Beyond Forgetfulness: Recognizing the Early Signs of Dementia

Dementia isn’t just a case of forgetfulness. The term describes a collection of symptoms caused by disorders that affect the brain. It’s not one specific disease, nor is it a normal part of aging. Instead, it’s an umbrella term that covers how a number of different medical conditions affect a person’s mood, thinking, memory, and behavior.

Dementia can affect anybody, but it’s more common after age 65. Some of the most common conditions that cause dementia are Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Currently, there’s no cure for any type of dementia, but there are things you can do to reduce your risk, as well as treatments that address many of the symptoms. It’s possible for some people to lead active, meaningful lives for years after their diagnosis.

At Advanced Neurology Specialists, LLC, board-certified neurologist Dr. Cory Lamar and our team provide treatments to help slow down dementia’s effects and allow patients to retain a good quality of life for longer. An important part of this is recognizing the early signs; the earlier you get treatment, the more successful it’s likely to be.

What are the types of dementia?

There are many different forms of dementia, each with a different cause. However, symptoms are similar among the different types; they include memory impairment and difficulty focusing.

Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is a physical illness which, as it progresses, damages a person’s brain. Two substances inside the brain, known as beta-amyloid and tau, clump up and form tiny structures called plaques and tangles, respectively. These make it more difficult for the brain to work properly.

Over time, certain parts of the brain become smaller, and the levels of neurotransmitters, chemical signaling molecules, diminish. The disease starts long before symptoms start to show. Early symptoms include forgetfulness and disorientation, a state known as mild cognitive impairment.

Eventually, Alzheimer’s causes so much damage that the person develops dementia — a reduction in thinking skills, short-term memory, and the ability to carry out everyday tasks.

Vascular dementia

Vascular dementia is the second most common type of dementia. The specific symptoms depend on the individual, the underlying cause, and the areas of the brain that are affected.

The most common symptoms during the early stages include:

• Difficulty planning, organizing, making decisions, and solving problems
• Difficulty following a series of steps, e.g., a recipe
• Difficulty focusing
• Sudden confusion

The individual may also have problems with memory and language.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)

Lewy bodies are clumps of protein in the brain’s nerve cells, and Lewy body dementia is caused by Lewy body disease.

Lewy bodies cause a variety of symptoms, some of which are shared by Alzheimer’s disease and some by Parkinson’s disease, meaning that some people are misdiagnosed. About 1 in 10 people with dementia have DLB.

DLB usually develops over many years, and the Lewy bodies may be present for a long time before any symptoms show. Early symptoms are similar to those of Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.

Many people with DLB, especially those over 80, also have a buildup of the beta-amyloid plaques and tau protein tangles that cause Alzheimer’s disease. For people with both DLB and Alzheimer’s, dementia symptoms usually are more severe and become worse more quickly.

Mixed dementia

Mixed dementia occurs when someone has more than one type of dementia. This affects at least 1 in 10 people diagnosed with dementia. Alzheimer’s disease with vascular dementia is the most common type of mixed dementia. The individual develops the characteristic brain plaques of Alzheimer’s disease while at the same time having diseased or damaged blood vessels supplying their brain.

The effects on symptoms are additive, making them worse than if the person had a single type of dementia.

Treating dementia

Treating dementia begins with effectively managing any underlying medical conditions, as well as providing nutritional supplementation and medication to correct brain chemical and hormonal imbalances. For example, aducanumab-avwa, administered by an IV infusion, destroys the beta-amyloid plaques in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.

Everybody gets a bit more forgetful as they age, but that doesn’t mean you have dementia; dementia is caused by physical changes in the brain that interfere with normal functioning.

If you want to learn more about dementia, or if you think you or a loved one might be dealing with the early symptoms of one of its forms, Advanced Neurology Specialists, LLC, in Naples, Florida, can help. Call our office at 239-667-5878 to set up a consultation with Dr. Lamar, or book online with us today.