Vascular Dementias
Vascular Dementias are more associated with patients with a cardiac history, usually past or recent strokes, chronic hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or decrease activity. Symptoms include; memory problems, trouble speaking or understanding speech, problems recognizing sights and sounds that used to be familiar, being confused or agitated, changes in personality and mood, problems walking and having frequent falls.

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB)
Lewy bodies are microscopic deposits of a protein that form in some people’s brain, generally in the cortex region. Symptoms include; Problems thinking clearly, making decisions, or paying attention, memory problems, visual hallucinations, unusual sleepiness during the day, periods of “blanking out” or staring, problems with movement, including trembling, slowness, and trouble walking, Dreams where you act out physically, including talking, walking, and kicking.

Parkinson’s Disease Dementia (PDD)
On average, symptoms of dementia develop about 10 years after a person first get’s diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. PDD is similar to DLB, they have the same symptoms, and people with both conditions have signs of Lewy bodies in their brains.

Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)
When people develop FTD, they’ll have cell damage in areas of the brain that controls planning, judgement, emotions, speech, and movement. You may observe personality and behavior changes, Sudden lack of inhibitions in personal and social situations, problems coming up with the right words for things when speaking, movement problems, such as shakiness, balance problems, and muscle spasms.

Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease
This is a rare condition in which proteins called prions cause normal proteins in the brain to take abnormal shapes. The damage leads to dementia symptoms Suddenly and Quickly and get’s

worse rapidly.

ex. Memory/concentration problems, poor judgement, confusion, mood swings, Depression, Sleep problems, Twitching or jerky muscles, Trouble walking.

Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
Is caused by a build up of fluid in the brain. The symptoms include problems walking, trouble thinking and concentrating, and personality and behavior changes mimicking dementia like symptoms.

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

Caused by severe vitamin B-1 or thiamine deficiency. This commonly happens in people who are longterm alcoholics. The most common symptom is memory problems.

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA)

PCA is also called Benson’s syndrome, is a rare, visual variant of Alzheimer's disease. It affects areas in the back of the brain responsible for spatial perception, complex visual processing, spelling and calculation.

Early symptoms of posterior cortical atrophy include blurred vision, difficulties reading (particularly following the lines of text while reading) and writing with non-visual aspects of language preserved, problems with depth perception, increased sensitivity to bright light or shiny surfaces, double vision and difficulty seeing clearly in low light conditions. The patient may have trouble accurately reaching out to pick up an object. As the disorder progresses, other symptoms evolve such as getting lost while driving or walking in familiar places, misrecognition of familiar faces and objects, and rarely visual hallucinations. Calculation skills and the ability to make coordinated movements are affected in some cases.

PCA tends to affect people at an earlier age than typical Alzheimer’s disease, with individuals often being in their mid-fifties or early sixties when they experience the initial symptoms. As the disease progresses, word finding, day-to-day memory and general cognitive functions may become affected, and people develop the symptoms of typical Alzheimer’s disease. In the later stages of the disease, people may experience jerking movements of their limbs and even seizures. Some people live approximately the same length of time as individuals with typical Alzheimer’s disease (on average 10–12 years following the onset of symptoms) while others live with the condition for longer.

Huntington's Disease (HD)

Huntington’s disease results from the degeneration of neurons of structures deep within the brain, the basal ganglia, which are responsible for movement and coordination. It is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder typically characterized by involuntary movements (chorea), behavioral and personality changes and cognitive decline (dementia). It is caused by a dominantly inherited gene mutation that can be passed down from generation to generation, but there is great variability in the expression of HD, even within the same family.

What Happens in HD?

The characteristic triad includes

1. physical symptoms (e.g., involuntary movements, restlessness, fidgety, loss of balance, awkward gait, poor coordination, dysarthria)

2. cognitive changes (e.g., memory loss, inability to multitask, poor calculations, disorganization)

3. emotional and behavioral disturbances (e.g., depression, apathy, paranoia, anger, withdrawal, anxiety)

Early symptoms may include personality changes, such as mood swings, irritability, apathy, depression, anger or aggression. Early in the disease, cognitive decline may manifest as memory and learning difficulties, judgment impairment, and trouble with driving, answering questions or making decisions. As the disease progresses, concentration and focus on intellectual tasks become increasingly difficult. Weight loss, not due to decreased caloric intake, is a common feature of patients with HD.

Manifestations of chorea may appear at various stages of the disease and may begin as uncontrolled movements of the extremities, face, or trunk that become progressively worse. Fidgety movements, restlessness, clumsiness or imbalance may precede chorea. The movement component of HD is extremely variable, with some affected individuals experiencing only mild involuntary movements and others suffering from movements that interfere with daily function.

The disease can progress to the point where speech is slow and slurred (dysarthria) and vital functions, such as walking, self-care, eating and eventually swallowing may continue to decline. Affected individuals require increasing levels of care with disease progression, but many patients remain close to their family and friends, continue to be aware of their environment and able to express emotions.

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