Multiple Dementia Types: Diseases Descriptions Symptoms

 

Dementia is a broad term used to describe a group of symptoms that occur when brain cells stop working properly. It is certain diseases that damage the brain and cause dementia.

This post will explain the different dementia types, their symptoms, progression and where to go for further advice and support.

 

Alzheimer’s disease

Overview

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting around 500,000 people in the UK.

It is a progressive disease that develops slowly over time and in early stages, it can be difficult to distinguish Alzheimer’s from mild forgetfulness, which can be seen in normal ageing.

People with Alzheimer’s have a shortage of some important chemicals in their brain. These chemical messengers help to transmit signals around the brain and when there is a shortage of them, the signals are not transmitted as effectively.

Over time, more parts of the brain become more damaged and the symptoms become more severe.

The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease can be broken down into earlier symptoms and later symptoms.

Symptoms

Typical early symptoms of Alzheimer’s may include:

• Forgetting recent events, names and faces
• Becoming increasingly repetitive, e.g. repeating questions after a very short interval
• Misplacing items or putting them in odd places
• Uncertainty about the date or time of day
• Unsure of their whereabouts or getting lost, particularly in unusual surroundings
• Becoming low in mood, anxious or irritable, losing self-confidence or showing less interest in what’s happening

The rate at which Alzheimer’s progresses is different with every person. As it progresses, more symptoms may occur or worsen, such as:

• Degraded ability to remember, think and make decisions
• Communication and language become more difficult
• Difficulty recognising familiar faces or household objects
• Difficultly in day-to-day tasks, for example eating, dressing, using a TV remote control, phone or kitchen appliance
• Some people become sad, depressed or frustrated about the challenges they face. Anxieties are also common and people may seek extra reassurance or become fearful or suspicious
• People may experience hallucinations, where they may see things or people that aren’t there
• People may become increasingly unsteady on their feet and are at greater risk of falling

Current treatments do not unfortunately stop the disease, but medication is available to those with Alzheimer’s that helps to delay the decline of memory loss, thinking, language and thought process.

Different options to ease the symptoms can be discussed with your GP.

Vascular dementia

Overview

Vascular dementia is the most widely recognised as the second most common cause of dementia and can occur when blood flow to the brain becomes reduced.

In some cases, people may have both vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s – this is known as mixed dementia.

Vascular dementia is sometimes given more specific names based on the changes in the brain that cause it. The most common of these are:

• Stroke-related dementia – vascular dementia that develops after a stroke (called post-stroke dementia) or after a series of small strokes (called multi-infarct dementia).
• Subcortical vascular dementia – vascular dementia that is caused by changes to very small blood vessels in the brain (often referred to as small vessel disease).

The speed of progression for vascular dementia varies from person to person and there may be a sudden change in progression after events such as a stroke.

Symptoms

Vascular dementia can have symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Symptoms of vascular dementia include memory loss, disorientation and problems with communication. In addition to this, there may also be more specific symptoms and these may differ depending on the area of the brain that is affected.

These may include:

• Thinking skills – taking more time to process information and having problems with attention, planning and reasoning.
• Personality changes – these may include depression and losing interest in things. People may also become more emotional.
• Movement problems – difficulty walking or changes in the way a person walks.
• Bladder problems – frequent urge to urinate or other bladder symptoms. This can be common in older age, but can be a feature of vascular dementia when seen with other symptoms.

The symptoms of vascular dementia get worse over time. In the later stages, the symptoms become more widespread and people need help eating, dressing and toileting.

Similar to Alzheimer’s, there is currently no specific treatment available, however you can go to your doctor to discuss medication and other methods to reduce the rate of the symptoms.

Dementia with Lewy bodies

Overview

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is thought to be the actual second most common dementia, due to high instances of wrongly diagnosing the condition as something else, such as Parkinson’s disease.

It is caused by small round clumps of a protein that build up inside nerve cells in the brain. The proteins formed are called Lewy bodies and they damage the way nerve cells work.

In DLB, the nerve cells that are affected by Lewy bodies are in areas of the brain that control thinking, memory and movement.

People with DLB can also show some changes in the brain that are typical of Alzheimer’s. This sometimes makes it hard to tell the difference between the two diseases.