A post today on a Canadian newspaper website, Castanet (castanet.net), is about five common dementias. The five include: Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and Wernicke-Korsakoff’s syndrome (caused by prolonged alcohol consumption). Here’s a link to the post:
www.castanet.net/news/Dementia-Aware/191198/5-common-dementias
Here’s how Lewy body dementia (LBD) is described:
Lewy body dementia:
Often mistaken for other dementias, e.g. Parkinson’s dementia
* Presence of Lewy bodies: tiny spherical protein deposits that develop inside nerve cells in the areas of thinking, memory and movement
* Fluctuating cognitive impairment: periods of increased confusion & windows of lucidity
* Hallucinations or delusions occur frequently and can be quite detailed
* Spatial disorientation e.g. falls, fainting
* Tremor, rigidity and slowness of movement
* Highly sensitive to neuroleptic drugs: Risperidone
This is OK except for two problems. First, the author says that LBD is mistaken for other dementias such as Parkinson’s dementia. Well, by definition Parkinson’s (Disease) Dementia is ONE of the disorders on the Lewy Body Dementia spectrum.
Second, I’m not sure how “fainting” is an example of “spatial disorientation.” Fainting is an example of autonomic dysfunction.
Definitely not by favorite short LBD overview….
Robin