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    Angela Lunde

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  • Alzheimer's blog

  • Sept. 27, 2007

    Alzheimer's disease and dementia are different

    By Angela Lunde

324 comments posted

My sincere appreciation to all of you who have posted a comment or two on this new blog, I am elated by the rapid interest! Your exchange of stories, ideas, and challenges, along with the compassionate support you are giving one another, is exactly what I hope this blog can provide. As one individual stated, "Your experiences will comfort me."

Know that I will weigh in from time to time on some of the issues that surface, but for this blog, the real experts will be all of you impacted in one way or another by Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. Each of you can provide a depth of knowledge shaped by your own circumstances; when it comes to a devastating disease like AD, sometimes simply an exchange of experiences is what matters most. I will, however, comment on themes and general issues that emerge and provide links to resources that I think can be beneficial.

For this entry, let me just state that there is often confusion and misunderstanding with the terms Alzheimer's disease and dementia, but there is a distinct difference.

The term dementia refers to a set of symptoms, not the disease itself. These symptoms might include language difficulty, loss of recent memory or poor judgment. In other words, when an individual is said to have dementia they are exhibiting certain symptoms. With a thorough screening including blood tests (to rule out other causes of dementia such as vitamin deficiency), a mental status evaluation, neuropsychological testing, and sometimes a brain scan, doctors can accurately diagnose the cause of the dementia symptoms in 90 percent of the cases. (It is true however, that Alzheimer's can be diagnosed with complete accuracy only after death, using a microscopic examination of brain tissue, which checks for plaques and tangles).

Although Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60-70 percent of cases of dementia, other disorders that cause dementia include: Vascular dementia, Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy Bodies and Frontotemporal dementia.

In the early stages of a disease, there can be some clear differences between the diseases. For example, in dementia with Lewy Bodies (the second most common cause of dementia) early symptoms of the disease may not be so much forgetfulness, but lowered attention span, recurrent visual hallucinations, and a fluctuation between periods of lucidity (or clear thinking) followed by periods of confusion. However, as the specific disease advances, more parts of the brain become affected, and the differences from one cause of dementia to another are subtle.

In concluding my entry today, I'd like to pose a question: You may have heard the saying, "When you've met one person with Alzheimer's, you've met one person with Alzheimer's disease." In other words, no two persons are similar in how the disease impacts them. This holds true for caregivers as well. If you have seen how Alzheimer's disease (or related dementia) impacts one caregiver, you have seen how it impacts one caregiver. If you are caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease or a similar dementia, how has it impacted you, more importantly, how do you cope?

Keep posting!

In Support,
Angela

324 comments posted

blog index

  • July 11, 2011 5:00 p.m.

    My sister has been diagnosed with alzheimer's and I have volunteered to care for her. I don't know what to expect because I don't know of any other cases in this family. Our mother who is 90 is starting to become forgetful but she is 90. We live in New Jersey and I am looking for a group that I can communicate with. I know some people who have had a parent with this disease but what they have gone through is different from what I am experiencing. What should I do? My sister is in the first stage and can still bathe, dress and feed herself. I am here because she can't cook and if the food isn't prepared and placed in front of her, she won't eat. She has totally lost all interest in the kitchen. She gets very confused at time but then again she seems as though nothing is wrong. I really don't know what to expect next. Have gone online but everything too technical. Help!!

    - Marie

  • July 8, 2011 12:18 p.m.

    My husband had a "heat stroke" in August of last year. He has had pronounced degenerative difficulties since then. His personality has always been the ADHD type which drives me crazy sometimes, but the symptoms and behaviors are much worse. My husband has finally recognized that we need to seek medical help for this problem. I think he has Vascular Dementia. Does anyone have any suggestions for finding reputable treatment in the West Texas/Eastern New Mexico area?

    - anne

  • June 29, 2011 11:03 a.m.

    My husband was just diagnosed with Alheimer's disease about two weeks ago. I am not completely convinced he has it, thanks to your webpage I have learned enough to think he has vascualr dimentia, He is 69 years old and has had, and been taking blood pressure medications since he was in his 20s. I think more exploration should be done by his physician and will urge him to do it. I just read about Donna's mother in law (June 26, 2011) Thank you Donna!!

    - Rosemary Garcia

  • June 26, 2011 11:02 p.m.

    My mother in law was diagnosed twelve years ago with alzheimers. She passed away 6 months ago, and my father in law requested an autopsy. Results show she did not have alzheimers, but instead had vascular dementia and elevated levels of lipoprotein a in her blood. That is a huge difference for my husband and children, and definitely something we are exploring for their future health. My MIL's symptoms never seemed to match everything I read about AD. Now I know why.

    - Donna

  • June 16, 2011 4:28 p.m.

    My 56 year old husband has been diagnosed with deficits. He has had two brain injuries. I am sure he has dementia of some sort. Over the last two years he has had distinct personality changes. He has had an affair. His finances were in disarray. We sold his business. His short term memory is very bad. He has paranoia about me. He didn't want to get out of the car one day to close the garage because he thought I might ditch him. He asked if I have a plan to "off" him. Our marriage counselor quit after 2 sessions. She said we are not candidates for counseling because his behavior has escalated in relation to counseling and she doubts he is cognitively able to change. She has expressed deep concern about my safety. He hasn't hit me but he will chase me down and block my exit from a room. He has spit on me. he talks about slitting the throat of a traitor. He does not act like this in front of our children, most of who live out of state. My husband has told them that I'm mean and he loves me and he's sorry for everything he's done and he just wants to make it up to me. He is taking Risperidal (sp?) and prozac along with some other drugs. He can no longer handle money responsibly. He can also be very sweet and childlike. I am afraid of him. I don't know what to do with him. I feel that he needs to go to an independent living facility. I don't think he will cooperate with that. He also has made mistakes with his meds.

    - BA

  • June 14, 2011 3:19 p.m.

    I realized that my Mom had Alzheimer's in 2001 and she has been in a nursing home for 5 years now. Her health is pretty good. She has a brother and 2 sisters with it also. My sister and I feel the writing is on the wall for us, but there is no way I am going to get tested so I know for sure. That would just eat me up inside. I will take my chances, but when I don't recall something as fast as I used I ask myself if this is any sign that I have the start of AD.

    - Frances

  • June 14, 2011 11:12 a.m.

    My father died in 1992 at 56 of Alzheimers and Pneumonia. He was diagnoses at around age 52 or so. He was unfortunately embalmed before and autopsy could be made. Both his parents lived well into their 70's without such problems. We have always wondered if maybe it was something else. His ex wife was a young woman who ended up taking all of his money and he declined right after they married. The Dr. (neurologist) was picked by her and he became progressively worse until we had to put him in a nursing home. I have not been tested for the genes but am now 44 and am worried...Is there something that could look like Alzheimers either by poisoning or some other stress or disease...I guess i should just get genetically tested...I really regret they didn't do a brain autopsy...

    - Kevin

  • June 12, 2011 6:11 p.m.

    This is the first time I have read your blog. Wow, what a help! My wife wandered off a couple of times. She now where's and ID Braclet (gold as she does not care for silver which costs less) so now I have key locks that I remove at night or when I sleep. Just make sure they are in your reach in case of fire. What do you say when asked what's the matter with me; or is my Mother Dead, etc., It breaks my heart when after 53 years of marriage she does not know who I am. To deal with that I go back to 1958 and tell her where we go married; who married us; where she worked and where we lived. It works! I'm happy I discovered this source of information.

    - Robert

  • May 20, 2011 9:48 p.m.

    I sit here watching my Mom sleep and I reflect upon all the difficult times my family and I have been through watching her age with dimentia and other illnesses. There were many times I was going absolutely insane with her personality changes and chronic yelling. One day the yelling became so bad and I was so exhausted from trying to manage her life and mine that I had to make a choice. Was I going to continue to complain and drive myself mad or consider this time a gift? Complaining did me no good and how could I complain about the path God placed before me? Once I made that very tough decision of not feeling 'PLUM' (poor little unfortunate me) the selfish heaviness lifted from my heart. I now consider my time with my Mom a gift. When those feelings of frustration and insanity start to overcome my spirit I ask myself what lesson is God trying to teach me now? God only gives gifts, no matter how 'terrible' a situation may be there is a lesson to be learned and opportunities to improve your own life and teach those around you about love and devotion. Children watch how you handle a situation, how do you want them to be when they are taking care of you? So how will you let your loved ones illness positively influence your life? Tonight is a good night with Mom and I know God will allow her to sprout 'her wings' when her mission is accomplished. Strength and Wisdom to all cargivers. Carpe Diem

    - Alex

  • May 15, 2011 2:22 p.m.

    My Mother has moderate dementia. She is 74. she has been on Aricept for 3 yrs.It may have slowed down progression. But, she doesn't look like the same person.Sometimes when I look at her she doesn't look like she even sees me.She likes to take short drives, no highways.The doctor says this is ok, but I am worried.Sometimes she calls me and rants "why I did you ....?" It's hard to cope at times with this alter personality.

    - Kim

  • May 8, 2011 9:23 p.m.

    My Grandfather wasn't "right." Looking back, it is difficult to determine how much of his confusion was due to his drasctic move from his small farm in the rural Upper Penninsual of Michigan to the Detroit suburbs. I spent much of my after school hours looking for him as he wandered the neighborhood looking for the barn or the sauna. I felt bad for him and embarassed for myself as well. I don't think he truly had Alzheimers, though.

    - Kathy

  • May 4, 2011 9:16 p.m.

    Dear Daniel, I just read your blog. I am soo sorry you have this desease. My husband has this also and talkes everyday he does not want to live. He thinks he is a ball and chain around me.... He can never be sooo wrong. I love him,.. I will always love him. When I said I do, when life was a bowl of cherries, when we had our health we loved life. That was nothing, NOW is the time that our vows really are put to the test. When my husband needs someone, when he needs me to count on, I AM here for him because I want to be. No matter how bad he gets I will do my best for him and not think of him as a burden. It IS hard, on him land me. He hates his life. But Please try to think of it this way, this will be the last loving thing that your family can do for you, to love and take care of you. I am sure you would do the same for your wife if the show was on the other foot. NONE of us are getting out of this world alive. Please whatever you do is not take your eye off the ball, don't at this time give up your faith, this is the time that is our testing period. Just learn to take each day at a time, do what you can, try to enjoy each sunrise that your eyes witnesses. Just remember that your love ones are here for you and all of you will get through this bump with love and dignety. None of us are the same as we were yesterday. tommorrow we be less than we were today. Don't be affraid, you are lovenly watched after from above.

    - donna

  • May 4, 2011 7:14 p.m.

    I am wondering about the question, "when you have met one person with Alzheimers you have met one person with alzheimers." every day, my mother layers her clothing (I have heard that other people suffering from this do the same) and she has started knotting up her shoe laces and when I asked, gee i wonder who did this, she says, somebody is doing this to my shoes. her friend who had this, accused her daughter of taking things from her. she wasn't...and it is the accusatory attitude that some alzheimers patients have? I am wondering, if there are similar ways people act when they have Alzheimers?

    - Teresa

  • May 4, 2011 4:37 p.m.

    my husband has been diagnosed with early onset alzeimers but he is 83,I understood that the term applied only to younger persons?

    - pamela

  • April 25, 2011 8:47 p.m.

    My mom is 84 and suffering from dementia for the last 7 years. It started with an ability to find her parking spot in her buildings garage. Then she stopped doing housework, shopping bathing etc. My brother and I check on her everyday. I do her laundry, housecleaning, grocery shopping, bills and manage her medications and doctor's appointments. I am married with two children. Lately I have been depressed and tired. I am constantly running between my home and hers to care for her and my children. I turn down social invitations so that I can take care of her. I never knew you could miss someone that is right in front of you. I miss my mother, I wish we could have a normal conversation. I've been mourning her for years now. Sometimes I want to run away. I make sure to exercise 3 times a week or I would totally lose my mind. I am going to have a long term health care plan in place for myself because I want my children to enjoy the prime of their lives. I wish my mother was open to hired help but she won't let anyone like aides or cleaning people in. I dread each and every day.

    - Cathy

  • April 23, 2011 3:06 p.m.

    Daniel My mother has AD, my father has passed on, I'm the fifth of six children, a junior in college majoring in Nursing,have two adult sons of my own, and my mothers primary (only) caregiver. Needless to say my plate is full, but I wouldn't change one thing about my situation! I enjoy the times that I spend with my mother. Yeah it's different because my mother is in a different state now, but NOBODY can care for my mother the way that I can. It makes me Proud that I'm the one that the Lord chose to care for her, because I KNOW that she's being taken care of. We still have good times together..somedays she's laughing and talking and somedays she's not, but the current momeries are just as special to me as our pass ones. I said all of that to say that your wife and granddaughter would be HONORED to be appointed by the Lord as your caregiver! God Bless

    - Tammy

  • April 20, 2011 12:34 p.m.

    Hoping I can better understand what is happening to me. After taking some "tests" that included playing with blocks and cartoons and reaching a level of frustration that I almost walked out, I am said to "may" be in the intial stages of alzheimer's. At age 60 and with a father at age 86 with the disease, that doesn't have a clue, it is scarry, particularly to my family. Initial symptoms include short term memory loss, difficulty with detailed information processing and sense of presence. Being an engineer and manager,the impact is significant and cannot be hidden from family, friends and business associates. I found that once I stopped being frustrated about it, the symptoms diminished or I just learned how to deal with it. My biggest concerns are for my family members who will have to be caregivers to some extent and increasing with time. Their concerns are escalating costs with diminishing income. However my family and my faith are my strongest assets. I wonder where I can find programs that may want to use me as a guinea pig and maybe help find some hope for me and others. I would also like to know how I can be a better patient. What's a person to do?

    - Alan

  • April 19, 2011 7:05 p.m.

    Daniel, To say you would want to take your own life is so very , very sad. To have lived a productive life(or not) and virtually give up when the "battle" is nearly won, and we can finally reach the reward God holds for us, is not clear thinking. Your family will earn a higher place in Heaven by submitting to God's will.

    - Jean

  • April 14, 2011 7:47 p.m.

    I didn't realize that this blog is probably more for caregivers than for people whom actually have the disease. Sorry. And is there a way to get around the 1500 word limit? It takes me 2 or 3,000 words to get warmed up! I know that the caregivers must, ultimately, suffer more than the patients. After all, I suppose there will come a time when I will be incognizant of almost everything. I expect the periods of lucidity will stop. I know this - it takes a ton of courage and conviction, not to mention self sacrifice, to be a caregiver. I wish it were legal to, when that time comes when I am no longer Daniel but a total liability, to be able to have issued instructions to a lawyer and doctor to terminate the life in me. Why would I want my wife and granddaughter to suffer through that? What an indignity! We've raised my granddaughter since she was one, and she is now fourteen. We've had a very special relationship these past years. I dread the thought of her last memories of me to be of what I can only imagine I'll be like. God help all of us, patients and caregivers alike.

    - Daniel

  • April 14, 2011 7:31 p.m.

    I see all thgese posts, and so far, not a single comment. Are the comments posted some other place and I'm just not seeing them? I see some real cries for help or even acknowledgement, yet nobody seems to answer. I am 64 and, after being diagnosed as Bipolar I for seven years, and going through a ton of meds to develop a "cocktail" that will keep me reasonably stable, I am being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Most of the "new" drugs for demential or Alzheimer's I've researched have rather extreme side effects and react adversely to the medications I take for Bipolar. Many are similar to the ones I take now. I first began to notice symptoms a year ago, like my feet dragging, or steps I take don't end where I expect them to. I have periods of extreme lucidity then followed by periods where I can't remember where I'm going or where I even live, how to get there. I notice a decline in muscle tissue, faster than normal aging, and a host of other things. Some days I know exactly what is going wrong with me, then others it's like I just woke up. I once dreamed of writing the great American novel. I look at writings in my computer that I wrote a month ago, and I swear I'm reading someone else's work for the first time. I have no memory of evening thinking of writing them. According to what my doctors tell me, I probably have between 2 and 4 years before the real me disappears. At that point I won't even know. How in the world do I prepare my wife and granddaug

    - Daniel

  • April 9, 2011 9:31 a.m.

    I pray. I pray for patience, I pray for understanding, I pray to get through the night, I pray for forgiveness. I pray for those who are going through much the same thing that I am with my mother of 98 years who lives with me. I pray for a time when I can live my home not just to go to work. I pray for a cure to this horrible disease.

    - Donna

  • April 7, 2011 3:36 p.m.

    I'm starting my journey as a caregiver for the second time. Reading so many of the messages, I'm concerned about so many of the posters who are asking for help. They are obviously in pain. Is this blog monitored & does anyone contact them with answers and/or referrals which are so desperately needed?

    - Lyn

  • April 7, 2011 2:13 p.m.

    my husband is 62 yrs old and is being diagnosed with Alzheimer's he has been unable to work for going on 2 yrs now. I understand that Alzheimers has a chemical disorder as well I thought is was ceritonine (?) does anyone know what the correct chemical deficency is?

    - Brenda Abendschoen

  • April 7, 2011 10:43 a.m.

    About 1 month ago I started giving my husband a Vitamin B complex 2x/day as directed on the bottle. It contains 250 mcg of Vitamin B-12, or 4166% of MDR. Since he started this, my husband, who has been diagnosed w/ Alzheimer's and Dementia after a CT Scan, has only had 1 instance of Sundowners Syndrome and 1 other semi-violent reaction when I was trying to help him shower. I see a decidedly different type of behavior. He still has short-term memory problems, and has hallucinations of people, children, animals, etc., but he also has totally lucid times more and more than in the past 2 years since diagnosed. I totally believe it is the result of this Vitamin B complex, particularly the B-12 content.

    - Jean

  • March 28, 2011 10:41 p.m.

    Geriatric patients exhibiting symptoms of dementia are often prescribed anti-psychotic (Abilify, Risperdal), anti-anxiety and seizure medications "off" label, a common practice in geriatric care plans. Before giving consent to medications, have your elderly loved one evaluated for vascular dementia to diagnose quality of blood flow to the brain and areas of brain functionality through an fMRI. Some drugs (like those above) cause dizziness and reduced blood flow to brain tissue, do little to relieve symptoms, & may contribute to brain damage for those with vascular dementia (and not Alzheimer's). Be sure treatment centers rule out vascular dementia in the intial diagnosis and followups. Often, an elderly patient's dementia is just considered the way things happen, but failing to make an accurate diagnosis is not just poor medical practice. A vascular dementia care plan can't include some drugs that may be used for Alzheimer's, particularly pharmaceuticals which list a side effect of dizziness. Such drugs are likely to accelerate degeneration of brain tissue, functionality and mortality in a geriatric patient with vascular dementia. Professionals must be encouraged to make distinctions in diagnosing forms of dementia. Historically, this has not always been a priority, but today's fMRI tool will clearly demonstrate blood flow and brain function. Mildly demented patients can perform in the functional fMRI test setting with trusted family/companions presen

    - Florence

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