I've Got A Question...

I am not sure, but my ex-boy-friend's mother has Alzheimers. He said that they call it Alzheimers until the person passes away. That is the only way that they are able to get a true diagnosis of Dementia. In my personal experience, I use to be a caregiver. My first job was very far from home. I took care of a couple. Two for the price of one you might say. The husband had Alzheimers and the wife was said to have Dementia. To me, there was a big difference in the way that they behaved. He was laid back and knew what was going on. He would talk about things that happened many years ago, but was forgetful of things that had taken place that very morning. It was like his memory would go back and forth in time. As for his wife, she was calm sometime, but sometime she would become physically aggressive when she did not want to do something. She rarely ever seemed to be very lucid. She would kind of chant the same things over and over again. It was really quite an experience for me.

That's a very good question. I always just assumed Alzheimers is an age based illness whereas dementia is not but your post got me curious so I found some definitions. I guess they're somewhat the same thing as Alzheimers is a form of dementia it seems. Alzheimers a progressive form of presenile dementia that is similar to senile dementia except that it usually starts in the 40s or 50s: first symptoms are impaired memory which is followed by impaired thought and speech and finally complete helplessness Dementia mental deterioration of organic or functional origin