What are the Signs and Symptoms Archives - Page 3 of 15

Lewy Body Dementia A Common Brain Disease Explained

Lewy Body Dementia

Lewy body dementia, a surprisingly common type of brain disorder that causes changes in the ability to think and move. The two main types—dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinsons’ disease dementia—differ in the earliest signs.

This book is written by Judy Towne who took care of her husband with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) at home.

Ms Towne offers many hints and tips for caregivers who are caring for a loved one at home, plus many informative facts about Lewy Body Disease as well as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Each of these illnesses have some symptoms in common, especially various forms of dementia.

As I did with my Mom, so does Judy Towne wish she had known the symptoms sooner. I think we all have a tendency to brush off symptoms like losing our balance or forgetting something we did yesterday. Yet, if we recognize these odd moments for what they are: early symptoms, then we may get help sooner when drug treatments may be more apt to have an effect.

Judy Towne’s husband had many of the symptoms that we hear on Alzheimer’s Support everyday. Our loved one suffers from Sleepless nights, stumbling due to poor balance, the necessity of notepads if they intend to hold a thought for longer than a few hours.

As most of us did, she considered the symptoms as a part of aging, until she finally made a medical appointment after the incidents began to effect her husband’s work life.

Judy Towne also explains many symptoms that don’t occur in Alzheimer’s dementia. If you aren’t sure what your loved ones medical condition is, or if you know that they have Lewy Body Dementia— you will thoroughly appreciate this book.

Judy is wonderful at sharing her story and her feelings through this process. This book is easy to read straight through. Each chapter is written to cover a particular characteristic that might be present in someone with Lewy Body Dementia. You can search the Contents Page or Index to find the information you re searching for.

As Judy says: “This book is written to give Caregivers meat and potatoes suggestions to make their jobs easier. Little suggestions that work can have a significant impact to the stress level of both the caregiver and the patient (spouse or loved one.)

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A Caregiver’s Guide to Lewy Body Dementia Treasures in the Darkness: Extending Early Stage The Gift of Time: Living with my Husband and Lewy Body disease Parkinson’s Treatment: 10 Secrets to a Happier Life: English Edition Brain Storms: The Race to Unlock Mystery of Parkinson’s Delay the Disease – Functional Fitness and Parkinson’s (DVD)

20 years Before Dementia Begins -Plaques and Tangles are Found?

03/10Leave a Comment

Plaques and Tangles Found 20 years earlier?

An article from Bloomberg yesterday reports that Doctors at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital found that amyloid beta accumulates in the brain for 20 years before causing signs of dementia. In this study they followed 200 seniors for more than three years to chart any decline in cognition and brain size against the deposition of abnormal protein (excess amyloid beta) in their brains.

Some of this group already had Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment. The Austin Hospital found that it takes about 20 years for the deposits, known as amyloid beta, to lead to dementia.

The findings, published in the medical journal the Lancet Neurology — startled me. We all realize that cognitive decline can last for many years once it begins. And It may take years for family and friends to notice that it’s more than a little forgetfulness. And eventually we watch as they lose yesterday, last week, last year and finally they forget us altogether. But this happens AFTER Alzheimer’s, after the amyloid has filled the brain with plaques and tangles.

I check the study again to be sure. This study clearly states that it takes 20 years for the amyloid beta to lead to dementia. To me, that means 20+ years where something could be done; a pill, a shot, a minor surgery. This study shows there may be more time to fix the problem. Like a heart getting a bypass, or a knee getting an artificial joint, mabye we’ll be able to swallow a pill that dissolves the amyloid beta in our brains.

Lots of things cause dementia besides amyloid beta, but Alzheimer’s is the main reason for this type of dementia, (The build up of amyloid beta on the brain), which afflicts 35.6 million people globally — a number the World Health Organization says will double by 2030 and triple by 2050.

As strange as it seems, not everyone who has this buildup of amyloid beta on the brain has Alzheimer’s. But, everyone who has Alzheimer’s has the excess amyloid beta. A strange disease indeed.

For Alzheimer’s to develop, the brain needs to accumulate large amounts of amyloid “and you need it there for a long time,” Rowe, a study co-author, said in a telephone interview from Florence, Italy. The authors also found, “The data indicate that there is a prolonged period in which amyloid beta is forming plaques in the brain without the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.” So perhaps, those who have of amyloid beta but no Alzheimer’s did not live long enough to accumulate enough for symptoms to appear.

Now they know that amyloid beta is forming plaques in the brain without symptoms of Alzheimer’s much longer than first thought, and that brain shrinkage occurs several years before the memory is affected, hopefully researchers will find a way to take action during this time span.

Counting the years that amyloid beta may have been occurring yet undetectable, Rowe believes we may have many years to take some kind of action. “The entire process is now getting up toward more than 25 years,” Rowe says. “This is much longer than people expected.”

“You have a much greater chance of stopping a disease than trying to repair a brain that’s severely damaged,” Rowe said. “This is the great hope now.”

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New Perspectives of Central Nervous System Injury and Neuroprotection (International Review of Neurobiology)The Living Brain and Alzheimer’s Disease (Research and Perspectives in Alzheimer’s Disease)Alzheimer’s Disease: Cause(s), Diagnosis, Treatment, and Care The Family Guide to Alzheimer’s Disease DVD Video Series The Alzheimer

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What Is Alzheimer’s Disease?

11/191 Comment

What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Many of us are brought into caregiving a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease without knowing What Alzheimer’s Disease really is.

I’ve often stated, David Shenk’s: “The Forgetting: Portrait of an Epidemic” was the first I found while searching for understanding after my Mom’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

Most of what I knew, thought, and believed about Alzheimer’s was wrong and I was filled with fear about what Mom and myself (as her caregiver) would ultimately face in the future.

“The Forgetting,” is the most comprehensive book I’ve read about Alzheimer’s and I’m glad that it was also the first book I read. There are few caregiver’s stories and more basic facts. Yet, that’s what I needed to understand in the beginning when I had no caregiver stories of my own to compare.

Recently, a friend suggested that I view a new video at You Tube. “What is Alzheimer’s?”

Like “The Forgetting,” she said, this new video makes understanding Alzheimer’s simple and clear.

I watched the video and was surprised to see how simply it explained such a complicated disease. “What is Alzheimer’s?”

After viewing this video, you’ll find many questions answered about origin and nature and the progression of Alzheimer’s on the human brain. It’s Brief but enlightening.

After viewing it myself, I was not surprised to learn that it had been Written and Directed by David Shenk.

View the Video “What is Alzheimer’s” below, and let us know what you think –

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What is Alzheimer’s – You Tube

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The Forgetting: Alzheimer’s: Portrait of an Epidemic

Afflicting nearly half of all persons over the age of 85, Alzheimer’s disease kills nearly 100,000 Americas a year as it insidiously robs them of their memory and wreaks havoc on the lives of their loved ones. It was once minimized and misunderstood as forgetfulness in the elderly, but Alzheimer’s is now at the forefront of many medical and scientific agendas, for as the world’s population ages, the disease will kill millions more….

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Five Clues That Your Loved Ones’ Unpredictable Emotional Outbursts May Not be Depression

10/06Leave a Comment

Five Clues That Your Loved Ones’ Unpredictable Emotional Outbursts Could be Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA) instead of Depression due to symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease

As Alzheimer’s Awareness month in November approaches, caregivers are recognized for the critical role they play for loved ones with this disease.

Caregivers wear many hats and may notice symptoms or behavior changes that could otherwise go unnoticed.

One such condition that can be often overlooked or misdiagnosed as depression is pseudobulbar affect or PBA.

There are five clues/signs designed for caregivers to help distinguish this condition as a separate one to address at an upcoming doctor’s visit.

Five Clues Which Could Predict Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA) include:

The patient bursts out crying or laughing for no apparent reason.
The patient cries or laughs at inappropriate times.
The patient experiences outbursts of emotion that are exaggerated or inappropriate for the situation.
Patients can’t control their tears or laughter, even when they try to.
Patients socially isolate themselves out of fear of having an episode in public.

What is PBA?

PBA is a neurological condition that affects people with an existing primary neurological condition, like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), stroke or traumatic brain injury. People with PBA have sudden outbursts of involuntary emotional displays they cannot control.

Charles Darwin first described this health condition now known as PBA more than 130 years ago, but many patients and members of the medical community don’t realize that this debilitating disorder may affect approximately 2 million people in the U.S. The episodes of involuntary crying and/or laughing occur unpredictably, and can be frequent and severe. Since laughter and crying are two of the most basic human emotions, it’s extremely difficult for people with PBA to interact with others without being able to have control over these emotions, which often leads to social isolation.

Author: Erik P. Pioro, MD, PhD, FRCPC, director of the Section for ALS and Related Disorders at the Cleveland Clinic, says in the company’s news release that pseudobulbar affect is “a disabling neurologic condition found in patients with underlying neurologic diseases or injuries” that often causes embarrassment “due to their unpredictable emotional outbursts, leading to disruption of their interpersonal relationships as well as isolation from other social events.”

To learn more about PBA, please visit www.pbainfo.org and talk with your neurologist or primary care doctor about you or a loved one if you notice any of the above symptoms.

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Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA): Information for Caregivers & Patients The Depression Cure: The 6-Step Program to Beat Depression without Drugs The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself Depression : Coping With Depression, Beating Depression and Be Happy How to Help Someone with Depression (Updated)Overcome Depression and End Your Suffering Now

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Now You can have Alzheimer’s dementia and Live Longer and Remember Better

09/255 Comments

You can have Alzheimer’s and live longer

Having Alzheimer’s or Dementia doesn’t have to mean an instant death sentence or forgetting everyone and everything familiar within a decade.

Plenty of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or Dementia lead productive and happy lives for many years, even decades after diagnosis. On average, longevity of life after onset of Alzheimer’s is thought to be 20 years.

If you add the knowledge that early diagnosis extends those healthy years, 20 years may become 25-30 years. Then, Alzheimer’s isn’t quite so scary. So recognizing early symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia can lead to a longer and healthier life if proper diagnosis and treatment is begun at the earliest stages.

Early diagnosis means starting medication too slow Alzheimer’s progress sooner.

Early diagnosis means learning behavioral modifications that can lengthen productive years.

Though there is no cure, there are treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia. And some of those medications can slow the progress of this disease.

Previously, the thought of having Alzheimer’s or Dementia was so frightening that most people ignored the symptoms and delayed consultation with their family doctor.

A few physicians have ignored the signs, themselves, rather than give their patient a timely diagnosis of such dire circumstance. These actions can mean postponing the very medication that can extend productive years and slow the progression of both.

True, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease or Dementia. But it is no longer an instant death sentence, nor does it have to mean years of living in a mindless maize of jumbled thoughts if an early diagnosis is achieved and proper medications and treatments begun.

“People aren’t recognizing the signs and going to the doctor’s office to be diagnosed early on. We’re finding it turns into a crisis later on,” said Lynn Moffat, the executive director of the Alzheimer Society of Kenora/Rainy River Districts. “It’s important to get early diagnosis. There’s a lot of support and there’s a lot of medication available to slow down (the process).”

So we need to acknowledge the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Be aware when your memory loss is more than normal aging.

See your doctor. Be aggressive, insist on tests for Alzheimer’s.

The sooner tested and diagnosed, the sooner you can start medication to slow the disease and live a longer and more productive life.

Watch for these warning signs and symptoms in yourself:

Difficulty performing familiar tasks
Memory Loss that affects day to day ability
Problems with language
Disorientation in time and space.
Impairment judgement
Problem with abstract thinking
Misplacing things (ie. putting a watch in the sugar bowl)
Changes in mood and behavior (ie. warm coat in the summer)
Changes in personality (ie. quick to anger)
Loss of initiative.

Watch for these signs and symptoms in a loved one:

You may notice these new behaviors in a loved one, occasionally at first, then more and more frequently as time goes on.

A loved one who was previously warm and friendly but suddenly seems more grouchy and agitated.
An outgoing person who laughs and jokes may suddenly turn his/her humor into inappropriate, sexual innuendo or mean accusations about another
The woman who prepared every family dinner can no longer create a casserole
The family financier often forgets to pay the bills.
The fastidious house keeper suddenly has junk mail on every surface.
The fashion fashionista wears the same dress or pant suit every day.
The ballerina or ballroom dancer may suddenly trip over their own feet.
The crowd loving person may suddenly prefer being home, alone.
The person may confuse all hand held devices, attempt to use the TV remote as a telephone.
Little energy to interact with other people and more and more often this person begins to isolate themself.

Recognize and Remember these signs and symptoms. Reach out to your physician if you have any questions regarding any of these symptoms. Get an early diagnoses.

Begin an early strategy to beat Alzheimer’s and Add many productive years to your life.
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