Expert: Michalene Peticca - 11/26/2007

Question
what is Alzheimer's disease, and how does it differ from other dementia?

Answer
Hello,

Thank you for writing.

Alzhiemer's disease is a TYPE of Dementia.  Much like lung cancer is a TYPE of cancer.  

Dementia dieases have many of the same characteristics:  physical/chemical changes of the brain that cause memory loss, personality/behavior changes, loss of physical abilities, etc.

Alzheimer's disease is a physical, deterioration of the brain brought on by amyloid plagues that settle on brain receptors and eventually kill those receptors; thus breaking down brain activity.

A visual picture of this might be like ice on telephone wires that gets very heavy and eventually breaks the wires.   The messages can't go through at that point.

The challenge with Alzheimer's disease is that it destroys the brain differently for different persons.  It usually starts in the very center of the brain where memory is located; therefore, memory loss is the first "symptom" of Alzheimer's. After this occurs, the disease then destroys unevenly and other symptoms will appear such as:  personality changes, behavior changes, etc.

There is no cure for Alzheimer's and current medications can only slow the progression of the diease in the early stages.

Some good websites to learn about Alzheimer's disease are:  The Alzheimer's Federation, The Alzheimer's Association, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Mayo Clinic.
 
Hope this was helpful!

Best Regards,
Michalene Peticca, M.A.