When we hear dementia we start to panic. Dementia is one of the leading causes of death in America, so we have a dark perception and perspective on the disease. That said, if we try to understand it more we may be able to fight it as well. As such, here the list of the 10 different types of dementia and the different dementia stages.
- Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association even says that between 60 to 80% of cases of dementia are associated with Alzheimer’s. This disease is hinted at by signs of depression and confusion, which is caused by brain cells dying. This disease is most often found in older citizens with most early onset cases happening to people in their 40s or older. - Vascular Dementia
Vascular dementia is the second most common type of dementia out there. This one occurs when there is a lack of blood to the brain. This can be caused by either old age or by sudden incidents like a heart attack. Along with vision problems, vascular dementia can cause confusion and disorientation. - Lewy Body Dementia
The next in the different types of dementia is caused by protein deposits in nerve cells. This causes problems with the chemical makeup in your brain that then creates problems with memory loss. There are other symptoms that comes such as feeling of weakness, trembling hands, problems with sleeping, and more. That why if you have this kind of dementia it’s best to have help such as employees as at a senior living retirement home. - Parkinson’s Disease
This time, Parkinson’s is not the type of dementia, but rather it’s causes a type of dementia. Signs you can find are a lack of reasoning and judgement and a show of irritability. Depression and paranoia are also signs. - Frontotemperal
Next in the types of dementia is frontotemperal, which is also known as Pick’s Disease. This disease is an umbrella term for a group of different types of dementia. Specifically, these forms of dementia all affect the front and side of the brain which controls the language and behavior. - Creutzfeldt-Jakob
This type of dementia is extremely rare. Only 1 in 1 million get diagnosed with this disease every year. Sadly, within a year that person diagnosed will most likely die due to the disease’s fast acting nature. Besides the common dementia signs, this disease can also affect the muscles in the body. - Wernicke-Korsakoff
This brain disorder is caused by the lack of vitamin B-1 in the body. This leads to blood leakage into the lower part of the brain. This is just the start however as if the physical symptoms of double vision and muscle coordination go untreated the disorder can transition into Korsakoff syndrome. Symptoms for that include trouble with processing old information and learning new information. Though these conjoined illnesses are not technically dementia, their common symptoms often lead them to be grouped in with the different types of dementia. - Mixed Dementia
As the title implies, this type of dementia is actually the combination of two or more dementia. The most common pairing is Alzheimer’s and Vascular Dementia. - Normal Pressure Hypothermia
This condition causes excessive fluid buildup in the brain. All this extra fluid causes extra pressure on the brain. Johns Hopkins Medicine states that 5% of cases of dementia are connected to Normal Pressure Hypothermia. Some of the causes for this can be injuries, a tumor, or a prior surgery. - Huntington’s Disease
The last type of dementia is Huntington’s Disease. This disease is actually genetic and is split up by type for children and types for adults. The condition causes the brain’s nerve cells to breakdown before the are supposed to. This can happen (in rare cases) as early as childhood or adolescence, but most commonly happens in someone’s 30s or 40s. Other symptoms besides the typical symptoms of dementia are problems with movement like trouble swallowing and walking.
Early detection of dementia is imperative towards the attempt to treat it. You have to know the symptoms to watch out for and know that there are different kinds of dementia out there. Once you know that, you are fully equipped to fight back against the many different forms of dementia.
