What is early onset dementia?

Early onset dementia occurs with a diagnosis of dementia before the age of 65. It’s debated that there are specific types of dementia that can only occur as early onset but evidence has proven any form of dementia can show up prior to the age of 65. It just comes with extra challenges younger people face these trying to juggle student loans, the birth of a career, family, mortgage, multiple car payments, children’s school expenses, you name it.

Don’t get the term “early onset” confused with the stage of the disease. It is not a stage of the disease; it refers to the age at which a person is diagnosed with dementia. 

Research  recently found that early onset has been being diagnosed much more often than previously thought, but unfortunately were not receiving appropriate care. There are few medical treatment options for those with early onset dementia. Experts recommend making lifestyle adjustments, working together as a family, and consulting with doctors, health specialist, and other treatments as needed.

But what is dementia exactly? Dementia isn’t a specific disease. Instead, dementia describes a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily functioning. It’s a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes. Dementia is NOT a normal part of aging. 

All dementias are caused by brain cell death, and neurodegenerative disease; progressive brain cell death that happens over a course of time. But as well as progressive brain cell death like that in Alzheimer’s, dementia can be caused by a head injury, a stroke or a brain tumor, among other causes.

Only a limited number of dementias can be reversed by treating the underlying causes. In some dementias, the brain tissue has fewer nerve cells and connections, and the total brain size shrinks. Some form plaque or proteins that inhibit the transmitting of chemicals. 

Parkinson’s disease, the dementia I will be focusing on, is marked by the presence of Lewy bodies. While part of the brain affected means there are classic movement symptoms, people with Parikinson’s can also go onto develop dementia symptoms as the degenerative changes in the brain gradually spread.

Possible symptoms of dementia:

• ·         Recent memory loss – a sign of this might be asking the same question repeatedly, forgetting about already asking it
• ·         Difficulty completing familiar tasks – making a drink or cooking a meal, but forgetting and leaving it
• ·         Problems communicating – difficulty with language by forgetting simple words or using the wrong ones
• ·         Disorientation -  with time and place, getting lost on a previously familiar street close home, forgetting how they got there or would get home
• ·         Poor judgment – the AAFP says: “Even a well person might get distracted and forget to watch a child for a little while. People with dementia, however, might forget about the child and just the house for the day”
• ·         Problems with abstract thinking – dealing with money
• ·         Misplacing things – putting them in the wrong places and forgetting about doing this
• ·         Mood changes – unlike those we all have, swinging quickly trough a set of moods
• ·         Loss of initiative – showing less interest in starting or going somewhere; apathy

Early onset dementia comes with its own special challenges that I will address one my one in my bog. Issues such as how work and career, marriage and intimacy, parenting and family relationships, extended family relationships, that dreaded talk your spouse may have wanted to put off till it had to done, planning for the future; your DNR, Living will, Power of attorney, and etc.

I am blessed with a wonderful wife.