Since this adventure started I have had many learning experiences, and have had the opportunity to help many people better understand what they are about to go through with their loved ones.

The first misnomer is that Dementia and Alzheimer’s are the same. There are many websites that explain this, but in laymen’s terms, as I understand it, Alzheimer’s is one of the many types of Dementias. (There are said to be over 400 types of Dementias.) I have listed just a few common ones below.

Dementias

Alzheimer’s

– The most common type of dementia.

– The worst type. People forget their loved ones, have trouble walking, speaking, and writing. Can’t really do anything for themselves, and seem to be very childlike.

– “Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disease and the most common form of dementia.”¹

Lewy Body

– The second worst type of dementia after Alzheimer’s 

–  Lewy bodies are an abnormal buildup of proteins that develop in brain nerve cells that affect thinking, memory, mood and motor skills. 

– “Since Lewy bodies tend to coexist with Alzheimer’s brain changes, it may sometimes be hard to distinguish Lewy body dementia from Alzheimer’s disease, especially in the early stages.”¹

Vascular Dementia

– “…changes in thinking skills sometimes occur suddenly after a stroke, which blocks major blood vessels in the brain.”²

– Could be caused by a major or smaller stroke.

– “While Alzheimer’s usually begins with memory problems, vascular dementia more often begins with poor judgment or trouble planning, organizing, and making decisions.” ³

Frontotemporal Dementia

– “Frontotemporal dementia is an umbrella term for a group of uncommon brain disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. These areas of the brain are generally associated with personality, behavior and language.”⁴

– Inherited in about one-third of all cases, and usually is diagnosed between 40 and 65

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

– Very rare, about 1-2 in a million cases are diagnosed per year.

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

– Often caused by a deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1), brought on by alcohol abuse.

– “Widely considered less common than Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) or Lewy body dementia (LBD). Like more common types of dementia, it may be underdiagnosed.”⁵

Mixed dementia

– “A condition in which brain changes of more than one cause of dementia occur simultaneously.” ⁶

– “Autopsy studies play a key role in shedding light on mixed dementia [as well as the others] because scientists can’t yet measure most dementia-related brain changes in living individuals. In the most informative studies, researchers correlate each participant’s cognitive health and any diagnosed problems during life with analysis of the brain after death.” ⁶

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I hope this short list helps send you in the right direction. I just wanted to give you an overview here, Mayo Clinic and the Alzheimer’s Association are both excellent resources for symptoms, diagnosis, and advice.

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References

1- https://www.alz.org/alzheimer_s_dementia

2- https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/vascular-dementia

3- https://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/alzheimers-dementia#1

4- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/frontotemporal-dementia/symptoms-causes/syc-20354737

5- https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/korsakoff-syndrome

6- https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/mixed-dementia