As defined by the National Alzheimer’s Association, dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. In other words, dementia is not a specific disease. It’s an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities.
Dementia affects different areas of the brain which are responsible for different tasks:
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia, accounting for 60% to 80% of all cases. Other irreversible types of dementia include:
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is not new. Until the 1970s it was not usually diagnosed or publicly discussed. Alois Alzheimer, a German neurologist, first described the disease in 1906. He had been treating a 51-year-old woman, August D, who initially had trouble with household tasks and memory problems, and later showed unpredictable behavior and paranoia. Eventually she could no longer remember her family and needed total care. Her brain autopsy showed two kinds of abnormal structures in the brain that are now recognized as the hallmarks of AD—amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. You can only see these abnormalities when the brain tissue is examined under a microscope during autopsy.
Alzheimer’s disease is a specific form of dementia. It destroys a person’s brain cells. It starts out gradually and gets progressively worse over time. It is a fatal disease which can last anywhere from 3 to 20 years. Family history and genetics play a role, but it is important to know that many cases of Alzheimer’s disease occur randomly and only a small percentage of people actually have the familial form of the disease. Recent research findings have determined a person’s risk factor is tied to lifestyle. It has been suggested the risk is 1/3 genetics and 2/3 lifestyle. However, there are many theories and there is no cure at this time. Risk factors include hypertension, diabetes, obesity, excessive alcohol or medications and sleep disturbances as cascading events throughout each decade.
Throughout the rest of this course, we will use the term dementia rather than Alzheimer’s disease, since Connected Horse participants may have another form of dementia.
Symptoms of Dementia
Typical symptoms of dementia include:
Normal Memory Loss is not Dementia
It is true that some of us get more forgetful as we age. Our initial recall may be slowed and it may take longer to learn new things, remember certain words, or find our glasses. These changes are often signs of mild forgetfulness, not serious memory problems. For example, not remembering where you parked your car after attending a movie at the mall is simple forgetfulness. Getting in your car and forgetting how to drive it would be an example of a cognitive disorder like Alzheimer’s!