The Benefits Awareness Brings to Understanding Dementia

When people hear the term dementia, they think of Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common form of progressive dementia. It is not the only form of dementia. Awareness about Lewy Body Dementia is helping medical personnel and the general public begin to understand that dementia can be years in development which is why they are often overlooked. Many forms of dementia are misdiagnosed because symptoms can also mimic those of other illnesses.

A Start

The Lewy Body Dementia Resource Center in New York is one of a few non-profit organizations dedicated to educate people about the second most common form of progressive dementia. Support and resources are also provided at the center and on the website. The symptoms of this disease affect those who are fifty years of age or older and mimics symptoms of psychiatric disorders, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

The Cause

The cause of Lewy Body Dementia is a build-up of protein deposits that are naturally found in the brain. These deposits of alpha-synuclein in the brain tissue present symptoms such as mental ability decline, fluctuations in attention span, a lack of concentration, memory loss, and slowed movements. Tremors, rigid muscles, and visual hallucinations are also common. It is difficult to view these symptoms as part of one disease when they manifest themselves over time.

So often, dementia stages begin earlier than the detection or diagnosis of any form. Lack of attention, for example, can be passed off as being caused from a lack of sleep or increasing stress. People will not even think to mention it to the doctor at the time of a routine physical examination, let alone make a special appointment to address it as a symptom. Six months later, a patient may become more forgetful, which is attributed to the process of aging.

Diagnosis

A definitive diagnosis of the Lewy Body form of dementia can only be completed after death via a brain autopsy. An accurate diagnosis is only possible through a series of tests, scans, assessments, and evaluations. The results can really only tell specialists which part of the brain is affected, if there are any structural issues or shrinking of the brain, and what other diseases or conditions can be ruled out. Assessing memory function, for example, can indicate loss compared to the average memory capacity and provide a baseline for future testing.

The process of taking a complete medical history, trying to determine if symptoms are connected to one issue or several health issues, and monitoring behavior and memory on a regular basis is the most successful way to make a diagnosis once all other possibilities have been eliminated.