Overview…What is Dementia? What is Alzheimer’s?

 For any new readers or for those who want a reminder for the new year, here’s an overview on Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

*Dementia is caused from damage to the brain cells and is a general term for a decline in mental ability, memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. Alzheimer’s and Vascular Dementia (i.e. resulting from a stroke) are too common forms of Dementia. There are many other conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia,  such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies and while symptoms start out slowly, they gradually get worse.

Types of Dementia:

• Alzheimer’s Disease (see below)
• Vascular Dementia – Occurs because of brain injuries such as microscopic bleeding and blood vessel blockage.
• Dementia with Lewy Bodies – Lewy bodies are abnormal aggregations (or clumps) of the protein alpha-synuclein. When they develop in a part of the brain called the cortex, dementia can result.
• Mixed Dementia – Characterized by the hallmark abnormalities of Alzheimer’s and another type of dementia
• Parkinson’s – Degeneration of the nerve cells. Problems with movement are a common symptom early in the disease.
• Frontotemporal lobar degeneration – People with bvFTD generally develop symptoms at a younger age (at about age 60) and survive for fewer years than those with Alzheimer’s.
  
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease – Believed to be caused by consumption of products from cattle affected by mad cow disease.
  
• Normal pressure hydrocephalus – Caused by the buildup of fluid in the brain.

*Alzheimer’s – The most common form of Dementia, that’s not considered an illness of old age, but is a progressive disease that causes memory loss, and problems with thinking behavior.

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s is remembering newly learned information and as it advances it leads to increasingly severe symptoms, such as disorientation, deepening confusion about events, time and place; mood and behavior changes; unfounded suspicions about family, friends and caregivers; and difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.

7 Stages of Alzheimer’s:

1. No impairment (normal function)
2. Very mild cognitive decline (may be normal age-related changes or earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease)
3. Mild cognitive decline
   
4. Moderate cognitive decline
5. Moderately severe cognitive decline. Gaps in memory and thinking are noticeable, and individuals begin to need help with day-to-day activities.
6. Severe cognitive decline. Memory continues to worsen, personality changes may take place, individuals need extensive help with daily activities and they lose awareness of recent experiences and their surrounding.
7. Very severe cognitive decline. Individuals lose the ability to respond to their environment, to carry on a conversation and, eventually, to control movement.

* Information from the Alzheimer’s Association.