FOR GREGORY. He was not a VICTIM of ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, he was a HERO!

PLEASE NOTE: Even though this blog is now dormant there are many useful, insightful posts. Scroll back from the end or forward from the beginning. Also, check out my writer's blog. Periodically I will add posts here if they provide additional information about living well with Dementia / Alzheimer's Disease.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Types of Dementia and More

Just read an interesting article about a variation of Dementia/ Alzheimer's in which the person affected had difficulties with vision. I saw a lot of this with Gregory as he progressed through his journey. Sometimes he could not see the fork sitting next to the plate in front of him. In the later stages of his Dementia, he had a difficult time focusing on things like the TV, a book of photographs, and at times on me!

As I have continued to study his "symptoms" it looks to me like he was affected by several types of dementia at one time including: Posterior Cortical Atrophy, Lewy Body, Frontotemporal, and  Primary Progressive Aphasia which affects language. 

A new type of Dementia is being called "Mixed Dementia." In mixed dementia abnormalities linked to more than one type of dementia occur simultaneously in the brain. Recent studies suggest that mixed dementia is more common than previously thought.

Recently, there has been a lot of activity and discussion in the following areas: 1) Types of Dementia, 2) Appropriate language to discuss Dementia and the people affected with it, 3) Including people with Dementia in decisions about caring for the needs of people with Dementia, and 4) A more careful use (if any) of psychotropic drugs with people diagnosed with Dementia.

As recently as ten years ago, not much was known about Dementia/ Alzheimer's. People were embarrassed to discuss the disease. Little was known about how to care for people with Dementia. While the knowledge base is increasing exponentially, much still needs to be done to understand the disease and to support people who have been diagnosed with one form or another of Dementia.

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