New to MyHealth?
Manage Your Care From Anywhere.
Access your health information from any device with MyHealth. You can message your clinic, view lab results, schedule an appointment, and pay your bill.
ALREADY HAVE AN ACCESS CODE?
DON'T HAVE AN ACCESS CODE?
NEED MORE DETAILS?
MyHealth for Mobile
Treatment Options for Dementia
How is dementia treated?
Medicines may slow down dementia, but they don't cure it. They may help improve mental function, mood, or behavior.
Palliative care
Palliative care is a kind of care for people who have a serious illness. It's different from care to cure the illness. Its goal is to improve a person's quality of life—not just in body but also in mind and spirit.
Care may include:
- Tips to help the person be independent and manage daily life as long as possible.
- Medicine. While medicines can't cure dementia, they may help improve mental function, mood, or behavior.
- Support and counseling. A diagnosis of dementia can create feelings of anger, fear, and anxiety. A person in the early stage of the illness should seek emotional support from family, friends, and perhaps a counselor experienced in working with people who have dementia.
Treatment as dementia gets worse
The goals of ongoing treatment for dementia are to keep the person safely at home for as long as possible and to provide support and guidance to the caregivers.
The person will need routine follow-up visits every 3 to 6 months. The doctor will monitor medicines and the person's level of functioning.
At some point, the family may have to think about placing the person in a care facility that has a dementia unit.
Condition Spotlight
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment. As a Stanford Health Care patient, you may have access to the latest, advanced clinical trials.
Open trials refer to studies currently accepting participants. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but may open in the future.