Have you ever wondered how dementia [1] is different from Alzheimer’s [2] disease? Or do you still mistakenly believe that they are the same thing?
Let’s try to figure out what the differences are. In short, it’s like the difference between high fever and the flu. Fever is not a disease, but a symptom that occurs when you get the flu. But the presence of a high temperature is possible with acute respiratory viral infections, bronchitis, pneumonia, rheumatism, or acute inflammatory diseases, for example, of the bladder and kidneys. In the same way, dementia is not necessarily a disease of its Owen, but a syndrome (set of symptoms) signifying some types of organic damage to the brain.
In order to understand the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, you need to study in detail the signs and symptoms of these diseases.
Alzheimer’s signs and symptoms
Alzheimer’s disease [3] primarily affects a person’s cognitive function. With this ailment, memory is the first to suffer. In the early stages of the development of the disease, a person cannot remember the simplest things, for example, what he/she did the previous day.
Short-term memory is gradually impaired, it is difficult for a person to remember phone numbers or people with whom he met recently. At the most severe stage, a person’s long-term memory is impaired, he/she ceases to remember relatives and friends, does not remember their name and place of residence.