easy to notice when one is suffering from mild cognitive impairment if there is consistency in loosing memory and forgetting things. The condition becomes noticeable when the victims realize that there is memory loss and at the same time, the neighbors and the other parties also notice the impairment. Nonetheless, the mild cognitive impairment does not affect the daily challenges the individual undertakes. For this reason, most victims do not pay attention to the impairment hence do not seek medical assistance. The deterioration of the MCI leads to the development of the dementia (Anderson, Murphy & Troyer, 2012).
Nonetheless, the experts outlined some of the MCI symptoms, and they include; forgetting the simple things and events, inability to follow simple instructions, getting lost even in familiar locations, and indecisiveness when making decisions. Nonetheless, the MCI usually affects; the old people, those with the family genetics of the disease, those who do not exercise regularly, and drug abuse. Therefore, there are some of the things that an individual should avoid some of the factors that tend to trigger the development of the disease (Baker, Frank, Foster-Schuber, 2010).
There are massive effects of the MCI to both the diagnosed and undiagnosed persons. First, there is development of stigma to the victims. Most of the society members stigmatize most the MCI victims. It some cases, the people dissociate from such persons with the claims that they cannot hold a normal conversation. Therefore, the alienation leads to the development of self-pity, which could at times harbor the negative thoughts. Some of the victims could contemplate to commit suicide due to the rejection they face in the societies. The stigma does not work well with the victims because it does not help them in the recovery process. On the contrary, it deteriorates the condition leading to the development of more complications related to the memory loss. As a result, the victims develop a negative attitude towards the society members, and it erodes the feeling of belongingness in the community (Graham, 2012).
MCI could also lead to retrenchment and the loss of employment. Most of the employers would become impatient to the people who keep on forgetting the instructions given at the workplace. Forgetfulness could greatly cost a company leading to massive losses. For instance, the victims could forget to attend a corporate event, and it results to the tainting of the company’s public image. When one interferes with the public image of any firm, it causes loss of customers’ loyalty thereby reduced sales because few of the consumers would become willing to purchase the products from the company. On the other hand, an accountant could misplace a lump sum amount of money and this could trigger friction with the employer. As a result, the employer could lay off the employee due to the irregularities (Sosa, et al. 2012).
The MCI condition could also lead to a poor performance in the school. Therefore, the learners forget to follow the simple instructions provided in the exams, and it leads to a failure. The failure to follow the simple instructions in the school puts the victim at logger heads with the educations hence the development of hatred towards each other. The poor performance deters one from preceding to the next level hence the frustrations. In addition, it prolongs ones’ stay in the school leading to the wastage of resources. Conversely, the condition discourages one from developing ones talents leading to the exploitation of the talents (Meinzer, 2014).
The mild cognitive impairment also leads to the high dropout rates in schools. Most of the students prefer to stay away from their colleagues due to the mismatching characters. Therefore, to avoid the ridicule from the others, they opt to dropout from the schools. On the other hand, the parents claim that taking a child suffering from the MCI is a waste of resources. As a result, they prefer to put the money in more productive activities, and other income generating activities. It would help the families to improve their living standards. Nonetheless, the high dropout rates result to an increase in the social evils in the society because such people cannot secure employment in the labor market. However, some of the people who suffer from the mild cognitive impairment consistently break the law due to the forgetfulness of what is right or wrong (Braverman & Scali, 2015).
Nonetheless, the early diagnosis of the impairment could help the patient to recover. For this reason, it is essential to seek medical attention when one realizes the symptoms of the MCI. Early treatment alleviates the problems leading a normal life like the rest of the society members. The doctors could advise the patients in what to do to reduce the negative effects of the impairment. The advice also helps the patients to start accepting themselves hence the development of the belongingness in the society. It also eradicates the self-pity from the victims.
In both the diagnosed and the undiagnosed patients, the problem affects the executive function. Some of the functions include; leading, coordinating, and staffing, planning, decision making thereby becoming ineffective. As a result, it leads to non-performance in the organizations due to the confusion that creeps in. Therefore, it becomes hard to coordinate the operations in the organizations.it could create conflict among the people around the person, especially the ones who claim that they occur due to carelessness. Others could claim that negligence is the one causing the above irregularities. The constant conflicts and the wars hinder a free flow of operations. Nonetheless, in most cases, the patients tend to withdraw from the crowd (Anderson, 2014).
Nevertheless, MCI causes visual cognition to the diagnosed and the undiagnosed patients. As a result, they find it hard to locate directions and places. The condition greatly affects the drivers who get lost in ferrying people to the destinations. For the pedestrians, it becomes hard to find their way to their destinations. For this reason, the challenge encourages the chances of kidnap because the criminals take advantage of such persons when they ask for their way. Most of those who suffer memory loss end up disappearing for good from the societies due to the challenges associated with finding location. Therefore, the families with such people tend to lock them in the houses to remain indoors to prevent the chances of them leaving the house. Staying indoors is not the best experience, and the persons suffering from the mild cognitive impairment end up hating the family members (Aretouli, Brandt , 2010).
The mild cognitive impairments lead to the non-conversant with the language. Therefore, it becomes difficult for the patients to remember some words hence their inability for the free flow of a conversation. It also creates interruptions when conversing with each other hence the communication breakdown. Forgetting the language and use of the words wastes much time, hence most of the people tend to run away from such persons when holding an important discussion. The social cognition also affects the individual further widening the gap between the patients and the other society members.
The MCI cause a financial burden to the patients. Seeking of the medical assistance increases the patients’ expenses. The financial constraints further deteriorate the mild cognitive impairment thereby providing an ample environment for the MCI to thrive. On the other, the incapability to handle the finances increases chances of fraud. The poor memory necessitates one to appoint someone to head the finances. Therefore, if one gets an untrustworthy person, the chances of fund misappropriation increases thereby leading to the financial constraints. For the active patients, one can embark on a research in order to gather adequate information that can help one handle the challenge. It increases awareness in the community thereby helping other people who could suffer from the same condition (Meinzer, 2014).
The experts indicate that there are no specific tests that one can conduct to detect MCI. However, the doctors rely on the evaluation of the presence of the Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, the doctors examine the laboratory tests, neurological examinations, and the medical history of the patient and that of the family members, experimental tests. The medical history helps the doctors determine whether the condition is hereditary. However, the doctor could also assess the patients’ daily activities. A patient suffering from MCI develops inconsistency in the normal activities. Alternatively, the medical expert could seek for more information from the patients’ family members to provide insight on the change of activities that depict an element of memory loss ( McDade & Peterson, 2015).
The neurological examination aims at determining whether the nerves function as required. The nerves help in the coordination of the movement of an individual, and balancing the senses. However, the nerves liaise with the brain to coordinate the activities of an individual. Therefore, it there emerges a defect in the nerves, and then it affect the memory. On the other hand, the examination of the mental status gauges the memory of the patient, ability to plan, judge and make informed decisions concerning a challenge. The mood of a patient could help a doctor diagnose the existence of MCI. Depression is common in patients suffering from the mild cognitive impairment (Aretouli, Brandt , 2010).
Nonetheless, the medical practitioners prefer to introduce the medicine of the early Alzheimer’s disease. Alternatively, the doctors advise the patients to exercise a lot because exercise helps in the relief of tension. It also helps to exercise some of the body parts thereby benefiting the heart which aids the blood vessels to pump the blood that aids the nerves to fully coordinate the activities. The vessels also supply blood to the brain thus a coordination of the activities. The patients should engage in discussions that would help keep themselves busy. The conversation also aids the patients to remember the words, which they could have forgotten. Nonetheless, the persistence of the MCI results to the development of dementia. It is essential for the patients to mentally stimulate themselves and to engage in physical exercises because they help to keep the patients active (U.S preventive services service force, 2014).
The caregivers tend to withdraw from the society to avoid ridicules from the community members. As a result, they develop negative attitudes towards the society. However, some caregivers opt to neglect the patients suffering from MCI due to the burden that it brings. It becomes hard to understand how to deal with such persons.
There is need for the government to increase awareness on the mild cognition impairment to help both the patients and the caregivers. The caregivers get the advice on how to handle such people and what they could do to help them improve. The campaigns also eradicate the negative attitudes from the society against the patients. Nevertheless, the government should build healthcare facilities to enable the patients’ access adequate healthcare services (Aretouli, Brandt , 2010).

References

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