What is Dementia

By Debra Grant, Tender Care Inc.

Dementia is a disease process that impairs information processing, thinking and judgment. Dementia makes independent living impossible.

What is the most common form of Dementia?

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. It accounts for over 50% of all dementia and affects one out of every 10 families in the United States.

A woman in her early 50s was admitted to the hospital because of increasingly odd behavior. She had been showing memory problems, strong feelings of jealousy, had started hiding objects and had become disoriented in her home. During a doctor’s examination, she was unable to remember her husband’s name, she could read, but did not seem to understand what she read. This woman was the first person reported to have the disease now known as Alzheimer’s disease after Alois Alzheimer, the German doctor who first described it.

After the woman died in 1906, doctors examined her brain and found that it appeared shrunken, and contained clumps of protein, called plaques, and tangled fibers inside the nerve cells. Two processes affect the brain of people with dementia: 1) Structural brain failure – cells start to shrink and die. 2) Chemical brain failure – neurotransmitters that jump from brain cell to brain cell become depleted. Alzheimer’s disease is ultimately brain failure, a progressive, predictable, but an individual terminal disease.

What are some characteristics of Alzheimer’s?

Immediate recall memory is the first to go. The person asks the same questions over and over. The part of the brain that stores information has shrunk and is no longer active. The person will remember things that happened years before when they were young, and sometimes think brothers and sisters are their mother and father because in their mind they are that young person. The person also confabulates, or makes up information that the person believes in their mind is true. The person seems to recall a fond memory or an activity that never really happened. The person in advanced stages of dementia will not be able to understand things said to them because the part of the brain that processes language is no longer there. They also become unable to appropriately answer your questions. Later the person loses any ability to speak or understand spoken language. People with Alzheimer’s disease make babbling or grunting sounds to stimulate the brain, because it feels good to them. They may also lick their lips or move facial muscles. A person with Alzheimer’s disease also loses impulse control. They may use swear words or inappropriate language, lose their temper, become moody, or have verbal outbursts which they would not have had before the onset of the disease.

Are there other types of Dementia?

There are over 70 types of dementia. The second most common type of dementia is Multi-infarct Dementia. In this situation, it’s not the cells that cause the problem; it’s the blood supply. If the cells can’t get oxygen and nourishment, they will die.

Are there tests to determine if one has Alzheimer’s?

CT Scans may demonstrate a progressive reduction in brain volume (atrophy) in excess of that occurring in normal aging. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) reveals decreased regional metabolism of glucose and oxygen and decreased blood flow in cortical areas. Serial evaluations of neuropsychological testing provide information on the rate of deterioration. Probable Alzheimer’s disease is clinically based on two or more cognitive deficits, a progressive worsening of memory or other cognitive functions, no disturbances of consciousness, and absence of systemic disorders or other brain disorders that could cause progressive deficits in memory and cognition. At this time, Alzheimer’s disease can only be confirmed with certainty by microscopic examination of neural tissue, usually an autopsy.