- Are Alzheimer's disease and dementia the same?
There is a distinction between dementia and Alzheimer's, but they're closely related.
Alzheimer's is a form of dementia. It is the most common form and accounts for 60-80 percent of all cases of dementia. Not all dementia, however, is triggered by Alzheimer's.
Dementia is an umbrella term that is not a disorder for a series of symptoms. It's triggered when illnesses, such as Alzheimer's or minor strokes, affect the brain. There are 8 other forms of dementia that you may not have heard of, apart from Alzheimer's.
The particular symptoms encountered by someone with dementia depend on the parts of the brain that are affected and the condition that causes dementia.
- What's the illness of Alzheimer's?
A chronic disease of the brain is Alzheimer's disease. It causes issues such as memory, judgment, decision-making, and actions with cognitive functions. Symptoms are sporadic, but they generally slowly grow and get worse over time.
Memory loss and other symptoms are normally mild in the early stages. In later phases, individuals often have symptoms such as communication difficulties, total dependency on others for treatment, lack of mobility, incontinence, eating difficulties, and odd habits such as repeating questions or asking "home."
The 6th leading cause of death in the United States is Alzheimer's. There is no remedy as of now. Current treatments can reduce or delay symptoms, but in the early stages of the disease, they usually work best.
The typical Alzheimer's patient generally lives for another 8 years after signs become apparent. But patients may live from 4 to 20 years, depending on age and other health conditions.
- What's dementia ?
Dementia is an aggregate concept associated with a loss in memory and cognitive abilities for a wide variety of symptoms. It is triggered by physical brain changes that are normally caused by sickness, stroke, or accidents.
The leading form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. Vascular dementia, often caused by stroke or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs or mini-strokes), is the second most common.
Other conditions can cause dementia symptoms as well. Some, like UTIs, delirium, thyroid issues, or vitamin deficiencies, are reversible. Others are not reversible, like Parkinson's disease.
