What is Dementia?
Dementia is an acquired illness - which means a person suffering from dementia previously had normal mental functioning before the onset of their illness. Sometimes the symptoms of dementia can be caused by treatable medical conditions such as depression, thyroid disease, infections or drug interactions. Often, however, dementia is not caused by a treatable condition and patients will continue to worsen over time.
Dementia is a set of symptoms that includes:
- loss of memory
- problems with reasoning
- impairment of judgement
- disorientation to person, time or place
- confusion
- changes in mood
- altered behaviour
- personality changes
- difficulty learning new skills
- lack of initiative
These symptoms may affect a person's ability to function at work, in relationships, or in normal every day activities.
What is Alzheimer's Disease?
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia - it accounts for about 64 percent of all dementias in Canada. It is not a normal part of aging.
Causes
Alzheimer's disease is caused by abnormal deposits of protein and lower levels of a chemical messenger in the brain, which results in communication problems in the brain. Alzheimer's disease gradually destroys nerve cells in the brain. There is no cure for this type of dementia and patients with Alzheimer's disease will continue to worsen over time as the amount of damage done by the disease to the nerve cells in the brain continues.
The good news is that researchers are working to develop new and better treatments for Alzheimer's disease and will one day, hopefully, discover a cure.
Who Gets It
Alzheimer's disease can happen to anyone of any age, although it's more common after the age of 65. If the disease occurs before the age of 65, it's considered "early onset" Alzheimer's disease.
There are two main types of Alzheimer's disease - one type that is "sporadic" and can happen to anyone and another type that runs in families.
What Else It Can Be
If a person develops the symptoms of dementia quickly, such as a sudden memory loss, this may suggest a dementia other than Alzheimer's disease. Other types of dementias that are related to Alzheimer's disease include:
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Lewy body dementia
- Pick's disease
- Vascular dementia
