What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s and Dementia?

Alzheimer's Reading Room featured  an article entitled: What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s and Dementia? I have posted the article on my Archive. Click on either the article or on Archive to read it on the Reading Room or an my Archive.

  

This article strikes me as a bit simplistic. It is not difficult to understand Alzheimer's Disease (AD). It is not all that difficult to see the generic feature of Dementia. The article is great for explaining to the uniformed the difference. It states the author’s view of what AD is; how Dementia is not necessarily AD, that it could be both, but maybe not.

There is such a large and wide open field in the generic fold of dementia and in the more specific fold of AD, I wanted the author to go deeper. In fact there are as many different forms of AD as there are people with it.

The concentration on the need of memory loss as the author suggests is not a strategic feature of it. Memory loss in AD is there most of the time. It progresses all of the time. AD can manifest more prominent features that obscure the memory component. Some times that fact leads to diagnosing it as something other than AD.

The need to classify it as AD or some other dementia is negatively complicating.

If it is dementia it is something that needs treatment and care.

If it is a progressive dementia dealing with it needs the addition of planning.

If it an AD kind of dementia it course might have some similarity to other AD dementias.

If it is a dementia of another kind it will have a course similar to others of like kind.

The treatment is all the same. Modalities that prevent or slow the progress of it at the start and palliative at the end are uniform.

This treatment depends on diagnosis to initiate it. Getting caught up distinguishing between is it AD, something else, if something else is it something for which nothing be done, like the process of aging where it is erroneously believed there is nothing much you can do.

That last choice may be the only one having any efficacy to it. But diagnosing and initiating a treatment regime at the GetGo assures the person suffering it a greater quality of life for the duration of the disease.

It is enhancement of quality of life, during its progress, does more for the immediate need of the patient and offers one of more homeopathic curative measure available for both prolonging the duration of functionality of the patient and peace for the patient and the circle of loved ones.

Therefore wondering and spending diagnostic energy in diagnosing it correctly, classifying it suitably and waiting until the diagnostician can differentiate between its being one of another is contrary to serving the need of the patient over whom diagnosis is but one part of treatment.

Early treatment of any dementia demands priority over classifying it into a slot.