Posted by There are four major types of dementia. Dementia is a term that describes a group of symptoms associated with a loss of memory or other thinking skills. There are more than 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, and 1 out of 3 seniors will die with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.
In this discussion, Jessica seeks to inform us about the four most common forms of dementia, where they impair and how they impact the function of the brain and body.
The first zone she discussed was Lewy Body dementia, this dementia comes in two primary forms. One is caused by an influx of alpha-synuclein proteins that damage and impair mental cognitive functions. The second form of Lewy Body is more well known and is Parkinson’s Disease, which does impair cognitive function, but before this it impairs motor function and leads to the inability to walk safely.
Next Jessica moves to Alzheimer’s Disease, or AD. AD is what most people think of when the think of dementia in its traditional form. It is also the most common type of dementia. People that have AD essentially have a brain that is losing cells and shrinking in size, as you might imagine this severely impacts the ability to speak, walk, and think, though symptoms range widely and get progressively worse.
Jessica goes on to talk about Vascular Dementia next. This form is second most common, it has man common characteristics to AD, but is essentially cause by the degradation of blood vessels in the brain which causes mental impairment.
Lastly, she discussed Frontal Lobe Dementia. This type is not very common but affects the front and sides of the brain, the frontal and temporal lobes. One that is suffering from this type of dementia would have difficulties processing emotions, speaking, and even visual impairments.