What is dementia? What is Alzheimer's?
When someone's personality changes or they become forgetful – especially of recent events, or have difficulty performing routine tasks, they may have dementia. Dementia means there is something, usually a disease, affecting the “thinking and doing” parts of the brain.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia; there are other injuries and illnesses that also cause dementia. Learn more about dementia from Banner Alzheimer's Institute online Caregivers Guide:
Typical symptoms of dementia:
- Personality changes – There may be apathy, decreased inhibitions and increased self-absorption.
- Changes in “cognition”: The person may have difficulty remembering recent events, may distort past memories, has difficulty learning new things and making judgments
- A slow progressive decline in day- to-day functioning: a person can't easily plan, initiate, and carry an activity through.
The symptoms can vary depending on the places in the brain where the disease occurs, the person’s personality, culture and their environment.
When to seek a diagnosis
Patients and families may be unsure or fearful about whether to seek a diagnosis or feel that memory loss is normal for older adults. The following list is a guideline for families on when to seek a diagnosis:
- Episodes of confusion
- Problems with finding or substituting words
- Change in abilities in day-to-day functions
- Personality change
- Changes in motor skills
What causes dementia?
By far, the most common cause is Alzheimer’s disease. Other causes of dementia are:
- Dementia from vascular disease, often due to multiple strokes
- Frontal lobe syndromes including frontotemporal disease, multiple sclerosis, and ALS
- Lewy Body disease
- Parkinson’s disease and Parkinson’s Plus diseases
- Normal pressure hydrocephalus
- Alcoholism and substance abuse
- AIDS
- Creutzfelt-Jacob disease
- Severe liver disease
- Meningitis and encephalitis
- Brain injury
- “Prizefighters dementia” - Dementia pugilistica
For more information
Banner Alzheimer's Institute is offerting a caregiveer's guide, "As Memory Fades ...The Caregivers' Challenge Begins"
