Alzheimer's Vs Dementia Essay

Dementia is a cognitive disorder which causes a loss of brain functions which mainly affect memory .

New evidence states a viral infection brings Alzheimer’s to light. A recent editorial from the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease shifts focus from immune system suppression to a viral infection. Dr. Douglas Kell, a professor at the University of Manchester’s School of Chemistry, claims, “We are saying there is an incontrovertible evidence that Alzheimer’s disease has a dormant microbial (viral) component. We can’t keep ignoring all of the evidence” (Knapton). Viruses are commonly found in the brains of elderly people. In most cases, they have all of their bodily functions. Around two-thirds of people will contract the viral infection herpes at some point in their lifetime. Herpes has been known to damage the central nervous system in humans.

Knowing the difference between the two is very important when explaining this to a patient. Knowing exactly what dementia results from compared to how Alzheimer's comes to is important to know as a medical assistant.This gives you the advantage of making the patient fully aware of what is going on.

As people age, it is natural for them to experience a mild degree of memory loss. However, some cases can be much more severe, and can have a variety of causes. When loss of memory and other mental functions becomes more severe, the condition is known as dementia. Dementia is caused by a variety of disorders, but

c) Age-related cognitive impairment (or mild cognitive impairment MCI) – is when an elderly person’s memory starts to wane and they have problems recalling their short term memories, they have difficulty learning new things, their thinking process starts to become reduced and have difficulty concentrating. It is thought that MCI can develop due to alcohol abuse and cognitive decline (poor diet, chronic inflammation, vascular disease and

Alzheimer’s disease in many ways is not yet defined. It is a progressive disease afflicting between 5 and 15 percent of people over 65. Additionally, it is not restricted to the elderly, reportedly having

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are often confused because of the similarities and mysteriousness that they share. According to the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the are actually very different in many ways. Dementia is term used to describe a disorder that impairs the mental processing of thoughts and memory. Other forms of dementia besides Alzheimer’s are Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Alzheimer’s Disease is a form of dementia and is the most common, from 60-70% of all dementia cases. To determine cause of dementia, doctors will use different mental evaluations, brain scans, and blood tests. Alzheimer’s is diagnosed through the evidence that the brain scans provide. One significant difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia is the fact that Alzheimer’s is a nonreversible disease. Some forms of dementia are temporary or reversible but Alzheimer’s has no cure and is degenerative.

According to the Department of Health (DoH, 2013), dementia is describe as a syndrome that can be caused by number of progressive disorder which affects memory, thinking, behaviour and ability to perform everyday activities. Whereas Morris and Morris (2010), describe dementia as deterioration of the brain cells which affects the memory, thinking, communication and mood changes with a specific disease. Both description of dementia are similar in which the disorder

     Dementia, memory loss, and cognitive breakdown are some of the major signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The disease damages brain cells, which in turn, impairs the memory and leads to loss of memory and the ability to perform tasks. The slow elimination of cells weakens the brain’s ability to remember things, perform normal

Dementias are neurodegenerative disorders and Alzheimer’s disease is just one type. Although the most frequent cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, there are many causes of dementia. Saying someone has dementia is actually not a diagnosis it’s more of a clinical syndrome. Like saying someone has heartburn or a headache, the underlying cause of the dementia must be uncovered in order to classify it. Dementia impairs cognitive function in many different ways. It can involve memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and perception (Radin, 2003, p. 29). Some classifications of dementia include: frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia, but other degenerative diseases such as Huntington’s

Dementia effects your memory and a person’s ability to achieve a normal everyday task and activities.

Alzheimer’s disease can often be seen during autopsies of the brain. In her book, Can’t Remember what I Forgot, Sue Halpern explains that Alois Alzheimer first discovered the tangles of protein on the brain of a 56 year old woman suspected of having Alzheimer’s (115-116). In the book A Dignified Life, Virginia Bell and David

The past of Alzheimer’s disease had to do with the major progress that had taken place since the 1906 of which included the “discovery era”, “the awareness era”, “the progress and hope era” as well as the “the inception

Alzheimer is a disease that affects the elderly most. The disease was discovered by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in the year 1906 when he was examining a female’s brain. He found out that the woman displayed memory loss, language problems and some inexplicable changes in behavior. The disease was named after the doctor who was a German psychiatrist and a neuropathologist. Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder that leads to memory loss, personality changes, and language problems (Gilbert & Julie 2). The disease is mostly diagnosed in people over the age of 65 years, though there is a small minority of people under the age of 50 who get the disease. Studies show that 1% of a whole population aged between the ages 65-75 have severe

Multiple symptoms contribute to dementia and dementia can affect mental cognitive tasks such as memory, reasoning, social functioning thinking and daily living. It is possible to have more than one form of dementia at a time and this known as mixed dementia. Over time, dementia progresses and when loss of reasoning, memory, and thinking become severe, this can have a significant impact on independent functioning. Some conditions that can cause dementia include degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s as well as other infections, illnesses, and imbalances. Each cause of dementia causes damage to a different set of brain cells. Alzheimer’s disease is responsible for about 50 to 70 percent of all cases of