With age, the aging of brain cells makes the elderly become forgetful, such as often forgetting to take things out, forgetting to turn off the gas, forgetting to lock the door, forgetting the names of friends, etc., and even begin to doubt whether they are suffering from old age dementia.

However, Alzheimer’s is actually not the same as normal aging. Not only does it cause people to completely forget what they have done, but it can also cause problems such as inattention, lack of judgment, and deterioration of language skills.

So, here we will learn about the common symptoms and types of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and explain the symptoms that may occur in different types of Alzheimer’s patients.

What is Alzheimer’s?

Alzheimer’s disease is a disease of persistent cognitive decline caused by neurological diseases, systemic diseases of the body, drugs or the use of addictive substances. The patient will face a comprehensive loss of mental abilities such as thinking ability, judgment, memory, spatial sense, and reason.

Alzheimer’s disease usually occurs in the elderly over the age of 65, but a very small number of patients will develop Alzheimer’s disease around the age of 30-50, which is relatively rare and called young-onset dementia.

Not only memory loss! 10 common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease

The following are common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. If the elderly at home have these symptoms, please seek medical attention as soon as possible, and ask the doctor for further treatment:

memory loss affecting life

Inability to properly handle familiar affairs

Decreased ability to plan things or solve problems

Easily confused about time and place

speech or writing difficulties

Difficulty understanding the relationship between visual imagery and space

Things are misplaced and you lose the ability to look back

poor judgment

Not interested in work or socializing

Significant changes in mood and personality

Is Dementia Alzheimer’s? The 5 major types of Alzheimer’s disease and their causes are these

Many people think that Alzheimer’s disease is equivalent to Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, it is only one of the Alzheimer’s diseases. Others include vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia and other factors. Dementia. The following will give you a detailed explanation of the causes and symptoms of the 5 major types of Alzheimer’s disease:

1. Alzheimer’s disease

In 1907, by a German psychiatrist Eros. Alois Alzheimer published a case of “senile dementia,” after which the disease was later named.

When β-amyloid peptide (β-amyloid peptide) is excessively deposited in the brain, it will activate the immune cells “Microglia” and the signaling regulatory cells “Astrocytes” in the cranial nerves, causing inflammation. The reaction eventually leads to necrosis of brain nerve cells, leading to Alzheimer’s disease.

Common symptoms of Alzheimer’s patients are memory loss, hallucinations, and impaired judgment. In the later stages of the disease, patients may also experience Parkinson’s symptoms such as stiffness, tremors, and unsteady walking.

2. Vascular dementia

Vascular dementia originates from stroke or chronic cerebrovascular disease, resulting in poor blood circulation in the brain, which in turn leads to brain cell damage.

In general, about 5% of patients who have had a stroke will develop vascular dementia. Once affected, the patient’s cognitive function may suddenly deteriorate, accompanied by slow movements, unsteady gait, high mood swings or depression. other mental illnesses.

3. Dementia with Lewy bodies

When the protein alpha-synuclein is abnormally deposited in the brain, it may lead to cognitive decline and dementia with Lewy bodies.

Dementia with Lewy bodies occurs most often in people over 70 years old and is the second most common degenerative dementia. In addition to cognitive impairment, the common symptoms may be followed by Parkinson’s symptoms, including tremors, unsteady walking, and inability to walk. There are even more obvious mental symptoms such as visual and auditory hallucinations, emotional instability or delusions.

4. Frontotemporal dementia

When the frontal and temporal lobes in the brain gradually shrink, the cranial nerves will degenerate, causing frontotemporal dementia. Among all frontotemporal dementia patients, about 40% have a family history of dementia, of which 10% are dominantly inherited. Its incidence is second only to Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia, which usually occurs in middle-aged and elderly people over the age of 50. It is one of the slowly progressive neurodegenerative diseases.

In addition, unlike Alzheimer’s disease, which has memory impairment as its main symptom, frontotemporal dementia is characterized by emotional and behavioral abnormalities (such as talking in a quiet place), executive function impairment, or language impairment as its main symptoms. Easy to distinguish from mental illness.

5. Dementia due to other factors

Some dementias are caused by specific reasons and may have a chance of recovery after treatment, and the causes of this type of dementia can be mainly divided into the following 4 types:

Metabolic abnormalities: such as hypothyroidism, electrolyte imbalance, etc.

Malnutrition: such as lack of vitamin B12, folic acid and other nutrients.

Intracranial lesions: such as brain tumor, normobaric hydrocephalus, brain trauma, etc.

Central nervous system infections: such as syphilis, AIDS, etc.

Poisoning: such as long-term drug abuse, alcoholism, heavy metal poisoning, etc.

Dementia symptom stages: mild cognitive impairment, early stage, middle stage, and late stage of dementia

Dementia can be divided into mild cognitive impairment, early stage, middle stage and late stage of dementia according to the course of the disease, and the time of regression of each patient is different. Sometimes symptoms will improve, sometimes they will suddenly worsen.

From mild intellectual disability to advanced stage, the average duration of the disease is about 8-10 years, but the degeneration time of each person is not necessarily, it may be as short as 2 years, and it can last for 20 years.

According to a survey by a research institute on geriatrics, about 20% of the population over the age of 65 has mild cognitive impairment, and about 10% of the population with early to late stage dementia.

The following describes the respective development of Alzheimer’s disease course:

Mild cognitive impairment: It is the transition stage from normal aging to Alzheimer’s disease, and about 10%-15% of mild cognitive impairment will develop into Alzheimer’s disease every year. Patients may experience mild amnesia and be troubled by more complex tasks, but have no effect on simple daily tasks.

Early stage of dementia (mild): Because the symptoms are quite mild, and the patient’s appearance and behavior are not different from the average person, it is often ignored, and medical treatment is delayed.

In the early stage of dementia, patients usually cannot remember recent events, and they repeatedly ask relatives and friends, but they can remember the memories of the past young very clearly; in addition, the patient’s judgment and work ability may gradually weaken, and they may not be able to deal with it. More complicated things in daily life, such as not saving, withdrawing, etc.

Intermediate stage of dementia (moderate): In the middle stage, the patient’s judgment and living ability will gradually decline, and it will become more difficult to deal with daily affairs. Common symptoms include inability to distinguish seasons, unable to recognize familiar relatives and friends, insomnia, emotional Abnormal fluctuations, personality changes, and even basic living abilities such as self-cooking, laundry, and personal hygiene may cause problems.

Late stage dementia (severe): At this stage, patients have almost complete loss of memory, unable to remember important things in life, day and night are reversed, unable to communicate with family members on a simple daily basis, unable to distinguish the pattern of the home environment, and even forget who they are, and Lack of judgment and understanding.

In addition, patients with advanced dementia may also suffer from degeneration of limb muscle strength due to long-term lack of exercise, need to stay in bed for a long time, and completely rely on the care of their family members.