Does dementia always result in alzheimers?

Question

My grandfather was recently diagnosed as being in the early stages of dementia. He is 84. He's never been forgetful, and always got on well for his age, so I was shocked when I heard this. I was just wondering does dementia always lead to alzheimers? Because if that's the case, then I guess that means this is the beginning of a big change in him.... Also, can the progression of this be slowed down or stopped?

Answer 1

Dementia is a general term in the DSM for the symptoms of forgetfulness, disorientation, etc. If someone has alzheimers, it's actually classified in the DSM and Dementia, alzheimer's type, which indicates the origin of the symptoms. Dementia can occur because of a variety of illnesses, addictions, etc.

In other words, all alzhemer's patients have dementia, but not all dementia patients have alzheimers.

Alzhiemers can be treated with medications like Namenda and Aricept, which are not a cure, but slow the progression of the disease.

Answer 2

Dementia is a syndrome that has many different causes. Alzheimer's Disease is the most common cause of Dementia. It's a Primary Degenerative type of Dementia which means it's progressive. Other conditions such as alcoholism, drug reactions, AIDS and a number of other medical conditions can also cause Dementia. For many of these the progression can be halted or even reversed if the cause can be treated. There are a few new drugs that have shown great promise in slowing the progression of Dementia of the Alzheimer's type. It is also possible for an elderly person to have what is called "pseudo-dementia". This is usually a major depressive episode which causes symptoms that are very similar to a dementia.

Answer 3

alzheimer's is a disease, dementia is a symptom. NO, dementia doesn't always mean alzheimer's, it can mean alot of other things. There are medications out there to treat dementia, suggest the person you need to be talking with is dad's doctor to see what he thinks may be causing the dementia, although often they do not know.

Answer 4

Dementia is an umbrella term. There are many causes for dementia. It involves loss of memory along with some other form of function (e.g., apraxia, agnosia, decision making). Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, but there are many other types. For instance: multi-infarct dementia, Huntington's disease, Pick's dementia, Parkinson's dementia, prion disease, etc.