The Different Dementias And How They Work

Throughout this line of study, Alzheimer’s disease is a specific form of dementia. According to Alzheimer’s Association, dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability that is severe enough to hinder daily life. Memory loss is a symptom of dementia and the most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s. One of the most common and severe symptom of Alzheimer’s is difficulty remembering newly learned information. The changes of Alzheimer’s normally begin in the part of the brain that affects learning (Overview Alzheimer's Association). Some other symptoms of Alzheimer’s include gradual memory loss, the decline in capability to carry out everyday tasks and the loss of their language skills. According to Bialystok the rate of

The difference between these types depends on what has caused the damage in the brain and which part of the brain has been damaged.
Common signs and symptoms of vascular dementia may include:

Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that accounts for sixty to seventy percent of Dementia cases. It is characterized by the development of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the loss of connection between neurons in the brain and the death of nerve cells. There are two types of Alzheimer’s Early on-set Alzheimer’s which occur from the ages of thirty to sixty is very rare and makes up less than five percent of the cases of Alzheimer’s . The second type is Late on-set Alzheimer’s which is the most common type and it is found in those of ages sixty and up. The progression of Alzheimer’s is a lengthy progress from the time of diagnosis the average life expectancy is three to nine years. In the early stages people have difficulty with short term memory loss as the disease progresses symptoms include difficulties with language, disorientation, mood swings, loss of motivation, loss of self-care and behavioral issues. As Alzheimer’s progresses a person slowly withdraws from family life and society due to the jumbled state of their memory. On a physical level the body’s physical function slowly degenerates and eventually leads to death.

Fixed cognitive impairments are due to a single event. Traumatic brain injury may cause generalized damage to the white matter of the brain or localized damages. A temporary reduction in the supply of blood and oxygen to the brain may lead to this type of dementia. A stroke or brain infection can also be the cause of dementia. Excessive alcoholic intake results in alcoholic dementia. Use of recreational drugs cause substance induced dementia. Once the over use of these drugs are stopped he impairment persists but may not progress. Dementia which begins gradually and worsens progressively over

Alzheimer’s Disease is a form of dementia affecting more than one third of those over ninety-five years old. Its effects vary per person and become systematically more extreme as time wears on. Alzheimer’s is currently incurable and impossible to slow, destroying neurons and brain tissue, resulting in loss of memory, judgment, awareness, communication, behavior and capacity for emotion. Changes in personality and loss of initiative are also common symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Dementia is an acquired syndrome resulting from brain damage or disease. Two types of dementia are primary and secondary dementia. Primary dementias are disorders in which the dementia alone is the major sign of a biological brain disease, for example Alzheimer’s disease. Secondary dementias result from some other recognizable disease, such as multiple sclerosis. In having dementia, memory domains, and possibly language, judgement, abstract thinking, and/or executive thinking deteriorate progressively in severity until death. This differentiates dementia from other cognitive disorders such as delirium, age-related memory decline, or toxicity, all of which are temporary, treatable, or reversible. (Dementia: Overview, 2015).

There are four main types’ dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia and other dementia disorders. Dementias are considered to be neurodegenerative because of the death or nerve cells in the brain. These disorders are caused by toxic proteins stored in the brain. The abnormal proteins will cause the brain function to weaken, which will eventually lead to dead cells. The proteins also damage the spaces in between the nerves causing them to transmit improperly. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, named after Alois Alzheimer, a German neurologist. In one case, there was a woman who began having hallucinations, disorientations, and memory loss. It increased over the years until her death at the age of 55. Vascular dementia, the second most common dementia. A disease when the blood vessels become affected in the brain. It is similar to the Alzheimer’s disease because it has been called to be the ‘forgotten’ dementia. In contrast to the Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia results from multiple causes, like “haemodynamic (blood flow to the brain) disorders (for example, strokes), thromboembolism (small blood clots originating mainly from the carotid artery or heart that block small blood vessels in the brain), small blood vessel disease in the brain (which results in a gradual reduction in blood supply to the brain), and heamorrhage (bleeding) into or around

Dementia is a disease which causes mental debility and affects one’s way of intelligent, attentiveness, recollection and problem-solving (NHS, 2013). As a result of dysfunction of brain cells in some parts of the brain it affects the thinking process then dementia occurs and it usually comes with age (Ibid). It is estimated that 560

     Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive degenerative disease that attacks the brain and results in impaired memory, thinking and behavior. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia. Dementia is the lost of thinking, remembering and reasoning so bad it screws up ability to do daily functions and eventually resolves in death. Dr. Alois Alzheimer’s first discovered the disease in 1906. Since then research has developed a deeper understanding of the changes in the brain. Warning sign’s of Alzheimer's are memory loss that affects home and job skills, problem in speaking, poor judgment, and difficulty in learning. The last stage of Alzheimer's disease is when you’re unable to take care of

“What is Alzheimer’s disease (AD)?” Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia that affects an individual’s memory, cognition, and behavior disturbances that ultimately diminishes their quality of life.1-2 Dementia is not a specific disease it is a general term for a variety of symptoms that affect memory and intellectual thinking that causes difficulty in our tasks of daily living.(5) The confusion between these two terms is extraordinary. It’s helpful to think of dementia as the symptom and to think of AD as the cause of that symptom. Although, there are many causes of dementia for the purpose of this paper, Alzheimer’s will be the only one discussed.

It is speculated to be the source of 10-20% of dementia cases, which is not unexpected due to the fact that in America alone, “Every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke…” (https://www.cdc.gov/stroke/facts.htm) . “In this condition, changes in the brain’s blood vessels restrict the amount of blood and oxygen reaching particular areas of the brain – resulting in the death of brain cells...” (https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/dementia/types-dementia) .

A new study was released by the Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association that discovered more than one third of Alaska Natives and American Indians over the age of 65 are expected to develop dementia before turning 90.

Alzheimer’s and dementia are often thought of as an old age disease. Although the most commons risk factor is age but it is not the only one. Most majority of individuals do develop symptoms as elderly, but individuals that develop onset symptoms at a younger age, below 65 are said to develop early onset dementia (Lambert, M. A., Bickel, H., Prince, M., Fratiglioni, L., Von Strauss, E., Frydecka, D., & ... Reynish, E. L., 2014). Many researchers have conducted studies on the impact of cognitive disorders, such as dementia along with Alzhiemer’s, on the affects of the nonprofessional caregiver. Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t just affect the person but the affected person’s family and friends are affected as well.

Furthermore, there are different types of dementia. The different types are Frontotemporal Dementia, Vascular Dementia, and Lewy Body Dementia. Frontotemporal Dementia causes anxiety, apathy, compulsive behaviors and anxiety. This disease occurs when the frontal or temporal lobes of the brain are damaged or shrink. Also, symptoms from Vascular Dementia include: memory loss, impaired judgment, decrease in ability to plan, and loss of motivation. This disease is caused by bleeding within the brain from a stroke causing brain damage. Lastly, Lewy Body Dementia symptoms are sleep problems, memory loss, hallucinations, and frequents swings in alertness. This disease is caused by abnormal

Vascular Dementia can occur after a person has a stroke due to major blood vessels being blocked.