/6difference Between Dementia And Alzheimer’s
Dementia and Alzheimer’s are two terms often used interchangeably for mental health conditions linked with memory loss and lack of concentration. In reality, the two have contrasting meanings.
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe myriad symptoms that can impact a person’s ability to perform everyday activities independently. Several mental conditions are categorised as dementia, and Alzheimers is one of them.
Dementia: What Are The Main Types
While ageing, the brain encounters significant modifications. For example, from the age of 60, it slowly starts to shrink. Heart diseases and head traumas can also have an important effect on the brain, sometimes causing dementia. A persons family history also influences the occurrence of this kind of syndrome.
Dementia is a significant sign of progressive neurodegeneration. This causes the death of some brain cells as well as tissue loss. The most frequently affected areas are the memory, the thinking, the behaviour and the ability to do some tasks for the sick person.
Continue below to learn what are the five different types of dementia.
Treating Alzheimers Disease Vs Other Types Of Dementia
Neither Alzheimerâs nor most other types of dementia have a cure. Doctors focus treatments on managing symptoms and keeping the disease from getting worse.
Some of the treatments for dementia and Alzheimerâs overlap.
- Cholinesterase inhibitors can help with memory loss in certain types of dementia and Alzheimerâs.
- Glutamate inhibitors help with learning and memory in both dementia and Alzheimerâs.
- Sleep medications may help with sleep changes.
- Antidepressants can help with depression symptoms.
- Antipsychotic medications may help with behavior changes.
Some types of dementia respond to treatment, depending on what is causing it. Your doctor may recommend:
- Stopping the use of drugs and alcohol
- Tumor removal
Show Sources
Alzheimerâs Association: âCreutzfeldt-Jakob Disease,â âFrontotemporal Dementia,â âTypes of Dementia,â âWhat is Alzheimerâs?â
Alzheimerâs Disease International: âWorld Alzheimerâs Report 2015.â
Alzheimerâs Society: âSight, perception and hallucinations in dementia.â
BrightFocus Foundation: âWhatâs the Difference Between Dementia & Alzheimerâs Disease?â âTreatments for Alzheimerâs Disease.â
Dementia Society of America: âDementia FAQs.â
Fisher Center for Alzheimerâs Research Foundation: âDementia vs. Alzheimerâs.â
Visiting Nurse Association of Ohio: âAlzheimerâs Versus Dementia.â
Mayo Clinic: âAlzheimerâs Disease,â âDementia.â
Cleveland Clinic: âDementia.â
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Can Alzheimer’s Disease Be Prevented
As the exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is not clear, there’s no known way to prevent the condition.
But there are things you can do that may reduce your risk or delay the onset of dementia, such as:
- staying physically fit and mentally active
These measures have other health benefits, such as lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease and improving your overall mental health.
Read more about preventing Alzheimer’s disease.
How Does Peanut Butter Detect Alzheimer’s
The researchers discovered that those who had an impaired sense of smell in the left nostril had early-stage Alzheimer’s. They noted that the participants needed to be an average of 10 centimeters closer to the peanut butter container in order to smell it from their left nostril compared to their right nostril.
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Symptoms Of Mild Cognitive Impairment
Some people have a condition called mild cognitive impairment, or MCI. It can be an early sign of Alzheimers. But, not everyone with MCI will develop Alzheimers disease. People with MCI can still take care of themselves and do their normal activities. MCI memory problems may include:
- Losing things often
- Forgetting to go to events or appointments
- Having more trouble coming up with words than other people the same age
Learn more about Alzheimer’s disease from MedlinePlus.
Do I Tell My Mother She Has Alzheimer’s
Whatever the diagnosis, the person has a right to know. If your mom has been experiencing memory loss or other symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s disease, then most likely she intuitively suspects something is wrong and, therefore, has a right to know the truth and be fully informed of the situation.
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Warning Signs And Symptoms
The symptoms of dementia range in severity, and they also vary depending on the area of the brain that the condition affects. The most
- walking around for no apparent reason
- inappropriate behaviors, such as social and sexual disinhibition
Symptoms can take time to appear, and significant damage may be present before a person visits a doctor. This may make treatment more challenging.
What We Can Do To Help:
Using a Montessori approach focuses on the person behind the disease allowing for an environment that is conducive to reducing responsive behaviours of the disease such as repetitive questioning , anxiety and constant request for attention. By providing individualized activities that caters to the needs and interests of each person, DementiaSupport improves the quality of life of the person living with this disease. Our kits and curriculum easily help any caregiver from long term care to individuals at home on how to engage and keep a person with dementia busy and engaged in LIFE!
Contact us for more information about how to get your Montessori activities.
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How Do You Know What Stage Of Alzheimers You Are In
Resibergs system:Stage 1: No Impairment. During this stage, Alzheimers is not detectable and no memory problems or other symptoms of dementia are evident.Stage 2: Very Mild Decline. Stage 3: Mild Decline. Stage 4: Moderate Decline. Stage 5: Moderately Severe Decline. Stage 6: Severe Decline. Stages 7: Very Severe Decline.
What Is Known About Alzheimers Disease
Scientists do not yet fully understand what causes Alzheimers disease. There likely is not a single cause but rather several factors that can affect each person differently.
- Age is the best known risk factor for Alzheimers disease.
- Family historyresearchers believe that genetics may play a role in developing Alzheimers disease. However, genes do not equal destiny. A healthy lifestyle may help reduce your risk of developing Alzheimers disease. Two large, long term studies indicate that adequate physical activity, a nutritious diet, limited alcohol consumption, and not smoking may help people. To learn more about the study, you can listen to a short podcast.
- Changes in the brain can begin years before the first symptoms appear.
- Researchers are studying whether education, diet, and environment play a role in developing Alzheimers disease.
- There is growing scientific evidence that healthy behaviors, which have been shown to prevent cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, may also reduce risk for subjective cognitive decline. Heres 8 ways.
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Symptoms Of Alzheimer’s Disease
In the early stages the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease can be very subtle. However, it often begins with lapses in memory and difficulty in finding the right words for everyday objects.
Other symptoms may include:
- Persistent and frequent memory difficulties, especially of recent events
- Vagueness in everyday conversation
- Apparent loss of enthusiasm for previously enjoyed activities
- Taking longer to do routine tasks
- Forgetting well-known people or places
- Inability to process questions and instructions
- Deterioration of social skills
- Emotional unpredictability
Symptoms vary and the disease progresses at a different pace according to the individual and the areas of the brain affected. A person’s abilities may fluctuate from day to day, or even within the one day, becoming worse in times of stress, fatigue or ill-health.
How Does Peanut Butter Detect Alzheimers
The researchers discovered that those who had an impaired sense of smell in the left nostril had early-stage Alzheimers.
They noted that the participants needed to be an average of 10 centimeters closer to the peanut butter container in order to smell it from their left nostril compared to their right nostril..
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The Difference Between Alzheimers And Dementia
Although you may hear the terms dementia and Alzheimers disease used interchangeably, it’s important to know they are distinct concepts. Alzheimer’s is a specific health condition, although it is the most common cause of dementia.
Other causes of dementia include:
Icipating In Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trials
Everybody those with Alzheimers disease or MCI as well as healthy volunteers with or without a family history of Alzheimers may be able to take part in clinical trials and studies. Participants in Alzheimers clinical research help scientists learn how the brain changes in healthy aging and in Alzheimers. Currently, at least 270,000 volunteers are needed to participate in more than 250 active clinical trials and studies that are testing ways to understand, diagnose, treat, and prevent Alzheimers disease.
Volunteering for a clinical trial is one way to help in the fight against Alzheimers. Studies need participants of different ages, sexes, races, and ethnicities to ensure that results are meaningful for many people. To learn more about clinical trials, watch this video from NIH’s National Library of Medicine.
NIA leads the federal governments research efforts on Alzheimers. NIA-supported Alzheimers Disease Research Centers throughout the U.S. conduct a wide range of research, including studies of the causes, diagnosis, and management of the disease. NIA also sponsors the Alzheimers Clinical Trials Consortium, which is designed to accelerate and expand studies and therapies in Alzheimers and related dementias.
To learn more about Alzheimers clinical trials and studies:
- Talk to your health care provider about local studies that may be right for you.
Watch videos of participants in Alzheimers disease clinical trials talking about their experiences.
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What To Do If You Suspect Alzheimers Disease
Getting checked by your healthcare provider can help determine if the symptoms you are experiencing are related to Alzheimers disease, or a more treatable conditions such as a vitamin deficiency or a side effect from medication. Early and accurate diagnosis also provides opportunities for you and your family to consider financial planning, develop advance directives, enroll in clinical trials, and anticipate care needs.
How Is Alzheimers Disease Treated
Alzheimers is complex, and it is therefore unlikely that any one drug or other intervention will successfully treat it in all people living with the disease.
Scientists are exploring many avenues to delay or prevent the disease as well as to treat its symptoms. In ongoing clinical trials, scientists are developing and testing several possible interventions. Under study are drug therapies aimed at a variety of disease interventions, as well as nondrug approaches such as physical activity, diet, cognitive training, and combinations of these. Just as we have many treatments for heart disease and cancer, we will likely need many options for treating Alzheimers. Precision medicine getting the right treatment to the right person at the right time will likely play a major role.
Current approaches to treating Alzheimers focus on helping people maintain mental function, treating the underlying disease process, and managing behavioral symptoms.
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/6symptoms Of Alzheimer’s Disease
The symptoms of the disease appear long after the brain begins to damage. It is only diagnosed later when the symptoms become more prominent. Even then it is not possible to diagnose Alzheimers with complete accuracy while a person is alive.
Early signs and symptoms of this condition include:
Disorientation
Frontotemporal Dementia With Parkinsonism
One form of familial FTD, also known as frontotemporal dementia with Parkinsonism-17 , is caused by genetic changes in the gene for tau protein, located on chromosome 17. No other risk factors for this condition are known.
FTDP-17 is rare and accounts for only three per cent of all cases of dementia. Symptoms progressively get worse over time and usually appear between the ages of 40 and 60. The condition affects both thinking and behavioural skills and movements such as rigidity, lack of facial expression and problems with balance .
It can be distressing to be told that you have a genetic disorder or are at risk of having one. Genetic counselling provides the person and their family with information about a genetic disorder and its likely impact on their lives. This can assist a person with FTDP-17 to make informed medical and personal decisions about how to manage their condition and the challenges it presents to their health and wellbeing. Prenatal genetic counselling is also available for parents to help them decide about a pregnancy that may be at risk of FTDP-17.
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What Can Be Mistaken For Alzheimers
9 Treatable Conditions That Mimic Alzheimers DiseaseVitamin B12 Deficiency. Low levels of vitamin B12 can cause a type of anemia characterized by confusion, irritability, and slowness.Other Vitamin Deficiencies. Depression. Thyroid Problems. Medication Side Effects. Withdrawal from Drugs. Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus Brain Tumor.More itemsAug 17, 2017
What Stage Of Dementia Is Incontinence
Toileting & Late Stage Dementia Loss of bladder control due to an inability to get to the bathroom or use it properly is defined as functional incontinence. Late stage Alzheimers is marked by the loss of ability to respond to the environment as well as a loss of ability to communicate and express needs.
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Causes And Risk Factors
The cause depends on the type, but the exact causes of many forms of dementia are currently unclear.
Dementia is not an inevitable part of aging, but age is one of the main risk factors. In fact, up to 50% of people aged 85 years and older may have a type of dementia.
Also, in the United States, around 11.3% of people aged over 65 years currently have Alzheimers disease, according to the Alzheimers Association. This number rises to 34.6% in those aged 85 years and older. Symptoms tend to worsen with age.
It is possible to develop dementia at a younger age, but the condition is more common among older adults.
What Causes Dementia
Dementia is not a natural part of aging. It is caused when a disease damages nerve cells in the brain.
Nerve cells carry messages between different parts of the brain, and to other parts of the body. As more nerve cells are damaged, the brain becomes less able to work properly.
Dementia can be caused by many different diseases. These diseases affect the brain in different ways, resulting in different types of dementia.
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What Causes Early
Experts don’t know what triggers the start of Alzheimer disease. They suspect that 2 proteins damage and kill nerve cells. Fragments of one protein, beta-amyloid, build up and are called plaques. Twisted fibers of another protein, tau, are called tangles. Almost everyone develops plaques and tangles as they age. But those with Alzheimer disease develop many, many more. At first, these plaques and tangles damage the memory areas of the brain. Over time, they affect more areas of the brain. Experts don’t know why some people develop so many plaques and tangles, or how they spread and damage the brain.
Who Is Affected
Alzheimer’s disease is most common in people over the age of 65.
The risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia increases with age, affecting an estimated 1 in 14 people over the age of 65 and 1 in every 6 people over the age of 80.
But around 1 in every 20 people with Alzheimer’s disease are under the age of 65. This is called early- or young-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
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What You Can Do
If you notice worsening cognitive function such as memory lapses, a change in personality, or a decline in daily function not attributed to a physical condition in yourself or a loved one, see a doctor. In some cases, you could catch a treatable condition early and protect your brain from harm.
If the condition is due to Alzheimers disease, vascular dementia, or another type of dementia, you still have options. More research is pointing to the effectiveness of lifestyle changes, such as exercise, in slowing down Alzheimers and vascular dementia, and there are many clinical trials of potential new drugs for Alzheimers and related dementias that desperately need volunteers.
Difficulty Completing Normal Tasks
A subtle shift in the ability to complete normal tasks may indicate that someone has early dementia. This usually starts with difficulty doing more complex tasks like balancing a checkbook or playing games that have a lot of rules.
Along with the struggle to complete familiar tasks, they may struggle to learn how to do new things or follow new routines.
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Mediclinic Parkview Uses Novel Treatment For Alzheimers Dementia
The biological therapy Aducanumab has been used outside the US for the first time
Mediclinic Parkview Hospital has treated the first Alzheimers patient outside the US with the new biological therapy Aducanumab, a breakthrough in the treatment of the disease. Alzheimers disease affects the memory and causes personality changes in adults, particularly in their late 50s to 60s, with a second spike later beyond 70 years of age. Among dementia-related illnesses, Alzheimers accounts for 40-50 per cent of the cases worldwide. In the MENA region alone, the estimated prevalence is currently 6 per cent of all seniors above 60 years of age. Genetic factors play a role, as does lifestyle, levels of education and cognitive exercises in middle and later life.
This new form of treatment that has become available may, in the right circumstances and early in the disease process, modify the diseases progression or even halt the degenerative process. The treatment requires screening to determine the causation of the memory and works specifically for patients with Alzheimers disease.
This novel treatment is the first commercially available medication designed to fix the underlying problem in Alzheimers disease, says Dr Derk Krieger, Consultant Neurologist at Mediclinic Parkview Hospital.
Where To Get Help
- Your local community health service
- Your local council
- National Dementia Helpline Dementia Australia Tel. 1800 100 500
- Aged Care Assessment Services Tel. 1300 135 090
- My Aged Care Tel. 1800 200 422
- Cognitive Dementia and Memory Service clinics Tel. 1300 135 090
- Carers Victoria Tel. 1800 242 636
- Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centres Tel 1800 052 222
- Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory Service Tel. 1800 699 799 for 24-hour telephone advice for carers and care workers
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