Actually, I had no idea that there were so many causes of dementia. According the Wikipedia, dementia is “a set of symptoms caused some sort of brain damage, usually brought on by disease, though it can also result from injury. Over time, there is an increase in problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. These accumulate until they begin to affect the ability of a person to do what we would consider everyday activities. There are also emotional problems, difficulties with language, and decreased motivation. A person’s consciousness isn’t usually affected.[What does THAT mean??? By definition, consciousness is variously, “awareness of internal or external existence.” However, despite thousands of years of attempting to define what ‘consciousness’ is, Schneider and Velmans conclude that consciousness is ‘at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives.’”] Dementias change a person’s usual mental functioning, and the person’s cognitive decline is faster than what we would expect in normal aging. In 2013, dementia was reclassified as a major neurocognitive disorder, with varying degrees of severity, and with all KINDS of causes.”
So then, what are these different kinds of dementia?
Vascular Dementia (second most common after Alzheimer’s): caused by a lack of blood flow to the brain. Vascular dementia can happen as you age and can be related to atherosclerotic disease or stroke. Symptoms can appear slowly or suddenly (this may have happened in my mom. She DID have congestive heart failure and absolutely did have changes in how she viewed the world and did things for herself.)
AIDS-Related Dementia: It’s also possible for those with HIV to develop cognitive impairment and dementia, especially if they’re not taking antiviral medications.
Dementia with Lewy bodies: caused by protein deposits in nerve cells. This interrupts chemical messages in the brain and causes memory loss and disorientation. There are similarities between this and both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Visual hallucinations, trouble falling asleep at night, or fall asleep unexpectedly during the day, fainting or getting lost or disoriented may also occur.
Parkinson’s Disease: This disease can cause problems with reasoning and judgment leading to trouble understanding visual information or remembering how to do simple daily tasks. They may even have confusing or frightening hallucinations, become more than normally irritable. Depression or paranoia, trouble speaking because of forgotten words, or getting lost during a conversation can also happen.
Frontotemporal dementia: This disease affects the front and side parts of the brain, which control language and behavior and may strike people as young as 45 years old. It does appear to run in families. It can cause loss of inhibitions and motivation, as well as compulsive behavior, create problems with speech, including forgetting the meaning of common words.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (rarest form of dementia): Oddly enough, I came across this disease while researching for a science fiction story I wrote (currently it’s in submission). The symptoms are similar to the other dementias, but only 1 in 1 million people are diagnosed with it every year. That said, CJD progresses so quickly that victims often die within a year of diagnosis as it also affects the body as well, causing twitching and muscle stiffness.
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome: This disease is a one-two kick to the groin. Initially, Wernicke’s encephalopathy, is initiated by a lack of vitamin B-1, leading to bleeding in the lower sections of the brain, causing double vision and a loss of muscle coordination. If untreated, these symptoms decrease, and the signs of Korsakoff syndrome kick in. Trouble processing information, learning new skills, and remembering things. Technically, Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is not a dementia. However, symptoms are similar enough to dementia to warrant the classification. Also, W-K can result of malnutrition or chronic infections. However, the most common cause for this vitamin deficiency is alcoholism. In a stranger reaction, people with this dementia will make up information to fill in the gaps in their memories without realizing what they’re doing.
Mixed dementia: Very common, usually a combination of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s. In nearly half of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s actually have this form.
Normal pressure hydrocephalus: Typically caused by injury, bleeding, infection, or brain surgery, there’s a build-up of excess fluid in the brain’s ventricles. The ventricles are fluid-filled spaces that rely on just the right amount of fluid to work properly. When the fluid builds up excessively, it places extra pressure on the brain.
Huntington’s disease: a genetic condition that causes dementia (juvenile and adult onset) causing premature breakdown of the brain’s nerve cells, which can lead to dementia and impaired movement causing jerking, difficulty walking, and trouble swallowing, difficulty focusing on tasks, controlling impulses, trouble speaking clearly, and difficulty learning new things.
Dementia caused by Multiple Sclerosis: Sometimes happens.
Alcohol and drug abuse: Finally, these can cause brain damage not apparent immediately, rather showing up as a person ages.
So, now we know. Dementia has multiple causes that all lead to similar symptoms. Forewarned is forearmed.
Resource: https://www.healthline.com/health/types-dementia#huntingtons-disease, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness
Image: https://upload.inkspire.org/uploads%2F1503370874800-Alzheimer-disease-patients.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment