What Is Dementia?

Dementia is not a part of normal aging; it is a disease. Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. It causes the brain to shrink and stop working. Dementia is an impairment in memory, communication and thinking. Accepting that a loved one has dementia can be difficult. As part of the disease, people with Dementia ‘tend’ to develop typical patterns of speech, behavior and routines. Loved ones will also have skills and abilities that are lost while others are retained or persevered. Common symptoms of Dementia to look for: memory skills, understanding skills, language use, emotional and impulse control along with motor skills and sensory processing.

Dementia is an umbrella term that includes many cognitive loss conditions. Under the “umbrella” term, Dementia is broken down into four main types: Alzheimer’s, Vascular Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia and Frontal-Temporal Dementia.

Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of Dementia. Alzheimer’s diseases accounts for 60 percent to 80 percent of Dementia cases. Like all types of Dementia, Alzheimer’s is caused by brain cell death. It is a neurodegenerative disease, which means there is progressive brain cell death that happens over time.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease. The most common early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease is difficulty remembering newly learned information because Alzheimer’s changes typically begin in the part of the brain that affects learning. It then advances through the brain and leads to increasingly severe symptoms including disorientation, mood changes and behavior; deepening confusion about events, time and place; difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.

Sundowning is also a symptom of Alzheimer’s disease. It is also known as “late-day confusion”. Sundowning occurs in the late afternoon and evening. It can cause a variety of behaviors such as confusion, anxiety aggression or ignoring directions and also pacing or wandering.

On average, a person with Alzheimer’s lives four to eight years after diagnosis, but can live as long as twenty years, depending on other factors.

Alzheimer’s has no cure, but treatments for symptoms are available. Current Alzheimer’s treatments can’t stop the disease from progressing, but they can temporarily slow the worsening of dementia symptoms and improve quality of life.

Vascular Dementia

Vascular Dementia occurs when vessels that supply blood to the brain become blocked or narrowed. You can develop Vascular Dementia after a stroke blocks an artery in your brain, but strokes don’t always cause Vascular Dementia. It can result from other conditions that damage blood vessels and reduce blood circulation such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking also raise your risk of developing Vascular Dementia.

Vascular Dementia symptoms vary, depending on the part of your brain where blood flow is impaired. Symptoms often overlap with other types of Dementia, especially Alzheimer’s. Vascular Dementia signs and symptoms includes some of the following: confusion, trouble paying attention or concentrating, reduced ability to organize thoughts or actions, decline in ability to analyze a situation, restlessness and agitation. These symptoms may be most clear-cut when they occur suddenly following a stroke. When changes in your thinking and reasoning seem clearly linked to a stroke, this condition is sometimes called post-stroke Dementia.

Like other types of Dementia, Vascular Dementia shortens lifespan. Some data shows that those who develop dementia following a stroke, on average, survive three to five years. Cognitive changes may sometimes improve during recovery and with the help of rehabilitation, as the brain regenerates new blood vessels and new blood cells.

Currently, there is no cure for Vascular Dementia. Treatments such as medications that focus on managing and controlling blood pressure, reducing cholesterol level, controlling diabetes can slow the rate of Vascular Dementia.

Lewy Body Dementia

Lewy Body Dementia is the second most common type of progressive Dementia after Alzheimer’s. Protein deposits called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells causing progressive decline in mental abilities. This protein is also associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Lewy Body Dementia is an “umbrella” term for the relation between “Dementia with Lewy bodies” and “Parkinson’s Disease Dementia”. Lewy Body and Parkinson’s share the same underlying of changes in the brain and very similar symptoms, but the symptoms appear in a different order depending on where the Lewy bodies first form.

Loved ones with Lewy Body may experience visual hallucinations and changes in alertness and attention, poor regulation of body functions, cognitive problems, sleep difficulties and depression. Other effects include Parkinson’s disease like symptoms such as rigid muscles, slow movement and tremors.

Lewy Body Dementia is progressive. Signs and symptoms worsen causing aggressive behavior, severe Dementia, increased risk of falling or injury, worsening of Parkinsonian signs and symptoms. An average lifespan is eight years after the Lewy Body symptoms start.

There is no cure for Lewy Body Dementia and treatment can be challenging. Doctors will treat individual symptoms for each patient. Treatments include Alzheimer disease medications that may increase the levels of chemical messengers believed to be important for memory, thought and judgement in the brain. Parkinson’s disease medications may help reduce Parkinson’s symptoms; however, these medications may also increase confusion and hallucinations. Antipsychotic medications should not be used to treat Lewy Body Dementia. These medications may cause severe confusion and worsen Parkinsonism.

Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal Dementia is a group of disorders characterized by the loss of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, which causes these lobes to shrink. The exact cause of FTD is unknown.

Frontal Dementia symptoms vary from person to person and depend on the subtype of the disorder diagnosed. Some people with Frontotemporal Dementia undergo dramatic changes in their personality and behavior (increasingly inappropriate actions, loss of empathy, lack of judgment, compulsive behavior, changes in eating habits), language difficulties- such as loss of speech and movement problems (tremors, rigidity, muscle spasms, muscle weakness). Loved ones with FTD will experience problems in more than one of these symptom categories, and the disease will spread to affect most of the brain’s functions.

FTD is often misdiagnosed as a psychiatric problem or an Alzheimer disease. Frontotemporal Dementia tends to occur at a younger age, generally between the ages of 40 to 45.

Frontotemporal Dementia can’t be cured. Treatment involves managing the symptoms with medications such as antidepressants and antipsychotics. However, these medications must be used with caution because the side effects include an increased risk of death in dementia patients.

Coping, Comfort and Support

Loved ones with any type of Dementia, along with their caregiver experience a mixture of emotions, including confusion, frustration, anger, fear, uncertainty and depression.

Caregivers should also remember take care of their health, diet and exercise. Ask other family members or friends to spend time with your loved one, so you can also enjoy regular breaks. Participating in hobbies outside the home may help relieve some stress. Many people with Dementia and their families also benefit from counseling or local support groups as well as other professional support groups.

For someone with Dementia, the world can come a scary place. Comfort and familiarity can help your loved one cope with this transition and difficult time. Help fill your loved one’s life and home with things they find comforting. If you are transitioning your loved one into a hospital or Assisted Living Community, furnish the space around they with familiar and cherished items. This may help ease their transition.