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Few diagnoses are more frightening than hearing that one has Alzheimer’s or another disease that causes dementia. For Alzheimer’s, the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 55 million people across the world are living with the disease. More than 6 million people with this diagnosis live in the United States.
Kevin Foley, MD, from Trinity Health Grand Rapids, explains what causes dementia and Alzheimer's Disease, and how to best navigate it when a loved one is diagnosed.
Aging by itself should not cause memory loss. Since everyone’s brain works differently, some memory lapses may be normal for one person but not another. Before considering a loved one has Alzheimer's, it’s important to look at the usual patterns of thinking and behavior over time of a person to understand what is normal for an individual and if there are significant changes from his or her baseline.
While the terms Alzheimer’s and dementia are often used interchangeably, dementia is a specific term used to describe the outcome of a brain disease, like Alzheimer’s, that causes memory loss.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that causes memory loss and can affect decision-making, communication skills, judgment, and reasoning. It can also cause personality changes.
Although Alzheimer’s is the most common disease that causes dementia, there are many others such as:
o Parkinson’s
o Lewy body
o Vascular small vessel
o Pick’s disease
How it progresses from simply forgetting a word or the name of a movie just watched to having difficulty performing a task done repeatedly for a long time. Some may be confused about where one is or the day of the week it is, have difficulty remembering recent events and conversations, and have repetitive speech.
Risk factors for Alzheimer’s are:
o Age – usually 65 years and older
o Genetic predisposition
o Down syndrome
o Head injury
o Cardiovascular disease
Any adult concerned about progressive memory loss should see a specialist for an evaluation. Memory tests have been relied on heavily to identify patterns of cognitive impairment typical of the disease.
Trinity Health Grand Rapids is the first hospital to offer PET amyloid scans in West Michigan. Technology has evolved so much that they can now see the amyloid plaque in the brain with a PET scan to confirm the diagnosis.
For dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, oral medications are an option to slow the expected progression of memory loss. No over-the-counter supplements are effective in the treatment of dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is considered a pre-dementia syndrome.
For more information on memory disorders and Alzheimer's, head to TrinityHealthyMichigan.org/memory or call (616)-685-5050.
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