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What is Alzheimer's Dementia? By Mike Selvon |
| Thursday, March 5, 2009 |
According to the Alzheimer Foundation, the Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60-70% of all cases of dementia. What makes it a form of "insanity" is that it affects cognition, speech, memory and movement.
What makes different Alzheimer's dementia from other forms of dementia (like vascular, Lewy body and frontotemporal) is that there is no physical motor skill impairments directly associated with him and the causes are not well known. Dementia often surfaces as a symptom of some diseases such as Parkinson's largest, Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease, or could be the byproduct of a stroke.
Alzheimer's dementia is characterized by increasing and persistent forgetfulness. These patients routinely forget names of loved ones, appointments, to express the words or even entire events. Balancing the checkbook or cooking a meal suddenly becomes overwhelming.
Emotional mood swings are common, as the patient struggles to cope with confusing emotions and frustration. Unfortunately, the causes of Alzheimer's disease are not widely understood, although the effects are visible brain tangles of tau protein and beta-amyloid protein plaques.
Brain inflammation and cell death are also triggered in Alzheimer's disease brain. The average person living with Alzheimer's dementia for eight years before he died, so it is important that caregivers and patients seek counsel on coping skills.
Lewy Body Dementia is characterized by loss of ability to reason, think and remember. Like Alzheimer's dementia, which causes Alzheimer's disease symptoms such as confusion, memory loss, decreased awareness, delusions and depression, and Parkinson, causing physical disturbance, such as tremors and stiffness.
Some people with Lewy Body Dementia even suffer hallucinations. The causes are not known, but researchers believe that it is somehow linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and has noticed a common protein in patients who can be the key to prevention measures.
The good news is that not all the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are in fact a serious or fatal condition. Sometimes symptoms appear as a result of decreased functioning of the thyroid, a reaction to medication or poor nutrition.
Chronic alcoholism often creates a deficiency in vitamin B1/Thiamin that produces signs of dementia. Niacin/B3 deficiencies and dehydration may also resemble dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Infections such as meningitis, encephalitis or syphilis cause dementia, but can be reversed if caught in time.
An accumulation of fluid in the brain, close to (known as "hydrocephalus") causes deterioration of mental functions, but can be treated by draining the fluid with a tube. In other cases, emotional problems or depression can mimic dementia, which can be regulated through a combination of medication and therapy.
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posted by neptunus @ 5:51 PM  |
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