Pick’s disease is a type of dementia (loss of memory) in which the brain cells reduce their capacity to think. The affected person will show change in behavior and personality and subsequently it would affect their speech. Not all the people having dementia will have the symptoms of Pick’s disease and only less percentage (5 in 100) will have this problem. The symptoms of this rare disease are often misunderstood for depression or any other type of mental illness. There is no cure for the disorder but the patient can be taught and trained to live with this disease. This disease involves the reduced functioning of frontal lobes of the brain that controls speech. For this reason this disease is also called as frontotemproal dementia.
The cells in the frontal lobes lose function gradually due to the accumulation of protein molecules in the brain. This piling up of brain cells gradually changes the behavior and personality of the person. He would subsequently become poor in taking decisions and this may seriously affect his intelligence as well.
This disease is found rarely in people of age group 45-60 and women are more affected than men.Exact cause of Pick’s disease is not fully known.
It begins as loss of memory and slowly change in behavior is observed. There will be a positive decline in making decisions and the person will lose control even in doing basic tasks. The symptoms will increase as age progresses and there will be complete withdrawal from daily activities in the long run.
The affected person will show signs of depression. He cannot make right judgment and becomes highly restless. He may either avoid eating and drinking or over-eat. Lot of changes is seen in his behavior. He will not show any interest in maintaining personal hygiene and sometimes he may exhibit himself sexually.
Gradually he will lose interest in carrying out daily routine and takes leave from his work or office.
He may become suddenly rude and again warm and empathetic. Lot of mood swings is seen during this period. His concentration becomes low and he may get easily distracted by other’s action or speech.
The worst part of the disease is loss of speech and initially the person will have problem in speaking and understanding. He may struggle for finding the apt word and shortly he would start repeating the same words. Finally there would be complete loss of speech.
In the advanced stages of disease, the person may show difficulty in moving his muscles and joints and may show muscle rigidity. His body becomes easily tired.
The doctor will look for the above signs and collect information from the patient as well as his close relatives. He may do EEG or brain scan and even MRI scan of the brain to ascertain the disease. The symptoms are very similar to Alzheimer’s disease and hence diagnosing the disease rightly becomes crucial for the doctor. Loss of memory and mental dysfunction occurs in later stages in Pick’s disease.
No cure is available for Pick’s disease but the patient can be given emotional support and taught to cope up with the disease.
Certain symptoms of the disease can be repaired and completely cured. For instance loss of hearing or vision can be corrected by prescribing proper hearing aid or eyeglasses for the person.
For modifying the behavior it takes time for the counselor to bring changes using rewards or punishment method. For improving speech or writing, the person will be trained by professional speech therapist.
Medications of antidepressant type are prescribed for getting temporary relief from the depressed state of mind and to control certain behavior. Analgesics and central nervous system depressants are given after analyzing the case history of the patient.
The task lies in finding the other skills of the person and motivating them to improve it.
There may be other physical disorders associated with this disease like liver or kidney failure, thyroid problem, infection and nutritional disorders. Hence the doctor will have to carefully examine the patient’s health and suggest suitable remedial drugs for treatment.