Dementia
Neurological Conditions
Dementia
Dementia is not a specific disease. It is a descriptive term for a collection of symptoms that can be caused by a number of disorders that affect the brain. People with dementia have significantly impaired intellectual functioning that interferes with normal activities and relationships.They also lose their ability to solve problems and maintain emotional control, and they may experience personality changes and behavioral problems, such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations. While memory loss is a common symptom of dementia, memory loss by itself does not mean that a person has dementia. Doctors diagnose dementia only if two or more brain functions - such as memory and language skills -- are significantly impaired without loss of consciousness.
Some of the diseases that can cause symptoms of dementia are Alzheimer’s disease (AD), vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Doctors have identified other conditions that can cause dementia or dementia-like symptoms including reactions to medications, metabolic problems and endocrine abnormalities, nutritional deficiencies, infections, poisoning, brain tumors, anoxia, or hypoxia (conditions in which the brain’s oxygen supply is either reduced or cut off entirely), and heart and lung problems. Although it is common in very elderly individuals, dementia is not a normal part of the aging process.
Moreover, recent studies have found that newer brain scans may point to other causes of Dementia in approximately one-third of presumed AD cases, thereby helping avoid an Alzheimer’s disease misdiagnosis, which may lead to better treatment and care.**
A fundamental concept to grasp is that the symptoms of Dementia often go beyond memory loss. They can include significant shifts in mood, more falls, disturbed gait (how we walk), and more. In addition, hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia are not uncommon.
Click below on the various terms to learn more about both common and more rare conditions, syndromes and diseases, that can cause, or include symptoms leading to Dementia:
Dementia-Like Conditions (that may be reversible);
Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI);
Alzheimer's Disease (AD or ALZ) Dementia;
Mixed Dementia;
Vascular Dementia;
Young Onset Dementia;
Lewy Body Dementia (LBD);
Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD);
AIDS Dementia Complex (ADC);
Huntington's Disease with Dementia;
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with Dementia;
Parkinson's Disease (PD) with Dementia;
Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury (CTE) Dementia;
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) with Dementia;
Down Syndrome with Dementia;
Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA);
Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA);
Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (WKS) Dementia;
Limbic-predominant Age-related TDP-43 Encephalopathy (LATE);***
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) Dementia;
Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD);
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP);
CADASIL;***
Sanfilippo Syndrome***
Batten Disease (Childhood Dementia);***
Binswanger Disease.***
Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (CAA)***
Various Childhood Dementias***
Adult-Onset Leukoencephalopathy***
See All Definitions: https://www.dementiasociety.org/definitions
Additional Resources:
The links below will open websites in a separate web browser page so that you can keep your place here.Antidote- Dementia Clinical Drug Trial Selector - Be taken through a series of questions to find the trial that fits.
CenterWatch- Dementia Clinical Drug Trials Database - Search to find trials in your area, and sign up for email alerts.
National Institutes of Health- Alzheimer's - Detailed epidemiology (incidence, distribution, and possible control) of Alzheimer's Disease Dementia.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services- Institute on Aging - General information on U.S. government research on aging and related health issues.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services- Brain Health Info - The Association for Community Living (ACL) provides a resource on brain health.
World Health Organization- Dementias Fact Sheet - A global Dementia fact sheet produced by a branch of the United Nations.
Dementia Prevention, Intervention, and Care- Commission - The Lancet is an independent, international weekly general medical journal founded in 1823. The journal strives to make science widely available so that medicine can serve and transform society and positively impact the lives of people.
Brain Bank Donation- Locator - If you wish to help others through Dementia research, consider giving the gift of your brain to science when you die.
CDC- Dementia Care Community Statitics - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has prepared a statistical overview (2010) of care communities across America.
CMS- Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services - If you have a complaint to make about care for someone living with Dementia who is a resident of a state or federally-certified healthcare facility, you can find the appropriate state contact phone number and web address here.
See Care Education: https://www.dementiasociety.org/education
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