Alzheimer's....Dementia?

[inkjunkie]

Have a friend whose wife is deteriorating. Jody was not one for taking care of herself, had real bad psoriasis...and her blood pressure was damn near off the chart. She also smoked. She has been in and out of the hospital & nursing home damn near ever since they moved from AZ to Iowa after John retired from the USPS.
She has developed all sorts of problems. Her stomach can no longer process anything, if she drinks or eats she just throws it up. Been on a feeding tube for a while. Doctors recently sat down with them to discuss a DNR among other things.
Apparently since having her major stroke in 2014 she has had several mini strokes. John mentioned that last scan showed her brain is shrinking.
Can someone kindly explain to me what the difference is between Alzheimer's and Dimentia? Have read various web site pages but I have only had about 4 hours of sleep since Saturday morning so I am a bit "dumb" at the moment....
Thanks in advance...

 

[plymman]

Have a friend whose wife is deteriorating. Jody was not one for taking care of herself, had real bad psoriasis...and her blood pressure was damn near off the chart. She also smoked. She has been in and out of the hospital & nursing home damn near ever since they moved from AZ to Iowa after John retired from the USPS.
She has developed all sorts of problems. Her stomach can no longer process anything, if she drinks or eats she just throws it up. Been on a feeding tube for a while. Doctors recently sat down with them to discuss a DNR among other things.
Apparently since having her major stroke in 2014 she has had several mini strokes. John mentioned that last scan showed her brain is shrinking.
Can someone kindly explain to me what the difference is between Alzheimer's and Dimentia? Have read various web site pages but I have only had about 4 hours of sleep since Saturday morning so I am a bit "dumb" at the moment....
Thanks in advance...

 

[dodgedifferent2]

Don't quote me but how I view the difference.

Alzheimer patients the memories slowly go backwards in their thinking and lose the present thinking. They will resort back to their childhood and forget everything in the present and not understand much like a child till their death. I believe they go so far back that when they get to their birth they pass away.

My grandmother had dementia. It's where the brain had something impact the brain. (Stroke, concussion, drug reliance etc) Their mind stays with you but a certain part of their memories are missing and they don't recollect any of it. Sometimes the brain will heal itself and they will remember those lost memories. I believe the younger a patient is the more likely the brain heals itself because it's a quicker reaction. With elders it takes longer because they naturally heal slower. However dementia can become worse if another stroke comes along. I want to assume that dementia eventually turns to alzheimers.
There are more deaths with alzheimers then believed because pneumonia is a sign of alzheimers and a weaker hearts is also a sign. However when pronounced dead we use "heart attack" or "pneumonia" as the cause of death..

I am not a trained medical practitioner of any sort but this is how a Dr explained it to me when I was working with the elderly

 

[Ddaddy]

Here is an overview that may help you understand the differences...

What is dementia?
Dementia is an umbrella term for a set of symptoms including impaired thinking and memory. It is a term that is often associated with the cognitive decline of aging. Common causes of dementia are Alzheimer's, Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

What is Alzheimer’s Disease?
According to the Center for Disease Control, Alzheimer’s disease is a common cause of dementia causing as many as 50 to 70% of all dementia cases. In fact, Alzheimer’s is a very specific form of dementia. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s include impaired thought, impaired speech, and confusion. Doctors use a variety of screenings to determine the cause of dementia including blood tests, mental status evaluations and brain scans.

How Are They Different?
Dementia occurs when certain brain cells are damaged. Many conditions can cause dementia including degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's and Huntington's. Each cause of dementia results in damage to a different set of brain cells. When a person is diagnosed with dementia, they are being diagnosed with a set of symptoms. This is somewhat similar to someone being diagnosed with a sore throat. Their throat is sore, but what is causing it hasn't been identified.

Alzheimer's is a specific degenerative disease of the brain. With Alzheimer's disease, damage to the brain begins years before symptoms appear. Abnormal protein deposits form plaques and tangles in the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Connections between cells are lost, and they begin to die. In advanced cases, the brain shows significant shrinkage.

It’s impossible to diagnose Alzheimer’s with complete accuracy while a person is alive. The diagnosis can only be confirmed when the brain is examined under a microscope during an autopsy. However, specialists are able to make the correct diagnosis up to 90 percent of the time.

Another major difference between the two is that Alzheimer’s is not a reversible disease. It is degenerative and incurable at this time. Some forms of dementia, such as a drug interaction or a vitamin deficiency, are actually reversible or temporary.