What Are Lewy Bodies
Lewy bodies are abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein. These deposits can change how a person feels, thinks, moves, and acts. Lewy bodies can be found in an area of the brain stem where they deplete dopamine, causing Parkinsons symptoms. There also is a disease called Lewy body dementia, in which these abnormal proteins spread to other areas of the brain. An affected person may become anxious and paranoid. Their decision-making can become impaired. Lewy body dementia can be definitively diagnosed only by a postmortem autopsy.
What Are The 7 Stages Of Dementia
Dementia is a disease that affects millions of Americans. There are several types of dementia that we know of, including Alzheimers Disease and Lewy Body Dementia.
While forms of dementia vary in symptoms and severity, the Global Deterioration Scale aids in identifying the typical progression.
If you or someone you know may be in the early stages of dementia, heres what you need to know about its seven stages:
A Difficult Diagnosis Of Lewy Body Dementia
Lewy Body dementia is one of the most common types of dementia that affects more than 1.4 million people in the United States. Specifically, 10-25% of all dementia cases.
However, it can be difficult to diagnose and many people who have it are initially diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, a condition which Williams was also reportedly living with.
Symptoms of LBD frequently overlap with symptoms of other dementias as well as Parkinsons and include:
- Visual hallucinations
- Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Disorder
- Trouble balancing
- Trouble initiating movement
Similar to other types of dementia, there is no single test to diagnose LBD, and no known cause or cure. Treatment options focus on controlling symptoms and can include cholinesterase inhibitors, antipsychotic drugs and antidepressants.
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How Do People Get Dementia
The exact cause of dementia is unknown, and there may very well be no particular thing to blame. Many complicated factors come into play when it comes to diagnosing dementia, as well as any cognitive issue in the brain.
Aside from the different types of dementia and their above-mentioned possible causes, personal health also plays a major role in brain decline. If no known injury or defect is detected, an unhealthy lifestyle can contribute to the development of dementia during older age.
What Might Steve And Robin Have In Common
Both Steve and Robin suffered from depression, yet both were supremely talented men with the ability to make so many people happy. To many, it appeared as if they both had lives full of promise ahead of them. According to the documentary, Robin was at a crossroads in his career. Steve also was at a crossroads in his life, trying to sell the business he had built and grown for more than 20 years. The film implied that Robin may have turned to drugs and alcohol to feel better and mask his depression. I believe Steve turned to endurance sports much of his life to accomplish the same. Steve was an 18-time Ironman triathlete finisher, which entails 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling, and 26.2 miles of running.
In my mind, their lives and tragic endings have so much in common.
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How Does A Person Die From Dementia
Can dementia kill? Alzheimers disease doesnt just make you forgetful. Its a serious, progressive condition which is, eventually, terminal. Alzheimers and other forms of dementia have now overtaken heart disease to become the leading cause of death in England and Wales.
The brain is responsible for more than thought, memory and understanding. It controls our bodily systems including breathing, circulation and digestion. Alzheimers kills cells in the brain. This damage initially leads to problems remembering things and communicating effectively. However, with time the brain damage affects the whole body, leading to death. This can be from a number of causes:
Final Stages Of Lewy Body Dementia
Lewy body dementia, or LBD, is a common cause of dementia. According to the Lewy Body Dementia Association, 1.3 million Americans have LBD. Like Alzheimer disease, LBD causes intellectual and physical deterioration due to progressive damage of brain cells. People diagnosed with LBD survive an average of about eight years according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. People with late-stage LBD often lose their ability to communicate, care for themselves and even swallow.
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Newfound Challenges For Patients And Families
Lewy body dementia can be a harrowing experience for both patients and their families.
Getting a diagnosis can be a matter of months- to yearslong doctor shopping, Galvin said.
Executive dysfunction can lead to behaviors that family members initially perceive as bad judgments. Delusions can make them frustrated and fearful.
As a caregiver, I think one of the challenges is recognizing that we cannot use the same skills and interpersonal dynamics that we came to rely on in our relationship with the person with LBD, Taylor said.
We have to develop new ones because you cannot reason with somebody who is having a hallucination or delusion. Sometimes you have to more step into their reality and empathize learn a new way to offer assistance without them feeling like theyre being treated like a child.
Why Dementia Is Terminal
Patients should essentially keep in their minds that dementias, including the Alzheimers problem do not only causes loss of memory, instead, they cause damage of our brain.Human brain, as we all know that performs every activity for us, such as controlling our heart rate and lungs, overall metabolism, gastrointestinal tract, along with storage of memories and important facts. This means, with consistent decline of your cognitive functions, ability of your body to stay healthy losses.
Dementia thus eventually causes negative effect in the brain and that too in such an extent that it fails to gain control of other body areas and start with shut down. Hence, it is very much essential to keep in mind that the problem is of gradual one requires many years to progress, but still it is one of terminal conditions.
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Causes Of Dementia With Lewy Bodies
Dementia with Lewy bodies is caused by clumps of protein forming inside brain cells. These abnormal deposits are called Lewy bodies.
These deposits are also found in people with Parkinson’s disease, and they build up in areas of the brain responsible for functions such as thinking, visual perception and muscle movement.
It’s not clear why the deposits develop and how exactly they damage the brain. It’s thought that part of the problem is the proteins affecting the brain’s normal functions by interfering with signals sent between brain cells.
Dementia with Lewy bodies usually occurs in people with no family history of the condition, although there have been very rare cases that seem to run in families.
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Steve did not have an autopsy. In many states, if the cause of death is apparent, as it was with Steve, an autopsy is not automatically performed. Steve, like Robin, suffered from depression, and he spiraled downward quickly starting in 2014. A few weeks before he died, Steve expressed to me that he was afraid, but he could not, or would not, articulate why. He was my rock, my Ironman, and he never had been afraid of anything before.
I am not a medical professional, and I wrote this column to inspire conversation about undiagnosed Lewy body dementia as a possible cause of suicide, as Shepherd concluded in the case of Robin Williams.
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A doctor will perform a physical exam to evaluate your mental processes. He or she will also ask you about any medications youre currently taking and any stressful situations youre facing. Your memory loss provider may also ask you about your symptoms and ask you to take notes on how youre feeling. The doctor may recommend that you get an appointment with a neuropsychologist. A neuropsychologist can help you figure out the best way to treat your memory loss.
A doctor will conduct a physical exam to determine the exact cause of your memory loss. He or she will also ask you about your medical history and whether youve experienced other forms of memory loss. After your medical history, your provider will discuss your options for treatment. If youre experiencing severe symptoms of memory loss, you should seek out a professional. It will help you get the right kind of care for your specific situation. So, take action today.
A healthcare provider will perform a physical exam to assess the condition of your memory. He or she will ask you about your family and friends and any medications youre taking. Once he or she has established the root cause, a proper treatment will be given. If you have a mild form of memory loss, you can still function independently and perform everyday tasks. If your symptoms are more severe, you may need to see a medical professional.
Lewy Body Dementia And Inappropriate Antipsychotic Prescriptions
Recently, Professor Clive Ballard, a leading researcher of LBD at the University of Exeter, added to the growing evidence that inappropriate medications and prescriptions can negatively impact people suffering from LBD, stating:
Antipsychotic drugs given to dementia sufferers to treat behavioral disturbances has been found to increase the risk of death for people with Lewy body dementia fourfold, compared to one and a half times in people with Alzheimers disease.
Ballard continued, When people have these reactions they develop very severe Parkinsons symptoms and become very confused Even if people do not die as a result of the syndrome, they may experience a steep decline in their condition which they usually do not recover from.
He also stressed the importance of an early diagnosis , which can assist with some behavioral disturbances in those with the disease.
Do you have any personal experience with Lewy Body dementia? What sort of symptoms has it caused you or a loved one? Wed like ot hear your LBD stories in the comments below.
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What Was The Result Of Robins Autopsy
According to Shepherd, Robins autopsy confirmed the presence of Lewy bodies throughout his brain. Shepherd interviewed the Williams family in an effort to determine Robins state of mind prior to his suicide. Robins loved ones said he showed signs of paranoia. Shepherd concluded that Robin had undiagnosed Lewy body dementia and that it was this disease that drove him to take his own life.
Youll Probably Need To Build A Support Network
Caring for someone in late stage dementia can be intense, demanding, and rewarding all in a single day. Youll be better equipped for the challenge if you can call on a varied group of support providers.
Nurses, doctors, home health aides, physical and occupational therapists, and hospice workers can help you take care of physical and medical needs. Mental health professionals, members of a faith community, and friends can help you meet emotional, social, and spiritual needs.
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How Lewy Body Dementia Progresses
Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are both forms of dementia. Lewy body dementia, however, progresses somewhat differently from Alzheimer’s disease. Notably, the symptomsespecially memory losscan fluctuate greatly with LBD. Alzheimer’s tends to worsen more steadily.
One of the hallmarks of Lewy body dementia is the fluctuation of cognitive functioning. Often, a person may function fairly well one day and be totally disengaged with a profound loss of memory the next.
Understanding this variation in cognition can be helpful for caregivers. Without this knowledge, it may seem like the person with Lewy body dementia is “forgetting” on purpose.
This fluctuation can also make it feel like the person is moving back and forth from one stage to another. In reality, the variation in functioning is a normal feature within each stage of the disease.
How Does Dementia Kill You
Dementia is not a specific disease rather it refers to a series of various symptoms, which take place from damages in human brain and it typically results in memory loss. Alzheimers disease, known as its common form, dementia combined with Lewy bodies, vascular dementia, advanced dementia and frontotemporal dementia are all of the different types of dementia problem.
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Certain medications can also affect memory. A lack of sleep and an impaired thyroid function can negatively affect memory. Some of these conditions can also lead to a decreased ability to remember events. In addition to these, natural aging can affect brain function, and may lead to a slowdown in memory. Although this symptom does not necessarily mean that youre losing your memory, it could indicate a problem with your cognitive ability. If you are suffering from either, a medical evaluation is necessary to determine if youre suffering from memory loss. How Does Lewy Body Dementia Kill You
In addition to aging, medications can affect memory. Certain antidepressants, anxiety medications, and sleep disorders can all affect memory. A persons mental health can also contribute to memory problems. In some cases, a persons mental state may be affected by the medication they are taking. Some untreated medical conditions can lead to deterioration of the brain and affect the ability to learn and remember. It is also important to see a medical professional if your symptoms persist even after youve stopped taking certain medications.
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If youre experiencing memory loss, you should go to a doctor. Your doctor will perform a physical exam and ask about your symptoms. He or she will also ask you about your medication and any stress youre experiencing. After the exam, he or she will likely ask you to make an appointment with a neuropsychologist. If youre unable to recall the details of your doctor, you may want to consult another healthcare provider.
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Lewy Body Dementia And Depression
Hallucinations and delusions are hallmarks of LBD, which Gayatri Devi, a neurologist and memory disorder specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, says can be made worse by some Parkinsons medications:
Patients with Lewy Body disease can hallucinate on their own but give them a Parkinsons drug, and it can make hallucinations worse. Drugs used to treat hallucinations can cause symptoms of Parkinsons, she says.
Williams widow, Susan Schneider Williams, believes his dementia was the main factor in his suicide, saying, It was not depression that killed Robin. She continued:
This was a very unique case and I pray to God that it will shed some light on Lewy bodies for the millions of people and their loved ones who are suffering with it. Because we didnt know. He didnt know.
There is still much work to be done and so much more to understand about Lewy Body dementia.
Angela Taylor, programming director of the Lewy Body Dementia Association says, Though his death is terribly sad, its an opportunity to inform people about this disease and the importance of early diagnosis.
An Elusive And Insidious Disease
The first published cases of Lewy body dementia occurred in the mid-1960s, but it took two decades for the disorder to be recognized by medical researchers.
In the 1980s, as the molecular understanding of Alzheimers improved, it became clear that a bunch of these people didnt seem to fit that , Galvin said.
For example, patients with LBD had visual hallucinations when most Alzheimers patients didnt. They also had more parkinsonism the signs and symptoms of Parkinsons disease, which include slowness, stiffness, tremors and imbalance than Alzheimers patients.
It wasnt until the mid-90s when a large group of people got together and coined the phrase dementia with Lewy bodies and started to write diagnostic criteria that could be applied, Galvin added. And that really changed the game because once you have criteria, then people can start to be better classified.
Aside from the association with Lewy bodies those abnormal accumulations of the protein alpha-synuclein in the brain the exact cause of LBD is unknown.
Potential, but rare, genetic factors include higher levels of mutations of certain enzymes and a family gene that might make someone predisposed to the disease.
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Symptoms Of Dementia With Lewy Bodies
People with dementia with Lewy bodies may have:
- hallucinations seeing, hearing or smelling things that are not there
- problems with understanding, thinking, memory and judgement this is similar to Alzheimer’s disease, although memory may be less affected in people with dementia with Lewy bodies
- confusion or sleepiness this can change over minutes or hours
- slow movement, stiff limbs and tremors
- disturbed sleep, often with violent movements and shouting out
- fainting spells, unsteadiness and falls
These problems can make daily activities increasingly difficult and someone with the condition may eventually be unable to look after themselves.
Youll Need Support For Yourself Too
The National Institute on Aging points out that caregivers can experience confusion, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and grief at times. Its a good idea to plan regular times for others to take over caregiving responsibilities so you can take care of your own needs and experience some respite and relief.
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