Understanding dementia a little more

This post is just to explain different types of dementia a little more, I won't rant on about all the statistics on dementia because they can be found all over the internet but there is one statistic I think is important for people to know. It is estimated in the UK at the minute there are 850,000 people living with dementia, and it is expected to rise to over one million by 2025. This staggering number is the reason more awareness is needed. 

There are various types of dementia, some well known and some not so well known, I won't go into great depth because, like statistics, you can easily find definitions of the types of dementia. 

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia, with around two thirds of dementia sufferers having it. In a brain that is affected by Alzheimer's nerve cells die, due to abnormal protein production, and collapse in on themselves and certain parts of the brain, especially the temporal lobe where memory is stored, start to shrink as a result. This shrinkage can be seen on brain scans. 

Vascular dementia

Vascular dementia occurs when the blood supply to the brain is not as good as it should be, or if it has been interrupted. Vascular dementia can often come from a stroke or a series of small strokes known as transient ischemic attacks. Strokes and TIAs are caused by restricted blood flow or blood clots, thrombosis being one of the most common causes of strokes. Together Alzheimer's disease and Vascular dementia cause about 90% of all cases of dementia.

Lewy bodies dementia

Lewy bodies accounts for about 1 out of 20 cases of dementia. Early on people with Lewy bodies dementia often have symptoms of Parkinson's disease. People with Lewy bodies dementia may suffer hallucinations, are often prone to falls and can be very restless, especially at night time. This is not to say all sufferers of Lewy bodies will experience hallucinations, and it's not to say sufferers of other types of dementia won't.

Frontotemporal dementia

Frontotemporal dementia attributes to around 1 in 50 cases of dementia. It is thought that it is more common in younger people, often people in their 50s and can be difficult to diagnose as dementia is rarely suspected in people that young. Some frontotemporal dementia is genetically inherited and it is not known what causes the non-genetically inherited cases. 

Parkinson's disease dementia
It is estimated that eventually one in four people with Parkinson's will get Parkinson's dementia. It is similar to Lewy bodies dementia but usually comes many years after the person develops Parkinson's.

Huntington's disease 
Huntington's disease is a progressive disease that affects a persons movement and damages certain brain cells. It is thought that for many people the disease eventually declines into dementia.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare disease that causes progressive brain damage, it is thought to affect 50 people each year in the UK. In the same way as Huntington's, it is thought this very often ends in the person having dementia.

HIV-related dementia
It is estimated about 10% of people with AIDS will eventually develop dementia, usually late in the illness.

Progressive supranuclear palsy
Progressive supranuclear palsy is a disease where the nerves that control balance and movement are damaged. A person may also present with personality changes and it is thought this disease often declines into dementia. 

This is a list of reading I would suggest to anyone who is interested in understanding types of dementia a little further;

• 'Understand Alzheimer's disease and other dementias' by Dr Nori Graham and Dr James Warner.
• 'Alzheimer's and other dementias: answers at your fingertips' by Harry Cayton, Dr Nori Graham and Dr James Warner.
• 'Dementia: compact care' publication by the Royal College of Nursing, 2015.
• 'Between remembering and forgetting; the spiritual dimensions of dementia' by James Woodwar.
• 'How many camels are there in Holland? Dementia, Ma and me' by Phyllida Law.