Program & Services

Understanding Dementia

What is dementia? It is a generic term. It is used to describe symptoms of brain failure. It affects a person's ability to do the following:

• Think
• Move
• Reason
• Remember

There are many causes of brain failure. The most common are the following three:

• Alzheimer's disease
• Lewy body disease
• Vascular dementia

Alzheimer's disease

This is the most common cause of brain failure. The first sign is not being able to remember. The disease will eventually affect the following:

• Memory
• Language
• Reasoning
• Behavior
• Understanding

Abnormal clumps are found with this disease. Also found are tangled bundles of fibers. These are only seen in an autopsy. This diagnosis made in the living is only made when other things are ruled out.

Lewy body dementia

Tiny protein deposits are found with this disease. They are found in nerve cells that are getting worse. When these are found all over the brain, the symptoms look like Alzheimer's disease. The difference is with thinking, attention and concentration. Also the visual spatial abilities are affected more than memory and language. It can cause the person to see things that are not there. It also can cause changes in degree of alertness. The same medicine can be used for both diseases.

Vascular dementia

This is a problem with the arteries that supply blood to the brain. It is also from a stroke that causes a loss of blood flow to the brain. The onset of symptoms can come on fast or sometimes they can progress slowly. This makes it difficult to tell this disease from Alzheimer's disease.

Common symptoms are problems with the following:

• Language
• Thinking
• Walking
• Bladder control
• Vision

Treating diseases that cause strokes, such as high blood pressure, can help.

Other diseases that affect brain cells and may result in progressive dementia:

• Parkinson's disease
• Huntington's disease
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Frontotemporal dementia

Other causes of dementia

• Vitamin B-12 deficiency
• Drug interactions
• Depression
• Thyroid conditions
• Alcoholism

Symptoms of dementia

• Thinking difficulties
• Memory problems
• Difficulty understanding
• Irritability
• Aggression
• Agitation
• Sleep disturbances
• Seeing things
• Paranoia
• Difficulty performing daily duties