Why do strokes cause confusion

Often, these strokes can be so small that you don't know you are having them. These are known as silent strokes. Sometimes symptoms of vascular dementia can be confused with the effects of stroke. Both stroke and vascular dementia can cause problems with memory, thinking and mood.

Strokes happen suddenly while the symptoms of vascular dementia often get worse over time. The difference is that vascular dementia gets worse over time. Vascular dementia can also be caused by small vessel disease. This is when the small blood vessels deep within your brain become narrow and clogged up.

The damage stops blood from getting to parts of your brain. The damage can build up over time and may cause signs of vascular cognitive impairment. This can eventually lead to vascular dementia. Many of the things that increase your risk of small vessel disease, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, also increase your risk of stroke.

You can read more about how to reduce your risk of stroke and small vessel disease. Symptoms of vascular dementia can appear suddenly if they are caused by a single stroke, or if they are caused by silent strokes they may appear gradually over time. These steps are usually due to new strokes. You can read more about treatments to slow down the progression of dementia. Your GP will talk to you and do a number of tests to see what may be causing your symptoms.

It is possible that your assessment may happen at a memory clinic or a clinic at a hospital outpatients department. Your specialist will carry out further tests. They will ask you questions to see how your memory and thinking may have been affected. They may ask you to perform pencil- and paper-based memory and thinking tests.

These tests are designed to be challenging. They may also arrange for you to have a brain scan, so that they can see how much damage has been caused to your brain. Vascular dementia treatments Living with vascular dementia Supporting someone with vascular dementia.

Call if you think you are having a stroke. Home What is stroke? Diagnosis to discharge Childhood stroke Living with stroke After hospital discharge Effects of stroke Aphasia and communication Fatigue and tiredness Stroke publications Know your risk Are you at risk of stroke? Vascular dementia treatments 3. Living with vascular dementia 4. Supporting someone with vascular dementia. The information on this page can be accessed in the following formats: Download this information as a pdf or large print Word document.

Order a printed copy from our shop To request a braille copy, email helpline stroke. Sometimes a characteristic pattern of vascular dementia symptoms follows a series of strokes or ministrokes. Changes in your thought processes occur in noticeable steps downward from your previous level of function, unlike the gradual, steady decline that typically occurs in Alzheimer's disease dementia. But vascular dementia can also develop very gradually, just like Alzheimer's disease dementia.

What's more, vascular disease and Alzheimer's disease often occur together. Studies show that many people with dementia and evidence of brain vascular disease also have Alzheimer's disease. Vascular dementia results from conditions that damage your brain's blood vessels, reducing their ability to supply your brain with the amounts of nutrition and oxygen it needs to perform thought processes effectively.

Stroke infarction blocking a brain artery. Strokes that block a brain artery usually cause a range of symptoms that may include vascular dementia. But some strokes don't cause any noticeable symptoms. These silent strokes still increase dementia risk. With both silent and apparent strokes, the risk of vascular dementia increases with the number of strokes that occur over time.

One type of vascular dementia involving many strokes is called multi-infarct dementia. In general, the risk factors for vascular dementia are the same as those for heart disease and stroke. Risk factors for vascular dementia include:. The health of your brain's blood vessels is closely linked to your overall heart health. Taking these steps to keep your heart healthy may also help reduce your risk of vascular dementia:.

Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Predicting which patients are at high risk of delirium will allow caregivers to quickly identify and treat this potentially devastating complication. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: Verify here. Log In Join Ausmed. Start my Subscription. Log In. Sign Up. Online CPD Articles. Document 2m of CPD.

A review by Shi et al. The researchers made some startling discoveries, including the following: Individuals who developed delirium were 4. Shi et al. What is Delirium?