Dementia

Dementia is a general term for global cognitive impairment that is severe enough to affect with daily activities and signifies a considerable drop in a person’s baseline level of performance. The range of cognitive symptoms vary by dementia diagnosis, as well as the individual’s environment and baseline strengths and limitations, but in general, they include:

While most varieties of dementia have no cure, symptoms can be treated and controlled with medication. Early diagnosis and treatments are critical for slowing down the symptom development.

It’s critical to acquire a diagnosis for yourself or a loved one as soon as possible if you observe dementia symptoms. Early diagnosis and treatment can help you slow the development of your condition and get the treatment and resources you need to have a higher quality of life for longer. Make an appointment with The Cerd Center today.

While dementia kinds can be distinguished by established clinical criteria that describe specific symptom profiles, dementia classifications are based on the core neuropathology. Each type of dementia is linked to unique microscopically monitored brain abnormalities that, in the past, could only be confirmed through autopsy. For several diagnosis, current specialized imaging and laboratory procedures are now accessible, allowing for biological markers in living patients.

When a physician identifies dementia, he or she will gather as much information as possible to figure out what sort of dementia the patient has. The clinical profile, or range of symptoms displayed by a patient, is mostly dictated by the brain area plagued rather than the type of pathology. As a result, if two different kinds of dementia impact the same brain areas, the symptoms will appear to be the same. Therefore dementia differential diagnosis is challenging and necessitates a thorough examination by a specialized team.

It is also not uncommon for a person to have many types of dementia. In fact, having one dementia diagnosis raises your chances of getting another. The term “mixed dementia” refers to brain abnormalities that are common to many types of dementia.

A nonexclusive list of dementia types is as following:

The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. While the exact origin of Alzheimer’s disease is unknown, research has demonstrated that physical changes in the brain that cause symptoms are linked to irregular protein increase. Amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles are the names for these abnormal proteins. Alzheimer’s disease is difficult to diagnose, and it might be misdiagnosed since it combines symptoms with a variety of different illnesses.

Vascular dementia, which is second only to Alzheimer’s disease in respect of occurrence, is caused by a restriction in blood flow to the brain, resulting in oxygen deficiency and cell death. The degree of the stroke or strokes, as well as the brain area affected, determine the symptoms and severity of vascular dementia. A series of small strokes can add up to a lot of harm over time, whereas a single massive stroke might cause a lot of damage right once.

This type of dementia, like Alzheimer’s, is caused by abnormal protein increase in the brain. The alpha-synuclein protein misfolds and forms formations known as Lewy bodies in dementia with Lewy bodies. Dementia with Lewy bodies has symptoms and brain alterations that are like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, making it difficult to diagnose.

This type of dementia refers to a group of disorders characterized by progressive nerve cell damage/failure in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain (areas at back of ears). Memory, voluntary movements, speech and language, behavior and personality, cognitive function, and sensation management are all affected by cell loss. Frontotemporal dementia is frequently mistaken with Alzheimer’s disease; however it usually manifests sooner.

Parkinson’s disease is caused by the creation of Lewy bodies in the brain, similar to dementia with Lewy bodies. However, with Parkinson’s disease, Lewy bodies attack a brain region that controls movement, resulting in Parkinson’s-related movement problems. Dementia symptoms may arise if brain abnormalities extend to other parts of the brain that serve cognitive tasks.

Defined as the gradual, progressive deterioration of the brain’s outer layer (cortex) in the posterior (back) portion. It’s unclear whether it’s a separate illness or a variant of Alzheimer’s, but it’s similar to other dementias caused by Lewy body formations.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is part of the prion disease illnesses. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is caused by misfolded proteins in the brain, and it can be developed through infected meat or tissue. In some situations, the sickness is passed down from generation to generation.

By the age of 35 or 40, people with Down syndrome are at a significant risk of acquiring an Alzheimer’s-like dementia. Although not everyone with Down syndrome develops Alzheimer’s symptoms, a huge majority of people with Down syndrome have significant amounts of beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles, the unusual protein deposits that are considered Alzheimer’s hallmarks, by the age of 40.

Huntington’s disease is caused by a faulty gene, which results in a variety of cognitive and motor symptoms. Symptoms commonly appear in the late 30s or early 40s and last for about 10 to 30 years.

The brain’s ventricles swell with cerebrospinal fluid, resulting in normal pressure hydrocephalus. Normal pressure hydrocephalus, unlike most other types of dementia, can be treated by draining the ventricles.