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PUB_understanding dementia

Deborah Kan

Created on May 27, 2025

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Transcript

The guide to

Understanding Dementia

Types of dementia

Diagnosis & treatment

What is dementia & its symptoms

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What is dementia?

Dementia is an umbrella term for a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking, and behavior. These symptoms include memory loss, problems with reasoning, planning, and judgement, language and speech difficulties, and behavioral changes, to name a few.

Different types of dementia:

Alzheimer's disease

Vascular dementia

Lewy body dementia

Frontotemporal dementia

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Image source: skin test: DISCERN™ Lumbar puncture: InlandImaging AI tools: RealResearch Retinal scan: JoVE Journal

Dementia symptoms

Common early symptoms of dementia include:

Forgetfulness

Communication issues

Cognitive problems

Movement issues

Feeling confused/lost

Mood changes

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LEARN more ON BEINGPATIENT.COM

Is dementia treatable?

While age inevitably brings on some amount of cognitive decline, dementia is not a normal part of aging. It's an indicator of brain disease, and it can be caused by a number of different health issues. The precursor to dementia is called mild cognitive impairment, or MCI.

Depending on the underlying cause of a person'sMCI, treating health issues early on may reverse MCI and prevent dementia. Once dementia develops, lifestyle changes and medications can slow, manage or treat some symptoms, but dementia has no proven cure.

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LEARN more ON BEINGPATIENT.COM

Common types of dementia

There are several different types of dementia, each with distinct causes and characteristics. The most common forms of dementia are:

Vascular dementia

Alzheimer’s disease

Frontotemporal dementia

Lewy body dementia

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Identifying and managing early signs of dementia

Expert Perspective

"In the very early stage, it is extremely difficult to make an accurate diagnosis because so many symptoms can overlap... I do see that (attention problems) a lot where patients come in saying they used to have very good attention and now they're struggling just to continue the tasks that they started... they're just not able to perform as well as they could previously perform at work, and they might have small memory lapses... These are usually the first signs... in order to diagnose dementia, it really does have to affect the activities of daily living."

Dr. Stephanie Collier

WATCH VIDEO

Psychiatrist, McLean Hospital

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Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia where amyloid and tau protein build-ups in the brain cause memory loss, confusion, and eventually severe thinking problems.

Diagnosis

Risk factors

  • age
  • family history
  • heart health
  • lifestyle (diet, sleep, etc.)
  • memory tests
  • brain scans
  • blood tests

Treatment can help with symptoms in the early stages, but scientific consensus is that there is no treatment that can cure, stop, or reverse Alzheimer's.

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Vascular dementia

Vascular dementia is caused by blood flow problems in the brain. Symptoms depend on which part of the brain is affected.

Diagnosis

Risk factors

  • high blood pressure
  • diabetes
  • obesity
  • smoking
  • strokes
  • heart disease
  • brain scans
  • memory tests

Managing heart health can help prevent vascular dementia.

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Lewy body dementia

Lewy body dementia happens when proteins called Lewy bodies build up in the brain, causing thinking and movement problems.

Symptoms

  • Seeing things that aren’t there (hallucinations)
  • Sudden changes in alertness
  • Movement problems like Parkinson’s
  • Sleep issues, like acting out dreams

Some Alzheimer’s treatments can be harmful for people with Lewy body dementia, so getting the right diagnosis is important.

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Frontotemporal dementia

FTD affects the front and side parts of the brain, often causing:

Symptoms

  • Personality changes or inappropriate behavior
  • Problems speaking, reading, or understanding language

It’s most common in people ages 50 to 60. Bruce Willis was recently diagnosed with this type of dementia, after experiencing aphasia, or trouble speaking.

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LEARN more ON BEINGPATIENT.COM

Patient talk: Misdiagnosed Lewy body dementia

Patient Perspective

"It wasn't just about memory... The thing that was happening more was, two things. One was, my inability to multitask the way I used to be able to... I was losing my focus, my concentration... But the other part was changes in my personality... I was starting to become quicker to anger, quicker to frustration... One of the hallmarks for Lewy body dementia is what they call REM sleep behavior disorder... You actually act them [dreams] out. So I punched, kick, scream, fell on the floor, knocked over my nightstand, walked into a wall..."

Mike Belleville

Watch video

Patient

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Is it Lewy body dementia or Alzheimer’s?

Expert Perspective

"So whereas Alzheimer's disease is mainly a memory problem, a language problem, in Lewy body dementia, we also have memory and language problems. But in addition, there are a lot of other symptoms which [are] also very problematic. And these include psychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations and motor symptoms similar to those we see in Parkinson's disease. And there are also very specific sleep disorders and whole list of other changes... So it's a more complex symptom presentation for these patients."

Professor Dag Aarsland

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LBD and Parkinson’s Researcher, King’s College London

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Why early diagnosis matters?

Getting a dementia diagnosis early means:

  • Making future plans while the person is still able
  • Starting treatments sooner, which may slow symptoms
  • Understanding what type of dementia it is for better care
  • Joining clinical trials for new treatments
  • Learning how to care for the person as symptoms change

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Want to learn more?

Visit

beingpatient.com

for the latest news and information on brain health and Alzheimer's disease

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