Dementia includes conditions that cause memory loss, confusion, personality changes, and a decline in self-care abilities.
A key feature of all types of dementia is that they cause gradually worsening effects.
Since different types of dementia share similar symptoms, your specific diagnosis may take time.
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Alzheimers disease symptomscan include:
Many people who develop Alzheimers disease have a major personality change.
Eventually, a lack of motivation and loss of appetite are common.
Reasons for these variations can involve personal differences, mixed dementia, or underlying health conditions.
Dementia Is Progressive
One of the defining characteristics of dementia is that it is progressive.
Dementia is a loss of cognitive abilities that a person already has.
These types of dementia are sometimes considered partially reversible because some symptoms may improve with nutritional supplementation.
Health problems such as hypertension and diabetes can lead to stroke, increasing the likelihood of dementia.
Usually, a large stroke causes weakness or vision changes on one side of the body.
In these cases, dementia can come on gradually.
Lewy body dementia is associated with a buildup of substances called Lewy bodies in the brain.
Huntingtons disease is fatal, and people tend to survive for less than 10 years after diagnosis.
Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
Normal pressure hydrocephalus is one of the partially treatable causes of dementia.
This condition develops when there is atrophy (shrinking and cell death) of certain regions in the brain.
This leads tohydrocephalus, which is a buildup of fluid in theventricles (spaces) of the brain.
Some neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinsons disease, may predispose you to normal pressure hydrocephalus as well.
Mixed Dementia
Its not uncommon to have mixed dementia with advancing age.
Its also common for people to have mixed dementia, which involves two or more types of dementia.
Getting the right diagnosis and starting treatment can improve the quality of life and survival for people with dementia.
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About dementia.
National Institute of Aging.Alzheimer’s disease fact sheet.
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National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Dementias.
