Dementia With Lewy Bodies

A significant number of people diagnosed with dementia are found to have tiny spherical structures called Lewy bodies in the nerve cells of their brains. It is thought these may contribute to the death of brain cells. The symptoms of this form of dementia are often mild at the outset and can be extremely variable from day to day.

Common symptoms include

Fluctuation in the condition
Visual hallucinations
Extreme sensitivity to classical anti-psychotic medications leading to marked symptoms of stiffness, tremor and restriction of movement

Dementia with Lewy bodies sometimes occurs with Alzheimer’s disease and Vascular dementia.

Pick’s Disease

Pick’s Disease causes progressive and irreversible decline in a person’s abilities over a number of years. It is a rare disorder of the frontal part of the brain which can be very difficult to diagnose. The disease usually appears between 40 and 65 years of age.

Disturbances of personality, behavior and language may come before, and initially be more severe than, memory defects.

Huntington’s Disease

Huntington’s Disease is an inherited degenerative brain disorder which affects the mind and body. Huntington’s Disease affects approximately 7 in every 100,000 people in the western world. The disease usually appears between 30 and 50 years of age. Huntington’s Disease is characterized by intellectual decline and irregular, involuntary movement of the limbs or facial muscles. Other symptoms include:

Personality change
Memory disturbance
Slurred speech
Impaired judgment
Psychiatric problems

There is no treatment available to stop the progression of this disease, but medication can control movement disorders and psychiatric symptoms. Dementia occurs in the majority of Huntington’s Disease cases.