NOT Alzheimer"s Dementia
I read the Alzheimer's sites a lot.
And really, sometimes, you just want to sit down and beat yourself over the head with a large medical dictionary.
I just live with and care for people with dementia.
And I'm very happy to do that.
As part of doing that, I read and learn.
I learn and practice and experiment to see what works for those I care for.
Because, if it works for them, it'll work for me.
What makes me crazy is the undiscriminating use of the term Alzheimer's disease.
If your Dad drank heavily all his life, that dementia he had was NOT Alzheimer's disease but Korsakoff's Syndrome.
Your Uncle did not have Alzheimer's disease but had a lengthy open-heart surgery which perhaps saved his life but cognitively damaged him.
Why is it important to use the right term? Well, for one thing, because it's the right term, okay? Unfortunately I suspect it might be because the dementias get so little respect from medical people.
Do they think that it doesn't matter? So what are these other dementias? Well, here's a few to be going on with.
1.
Lewy bodies Dementia: This dementia is rapid, fluctuating and includes variable cognitive issues and often includes visual hallucinations, often of a slightly odd kind -- seeing colored bunnies in the bathroom, little men outside in the garden and so on.
It is diagnosed by testing after death; 2.
Pick's Disease: A very rare progressive dementia which involves the frontal lobe and causes personality changes and behavior difficulties, followed by memory and cognitive issues.
Also usually confirmed at autopsy.
3.
Parkinson's disease dementia: This may occur in later stages of Parkinson's and is often talked of as Alzheimer's, probably erroneously.
(My amateur thought is that maybe it's more due to Parkinson's medications, which are strong brain affectors, but what would I know?) 4.
Vascular dementia: This includes what is also often called multi-infarct dementia, which means having lots of tiny little strokes, often imperceptible at first or dementia caused by narrowing blood vessels supplying the brain with blood and oxygen; 5.
Frontotemporal dementia: This is actually a group of varied dementias affecting the frontal lobe of the brain and manifesting in younger people, anywhere from 40 up to 70.
Symptoms often start with personality changes, social behavior changes, or changes in ability to use language; 5.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: Popularly nick-named Mad Cow Disease, after reports linking it with beef, this is a rare fast-moving brain degeneration which includes dementia; 6.
Mild Cognitive Impairment: It's not true that all dementia leads to Alzheimer's or is Alzheimer's.
Mild cognitive impairment is found in about 20 percent of elders over 80 and involves memory and thinking process issues.
It may never lead to Alzheimer's.
There is one more thing to add here, that every sensible person know and that isn't part of modern medical acknowledgment.
Elders may be normally forgetful and occasionally confused.
That is simply part of the extreme aging process and it doesn't have to be medicalized.
It's a normal part of the arc of aging.
The appearance of dementia in the very old is merely the drop of their immune system as they walk slowly towards the gates of death.
It's nothing to be afraid of.
Relax and be kind.
That's often the best medicine.
And really, sometimes, you just want to sit down and beat yourself over the head with a large medical dictionary.
I just live with and care for people with dementia.
And I'm very happy to do that.
As part of doing that, I read and learn.
I learn and practice and experiment to see what works for those I care for.
Because, if it works for them, it'll work for me.
What makes me crazy is the undiscriminating use of the term Alzheimer's disease.
If your Dad drank heavily all his life, that dementia he had was NOT Alzheimer's disease but Korsakoff's Syndrome.
Your Uncle did not have Alzheimer's disease but had a lengthy open-heart surgery which perhaps saved his life but cognitively damaged him.
Why is it important to use the right term? Well, for one thing, because it's the right term, okay? Unfortunately I suspect it might be because the dementias get so little respect from medical people.
Do they think that it doesn't matter? So what are these other dementias? Well, here's a few to be going on with.
1.
Lewy bodies Dementia: This dementia is rapid, fluctuating and includes variable cognitive issues and often includes visual hallucinations, often of a slightly odd kind -- seeing colored bunnies in the bathroom, little men outside in the garden and so on.
It is diagnosed by testing after death; 2.
Pick's Disease: A very rare progressive dementia which involves the frontal lobe and causes personality changes and behavior difficulties, followed by memory and cognitive issues.
Also usually confirmed at autopsy.
3.
Parkinson's disease dementia: This may occur in later stages of Parkinson's and is often talked of as Alzheimer's, probably erroneously.
(My amateur thought is that maybe it's more due to Parkinson's medications, which are strong brain affectors, but what would I know?) 4.
Vascular dementia: This includes what is also often called multi-infarct dementia, which means having lots of tiny little strokes, often imperceptible at first or dementia caused by narrowing blood vessels supplying the brain with blood and oxygen; 5.
Frontotemporal dementia: This is actually a group of varied dementias affecting the frontal lobe of the brain and manifesting in younger people, anywhere from 40 up to 70.
Symptoms often start with personality changes, social behavior changes, or changes in ability to use language; 5.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: Popularly nick-named Mad Cow Disease, after reports linking it with beef, this is a rare fast-moving brain degeneration which includes dementia; 6.
Mild Cognitive Impairment: It's not true that all dementia leads to Alzheimer's or is Alzheimer's.
Mild cognitive impairment is found in about 20 percent of elders over 80 and involves memory and thinking process issues.
It may never lead to Alzheimer's.
There is one more thing to add here, that every sensible person know and that isn't part of modern medical acknowledgment.
Elders may be normally forgetful and occasionally confused.
That is simply part of the extreme aging process and it doesn't have to be medicalized.
It's a normal part of the arc of aging.
The appearance of dementia in the very old is merely the drop of their immune system as they walk slowly towards the gates of death.
It's nothing to be afraid of.
Relax and be kind.
That's often the best medicine.
Source...