Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias: Symptoms, Stages, and Communication Strategies Expanded ____
Lewy body dementia (LBD) (Johns Hopkins Medi- cine 2022)
• Progressive dementia • Affects ability to think, reason, and process information • Impaired movement, mood, and behavior
• 1.4 million people living with this disease • Due to unusual deposits of alpha-synuclein protein on brain • Initial diagnosis may be mental/ psychological health • No cure • Caused by constriction or breakdown of blood vessels in and around the brain • Can be the result of a stroke(s) • Symptoms vary by location of actual constriction • Lifestyle factors (diet, lack of movement, smoking) contribute to disease progression • Disease can be allayed by exercise, diet, avoiding alcohol and smoking • Originally referred to as punch drunk syndrome • Caused by extensive hits to the head • Brain has tau protein similar to AD, but presents uniquely in CTE • Some symptoms can be addressed with medication • Diagnosed postmortem • No cure • Also known as pseudodementia • Outcome of a lack of stimulation • Person can improve if they respond to help • Engaging activities, exercise, cognitive- behavioral therapy, medication can all help person recover • Person can return to their prior intellect • Standalone diagnosis • Person can be engaged in their life, can still work • Various reasons for MCI • Can be a precursor to another diagnosis • Can be a side effect of a urinary tract infection (UTI) • Should be monitored by a physician • Root cause is important for improvement or for planning for more severe situation • Person should have medication evaluated/ monitored/managed
• Parkinsonian-like rigidity • Hallucinations, paranoia
Vascular dementia (Mayo Clinic, 2022)
• Problems with reasoning • Impacted judgement, memory, and other thought processes
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) (JNaraparaddy, 2018)
• Extreme dementia • Memory loss, confusion • Mood disorder
• Personality changes, rage • Can present in mid-life • Person becomes erratic and unpredictable
Depression dementia (Alzheimer’s Associa- tion, 2022)
• Lethargy • May or may not appear depressed
• Person may not realize that they are depressed • Person can be in denial about opportunity to get better • Person can realize that they are slow moving and uninspired • Person can recognize their memory loss • Person may accept that they have dementia, even before they are diagnosed
Mild cognitive impair- ment (MCI) (Alzheimer’s Society UK, 2022)
• Mild memory loss • Can present as exhaustion • Mild confusion
• Person can be aware of their symptoms • MCI may be a symptom of another illness
Atypical Alzheimer’s disease (Alzheimer’s Associa- tion, 2022)
• Amnestic problems • Unusually early symptoms impacting executive and motor functioning
• Frontal variant Alzheimer’s disease • Posterior cortical atrophy
Table 1 (continued)
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