How can you determine if a person has dementia or alzheimer's?

Answer 1

1. Your GP is the first person to contact if you have any worries about your health. If your GP suspects dementia, you are likely to be referred to a memory clinic or specialist. Specialists who see dementia patients include old age psychiatrists, geriatricians, neurologists, clinical psychologists and memory nurses.
2. Your GP is the first person to contact if you have any worries about your health. If your GP suspects dementia, you are likely to be referred to a memory clinic or specialist. Specialists who see dementia patients include old age psychiatrists, geriatricians, neurologists, clinical psychologists and memory nurses.
3. There is a range of memory tests available, and you might take one or more of these during your assessment. Because dementia usually gets worse over time, the tests may be repeated, perhaps every six to 12 months, to see if there have been any changes.
4. Other tests, including blood tests and brain scans, could be arranged. Very occasionally, your doctor may arrange an EEG (brain wave test) or a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) if they suspect a rare form of dementia,

How dementia progresses

Alzheimer's, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia are all neurodegenerative diseases. This means that the symptoms get worse over time. This is usually the case with vascular dementia too. The speed of change varies between people and also between different diseases, but in most dementia's, symptoms progress slowly over several years

Everybody is unique and is affected in their own way. As dementia progresses:

Memory and thinking skills

People may find that their ability to remember, think and make decisions worsens.

Communication

Communication and language often become more difficult.

Behaviour

A person's behaviour may change and some people can become sad or demoralised.

Anxieties

Anxieties or phobias are quite common.

Restlessness

Changes in time perception may cause problems with sleeping and restlessness at night.

Anger

Anger or agitation is common in the later stages of dementia.

Unsteadiness

It is common for people to be unsteady on their feet and fall more often. Extra help Gradually people require more help with daily activities like dressing, toileting and eating.

Below you find some symptoms

Alzheimer's disease

Typical symptoms of early Alzheimer's include:

Regularly forgetting recent events, names and faces. Becoming increasingly repetitive, e.g. repeating questions after a very short interval. Regularly misplacing items or putting them in odd places. Confusion about the date or time of day. Disorientation, especially away from normal surroundings. Getting lost. Problems finding the right words. Mood or behaviour problems such as apathy, irritability, or losing confidence.

Vascular dementia

Symptoms of vascular dementia can include:

Memory problems. Disorientation. Communication problems. Becoming slower in thinking. Personality changes including depression and apathy. Becoming more emotional. Difficulty with walking. Frequent urge to urinate or other bladder symptoms.

Frontotemporal dementia

Symptoms of FTD can include:

Personality changes. These may include a change in how people express their feelings towards others or a lack of understanding of other people's feelings. Lack of personal awareness, such as personal hygiene and grooming. Lack of social awareness, such as making inappropriate jokes or showing a lack of tact. Over-eating or changes in dietary preference. Behaviour changes, including developing unusual beliefs, interests or obsessions. Difficulty with simple plans and decisions. Lack of awareness of any personality or behaviour changes. Decline in language abilities. This might include difficulty understanding words, repeating commonly-used words and phrases or forgetting the meaning of words. Difficulty recognising people or knowing what objects are for.

Dementia with Lewy bodies

Symptoms of dementia with Lewy bodies can include:

Variation in attention, alertness and confusion. These fluctuations can be very noticeable from day-to-day or even hour-to-hour. Parkinson's-type symptoms, like slowing or difficulty walking, stiffness in the limbs and sometimes tremor. Fainting and falls. Visual hallucinations. These can often involve seeing people or animals that aren't really there. Movements during sleep and vivid dreams. Symptoms similar to Alzheimer's, including memory loss and disorientation.

Answer 2

A family history of either AD or cerebrovascular disease may provide clues to the cause of symptoms. Simple tests of mental function, including word recall, object naming, and number-symbol matching, are used to track changes