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What is the difference between Alzheimers and dementia?

Dementia vs. Alzheimer's Disease: What is the Difference? Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life, while Alzheimer's is a specific disease. Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia.
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How is Alzheimer's different from dementia?

While dementia is a general term, Alzheimer's disease is a specific brain disease. It is marked by symptoms of dementia that gradually get worse over time. Alzheimer's disease first affects the part of the brain associated with learning, so early symptoms often include changes in memory, thinking and reasoning skills.
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Which comes first dementia or Alzheimer's?

Alzheimer's disease starts in the brain many years before symptoms start to show. Early symptoms are mild and so don't stop someone doing their normal everyday activities. It's only later that symptoms become severe enough to be called 'dementia'.
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How can you tell if a person has Alzheimer's or dementia?

Memory problems are typically one of the first signs of the disease. Decline in non-memory aspects of cognition, such as finding the right word, trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships, and impaired reasoning or judgment, may also signal the early stages of Alzheimer's.
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Does all dementia turn into Alzheimer's?

Overall, know that Alzheimer's disease is a specific disease, while dementia is a general term for a group of similar diseases, of which Alzheimer's is one. In other words, every case of Alzheimer's disease is an example of dementia, but not every type of dementia is Alzheimer's.
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What's the Difference Between Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia?

What can trigger dementia?

Dementia is caused by damage to or loss of nerve cells and their connections in the brain.
...
They include:
  • Infections and immune disorders. ...
  • Metabolic problems and endocrine abnormalities. ...
  • Nutritional deficiencies. ...
  • Medication side effects. ...
  • Subdural hematomas. ...
  • Brain tumors. ...
  • Normal-pressure hydrocephalus.
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What are the 7 stages of dementia?

The 7 stages of Dementia
  • Normal Behaviour. ...
  • Forgetfulness. ...
  • Mild Decline. ...
  • Moderate Decline. ...
  • Moderately Severe Decline. ...
  • Severe Decline. ...
  • Very Severe Decline.
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What 7 things trigger Alzheimer's?

Here are the factors researchers identified – and why they're associated with a higher risk.
  • Education level. A lower education level is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. ...
  • Cognitive activity. ...
  • Hypertension in mid-life. ...
  • Orthostatic hypotension. ...
  • Diabetes. ...
  • BMI. ...
  • Head trauma. ...
  • Hyperhomocysteinaemia.
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What is the 3 word memory test?

The Mini-Cog test.

A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
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What is the 5 word memory test?

Abstract. Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
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What sleeping position is linked to Alzheimer's?

This increased risk remained even when controlled for age, sex, snoring, or diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea. Researchers suggested the supine position reduces blood movement in and out of the brain, and reduces lung efficiency, resulting in lower brain oxygenation.
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What is the life expectancy of a person with Alzheimer's?

On average, a person with Alzheimer's lives four to eight years after diagnosis, but can live as long as 20 years, depending on other factors. Changes in the brain related to Alzheimer's begin years before any signs of the disease.
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What is the first thing to go with dementia?

Memory problems

Difficulties with memory are the most well-known first signs of dementia. For example, a person may not recall recent events or may keep losing items (such as keys and glasses) around the house. Memory loss is often the first and main symptom in early Alzheimer's disease.
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Does a person with dementia know they are confused?

In the earlier stages, memory loss and confusion may be mild. The person with dementia may be aware of — and frustrated by — the changes taking place, such as difficulty recalling recent events, making decisions or processing what was said by others.
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What should you not say to someone with Alzheimer's?

I'm going to discuss five of the most basic ones here: 1) Don't tell them they are wrong about something, 2) Don't argue with them, 3) Don't ask if they remember something, 4) Don't remind them that their spouse, parent or other loved one is dead, and 5) Don't bring up topics that may upset them.
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What are the 10 warning signs of dementia?

10 Early Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer's
  • Memory loss that disrupts daily life. ...
  • Challenges in planning or solving problems. ...
  • Difficulty completing familiar tasks. ...
  • Confusion with time or place. ...
  • Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships. ...
  • New problems with words in speaking or writing.
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What is the 5 minute recall test?

The five-minute cognitive test (FCT) was designed to capture deficits in five domains of cognitive abilities, including episodic memory, language fluency, time orientation, visuospatial function, and executive function.
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What is the 5 word recall test?

Does the MoCA test your short-term memory? Yes, this is known as the short-term memory/delayed recall section of the MoCA. The person taking the test is read five words and is asked to repeat them aloud. After a few other tasks of the MoCA have been completed, the person is asked to repeat the same five words again.
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What is the home test for dementia?

The Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam (SAGE) is a brief self-administered cognitive screening instrument used to identify mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from any cause and early dementia.
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What is the #1 root cause of Alzheimer's?

Alzheimer's disease is thought to be caused by the abnormal build-up of proteins in and around brain cells. One of the proteins involved is called amyloid, deposits of which form plaques around brain cells. The other protein is called tau, deposits of which form tangles within brain cells.
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What are 4 foods that trigger Alzheimer's?

People who regularly eat a lot of highly processed foods and drinks like cheeseburgers, chips, fried chicken, sausage, pizza, biscuits and sugary sodas are at increased risk of developing dementia, according to a new report.
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What are 3 foods that prevent Alzheimer's?

Ingredients of the MIND Diet
  • Leafy green vegetables, at least 6 servings/week.
  • Other vegetables, at least 1 serving/day.
  • Berries, at least 2 servings/week.
  • Whole grains, at least 3 servings/day.
  • Fish, 1 serving/week.
  • Poultry, 2 servings/week.
  • Beans, 3 servings/week.
  • Nuts, 5 servings/week.
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Is dementia is Hereditary?

Many people affected by dementia are concerned that they may inherit or pass on dementia. The majority of dementia is not inherited by children and grandchildren. In rarer types of dementia there may be a strong genetic link, but these are only a tiny proportion of overall cases of dementia.
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What are the three golden rules of dementia?

SPECAL sense begins with three Golden Rules: Don't ask direct questions. Listen to the expert – the person with dementia – and learn from them. Don't contradict.
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Do people with dementia sleep a lot?

It is quite common for a person with dementia, especially in the later stages, to spend a lot of their time sleeping – both during the day and night. This can sometimes be distressing for the person's family and friends, as they may worry that something is wrong.
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