17 Things You May Not Know About Dementia

dementia

You know that I love a good list, and I get excited when I have an opportunity to make a list.

So here was the opportunity….

Someone recently asked me to make a list of 10 things that most people don’t know about dementia. That’s a specific number, and I couldn’t narrow it down to 10.

Here is my list of 17 things you may not know about dementia:

1. Dementia affects mobility: Dementia can impair motor skills, making it difficult to walk or perform physical tasks.

2. It can cause hallucinations: Some types of dementia, like Lewy body dementia, more commonly cause hallucinations, but hallucinations can occur in other types, like Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.

3. It’s not just about genetics: While family history can increase risk, many lifestyle factors also contribute to the development of dementia.

4. Social interaction is crucial: Being socially active can help reduce the risk of dementia.

5. Sleep problems are common: Many people with dementia experience sleep disturbances, including insomnia and daytime sleepiness.

6. It can affect vision: Dementia can impair visual perception, making it difficult to judge distances or recognize faces.

7. It’s a leading cause of death: Dementia kills more people each year than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.

8. Mixed dementia is common: Many people have more than one type of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s combined with vascular dementia.

9. Dementia affects women more than men: Women are disproportionately affected by dementia. They are more likely to have dementia and also to be both family and professional caregivers.

10. It can lead to nutritional deficiencies: People with dementia may forget to eat or have difficulty swallowing, leading to malnutrition. People with dementia may also overeat and gain weight.

11. Dementia can cause changes in taste and smell: This can affect appetite and food preferences

12. Dementia can affect language skills: Some types of dementia, like primary progressive aphasia, primarily affect language abilities.

13. It can lead to social withdrawal: People with dementia might withdraw from social activities due to confusion or embarrassment

14. Poverty is related to an increased risk: People living in poverty are significantly more likely to develop dementia, regardless of genetic risk.

15. Education matters: Lower educational attainment, often associated with poverty, is a known risk factor for dementia.

16. Blood tests can help to diagnosis Alzheimer’s : Blood tests can identify biomarkers like beta-amyloid and tau proteins, which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

17. Changes in sensation can occur : As dementia progresses, individuals may lose the ability to accurately interpret sensations like heat, cold, and pain.

I am curious: Which of these dementia facts did you NOT know before reading this list? What do my team and I need to do a better job of emphasizing during our outreach and education efforts?

What additional information would be useful for families and individuals living with dementia that we might often overlook?

Your feedback is invaluable in helping us improve our support and educational programs.

13 thoughts on “17 Things You May Not Know About Dementia”

    1. I don’t know much about 1, 6,7,14,15,17. Guess I have a lot to learn. My husband has a raft of other debilitating conditions including chronic pain and diabetes which makes it difficult for his health providers and me to know what causes what and how to respond.

      Keep up the good work. Your education is important!

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  2. Just talked to my social worker about the eating all the time issue and just learned what you had said here.  It helps tremendously to caregivers to have added patience when you understand it is tied to the disease. I have heard more women than men, but in my circle of friends it is the men afftected way more. I did not know the tests were readily available for diagnosis. Was not aware of mixed dementia.

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  4. My husband has Lewy Body Dementia and has been in a nursing facility since mid-August. He’s very unhappy and angry all the time, plus gets aggressive now and I don’t know how to handle his anger because it’s not like he’s ever been in our 47 years of marriage. The facility has him on an anti-depressant, an anti-psychotic, and a sedative a night to help him sleep, but he refuses to take his medicine a lot of the time. When he gets angry and starts yelling, I try to calm him down but most of the time that just makes him angrier. When this happened yesterday, I just had to leave. Any advice on what I can do?

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  6. I did not know that dementia is a leading cause of death, that it kills more people each year than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.

    I was basically ignorant about just what dementia was until my husband was diagnosed with it in 2019. My sister mentioned she thought he might have it in 2017, but I dismissed it, thinking, “He’s only 57 and dementia is something old people get.” I had no knowledge of early onset dementia. I ended up with what I refer to as a crash course in dementia.

    The problem was, my husband’s dementia was not diagnosed until after he committed a crime. Voyeurism to be specific and the county attorney was convinced my husband was faking it. If that had been true, my husband should have gotten an Oscar.

    Our legal system has no true understanding of dementia. The legal system needs a better medical understanding of it – including the fact that a person with dementia may not be able to control impulses, known as disinhibition.

    After several minor transient ischemic attacks within 18 hours that went undiagnosed in several ER visits, I refused refused his release and requested his transfer to a larger, more experienced facility. There his was diagnosed with dementia, “possibly Frontotemporal Dementia with Behavioral Variant.” Shortly thereafter, he also developed cerebrospinal fluid leaks that went undiagnosed despite mine and my daughter’s (nursing degree) specific concerns about that.

    After his death, I insisted on a brain autopsy. I needed more concrete answers for myself and our children. Who I felt needed an accurate family medical history. The autopsy revealed my husband had Alzheimer’s and Vascular Dementias along with cerebrospinal fluid leaks.

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  7. Good list. I’m a psychologist. What has surprised me the most, is that my kind and interested husband has lost the ability to understand another person’s point of view, to the point that he becomes furious when I or his children do something that we wouldn’t have done or express interest in an idea that he wouldn’t have entertained. Although we can see empathy in toddlers, somehow ability to see and maybe tolerate another person’s point of view seems to be a higher level cognitive functions that becomes eroded. Is this something that you’ve seen a lot? It is hard for me, makes me limit what I say. It’s not anything I’ve read about it, and when I had a psychotherapy proactive, not something I heard about.

    I look forward to your communications. Your observations, your humor, and your wisdom help.

    Thank you.

    Stephanie

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    1. Yes! It is common. I usually call it lack of empathy—but it’s a bit deeper than that because people sometimes just don’t have the cognitive ability to understand the views of others. It’s really common—and some people don’t understand it’s a dementia symptom and think that their loved one is just being difficult. Very definitely can be part of the disease process!

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