Dementia Defined

Welcome to the first blog post! We will have a lot to cover, so it feels wise to start out with clarifying some basic definitions for these first posts.

I frequently hear things like “what is the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia,” or my mom has Alzheimer's but not dementia.”

Medical jargon can be confusing. The first tool in your dementia caregiver’s toolbox is learning some basic definitions. This will help you share the same language when you meet with neurology. We will talk more about preparing for your visit later.

First, the word “dementia” is an umbrella term. Think of it like this: all pinto beans are beans, but not all beans are pinto. This is important to understand because there are many types of dementia that sometimes require a different plan of care: Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, and so on. We will talk about these a bit later in this blog, so be sure to stay tuned for that.

Second, dementia is progressive. Progressive means that things will continue to worsen over time. Symptoms may fluctuate within a week, but one thing is for sure in any progressive illness- the next month and/or year will be worse than the last and so on…

Finally, the criteria to fulfill for a dementia diagnosis is important to understand. If your loved one has: 1. difficulty with one activity of daily living (referred to as ADL’s, see blog post below); and 2. trouble with their memory, then they likely meet the criteria to receive a diagnosis of dementia. I say “likely” because all other causes must first be ruled out. In other words, is there another non-neurological diagnosis that explains these symptoms? That work-up alone- referrals to other specialties, getting labwork done, imaging, etc- can take weeks or months. Then, the next step is to determine which type of dementia. This is why sometimes receiving a confirmed diagnosis of dementia can take several months. Stay tuned for more on that as well.