Dementia

    Dementia is NOT a type of disorder. Rather, a term given for people with certain symptoms caused by many different neural disorders. In dementia, major neurons and neural points may lose connection due to the lack of function (or a malfunction of fluids/proteins that the cells need) and an excess of neuron deaths. Among the types of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is most commonly seen.

    Symptoms include drastically limited intellectual abilities, loss of memory, personality issues, a hard time controlling emotions, and/or cognitive disabilities. Some forms of dementia, like AD, do not have a cure and have progressive damage to the brain. Others may be halted, slowed down or reversed.

The different kinds of Dementia are

-          Cortical dementia – language loss, memory issues, social behavior problems, and thinking due to damage to the brain’s surface.

-          Subcortical dementia – emotions, memory, and movement problems come into play when parts below the surface are crippled.

-          Progressive Dementia – Like it suggests in the name, it a dementia which worsens (progresses).

-          Primary Dementia – A dementia which does not occur from any previous or currently possessed diseases

-          Secondary Dementia – Occurs from a physical injury or a disease.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD)

    As the most commonly occurring dementia, Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease which, unfortunately, does not have a reversible cure (yet). Taking its time to settle in and slowly beginning to emphasize certain symptoms, AD usually occurs in people who are 65+. Symptoms that people experience in this dementia include: memory loss, personality changes, a troubled time in decision making, and/or other cognitive issues. Memory problems may be so severe, that close people such as family and friends may not even be recognized.

    

    This mind altering disease begins when neurofibrillary tangles (clumps of filament-like structures found in neurons), composed mainly of a protein called tau, are affected. Specifically, this is when the tau is not manufactured like usual. Instead of helping the neural tangles, tau is changed to slow down/destroy sections of the communication paths and/or functions of neurons. As the disease progresses, more and more neurofibrillary clusters are affected causing an excess of neuron death and impairment.

    

     As the disease enters its final stages, the ability to recognize family members will seize to exist in addition to language skills and the ability to speak. Motor skills will begin to be executed less smoothly. Patients with AD will often live about 10 years after being diagnosed.