What Is Dementia?

What Is Dementia?

The term Dementia is used to describe the symptoms that occur when the brain in affected by specific diseases and conditions.  Dementia is progressive, which means that the symptoms will gradually worsen.  How fast dementia progresses  depends on the individual as each person is unique and will experience dementia in their own way.  Which is why 'person centered' care is very important when dealing with an individual sufferer.

Symptoms Include:

Loss of memory ~ forgetting the way home from the shops or being unable to remember names and identities.
Mood changes ~ particularly as parts of the brain control emotions that are affected by the disease.  Not surprisingly sufferers of dementia may feel sad, frightened or angry about what is happening to them.
Communication problems ~ there is a decline in the ability to talk, read and/or write.

What causes Dementia?
There are many diseases and conditions that can cause dementia such as:-

Alzheimer's Disease:
First described by the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer it is a physical disease affecting the brain, leading to the death of brain cells and causing shrinkage of brain tissue thus damaging the way the brain works.  This is the most common form of the dementia and the disease has a slow and steady progression with many people living with it for ten or more years.

People in early stages of Alzheimer's disease may experience lapses of memory and have problems finding the right words.  As the disease progresses they may become confused, and frequently forget names of people, places, appointments and recent events.  They may feel scared and frustrated by their increasing memory loss and as the disease progresses will become more and more physically disabled.

Vascular Disease:
Vascular dementia is of a type caused by problems in the supply of blood to the brain, the most common cause is suffering a stroke.  To remain healthy the brain needs a good supply of blood to the system and the blood is delivered to it through a network of blood vessels called the vascular system.  If the vascular system becomes damaged and the blood cannot reach the brain cells, the cells will deteriorate and eventually die leading to the onset of vascular dementia.  There are a number of conditions which can lead to this happening, such as high blood pressure, heart and arterial problems, high cholesterol and diabetes.

Vascular dementia effects individuals in different ways and the speed of progression varies.   Some symptoms may be similar to other forms of dementia however, people with vascular dementia may particularly experience:-
Problems with concentration and communication.
Depression.
Symptoms of stroke, physical weakness and paralysis.
Memory problems ~ however this will not be the first symptom.
A stepped progression, and symptoms can remain at a constant level then suddenly deteriorating.

Parkinson's Disease:
Not an actual form of dementia but people with Parkinson's disease have a higher than average risk of developing it, although the majority remain unaffected.  However so as to highlight the possible implications, I have included it here.
Symptoms vary from person to person but the most common symptoms are:-
Memory loss.
Loss of the ability to reason and carry out everyday tasks.
The individual may become obsessive.
Loss of emotional control with outbursts of anger and/or distress.
Visual hallucinations.

Lewy Bodies Dementia (DLB):
DLB is a form of dementia that shares characteristics with both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.  Lewy bodies are tiny spherical protein deposits found in nerve cells which disrupt the brains normal functioning, interrupting the action of chemical messengers.  Lewy bodies are also found in the brains of people who have Parkinson's disease and those people diagnosed as having Parkinson's may later go on to develop Lewy bodies.

Symptoms of DLB are:-
Typically the same symptoms as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
They may experience problems with spacial disorientation and have difficulty with planning ahead and coordinated mental activities.  Although memory may be affected, it is typically less so than in Alzheimer's disease.
They may also develop symptoms of Parkinson's disease; slowness, muscle stiffness, trembling of limbs, shuffling when walking, loss of facial expression and changes in the strength and tone of their voice.
They may experience detailed and convincing visual hallucinations, often of people and/or animals.
They may find their abilities fluctuate daily, or even hourly.
They may fall asleep very easily by day and have restless, disturbed nights with confusion, nightmares and hallucinations.


Frontal-temporal Disease (including Picks Disease)
The term frontal-temporal dementia covers a range of conditions:-
Pick's disease, frontal lobe degeneration and dementia associated with motor neurone disease.  All are caused by damage to the frontal lobe and/or the temporal parts of the brain, these are responsible for our behaviour, emotional responses and language skills.
The symptoms will vary in each individual, however there are some symptoms commonly experienced and typically during early stages an individual's memory will be intact, however their personality and behaviour changes:-
Lack of insight and loss of ability to empathise with others. They can appear selfish and unfeeling.
Behave inappropriately ~ for example, making tactless comments, joking at the wrong moment or being rude.
Loss of inhibitions ~ for example, exhibiting sexual behaviour in public.
Become aggressive and be easily distracted.
Develop routines ~ for example, compulsive rituals.
Problems finding the right words, lack of spontaneous conversation.
Using many words to describe something simple and/or a reduction in or lack of speech.

It is important to note that the individual cannot normally control these symptoms.

Some rarer examples are:-
Huntington's Disease
Supranuclear Palsy
Korsakoff's Syndrome
HIV - related cognitive impairment
Binswanger's Disease
Creutzfeldt - Jakob Disease (CJD)
Variant CJD
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PCP)
Throid Deficiency

More details to be added later.

Source: The Alzheimer's Society Website & Factsheets.