Support Dementia Caregivers

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) - aka Mad Cow Disease - Dementia due to CJD often progresses rapidly over several months and involves problems with attention, concentration, appetite, vision and coordination

Frontotemporal Dementia - (also called FTD) is a group of related conditions that share many clinical features and all result from progressive degeneration of the anterior temporal and frontal lobes of the brain. These areas of the brain are associated with decision-making and control of behavior (frontal lobe) and emotion and language (temporal lobe).

Lewy Body Dementia -Lewy body dementia is associated with deposits of the protein alpha-synuclein inside nerve cells in the brain. People with Lewy body dementia experience impairment in their perception, thinking, and behavior. They also experience visual hallucinations, Parkinson’s-like symptoms, and fluctuating alertness.

Mixed Dementia - due to both Alzheimer’s and vascular disease

Pick’s Disease - Pick’s disease is the most common of the frontotemporal dementias, which affect the frontal and temporal (side) lobes of the brain. Most commonly occurring between 50 and 60 years of age, Pick’s disease involves drastic personality changes, deterioration of social skills, and a lack of empathy and emotion.

FTD/MND - Frontotemporal Dementia with Motor Neuron Disease (FTD/MND) is also known as ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease) with Dementia. Patients with this diagnosis may present with the same behavioral and/or language changes seen in other subtypes of FTD; in this subtype, however, these dementia changes are accompanied by weakness, muscle atrophy, and myoclonus (muscle jerks)—the cardinal features of ALS. It is important to note that patients with FTD/MND may first present with features of either FTD or ALS: the additional symptoms will develop as the disease progresses. As with the other FTDs, not every symptom will be experienced by every person, nor will these symptoms develop in a pre-ordained sequence. All patients with FTD/MND will experience a gradual, steady decline in functioning.

Vascular Dementia - results from impaired blood flow to the brain. After Alzheimer’s disease, it’s one of the second most common types of dementia, along with Lewy body dementia. It was formerly called multi-infarct dementia because it was thought to only be caused by small strokes. However, the name was changed to vascular dementia to reflect the array of conditions that can impair the blood’s ability to circulate to the brain.