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What Is Lewy Body Dementia? How Is It Different From Alzheimer’s Disease?
Lewy body dementia, or as otherwise known as dementia with Lewy bodies, is one of the most common kinds of progressive dementia. The regions of the brain that are involved with memory, thinking and motor control are affected in this form of dementia. The nerve cells in this region of the brain develop protein deposits. A potential decline in mental abilities is noted with this form of an ailment.
What Are Lewy Bodies?
The protein deposits that develop in the nerve cells of the brain are the Lewy bodies. It is named so after the person who discovered protein deposits of abnormal form that disrupted the normal functionality of the brain in people with Parkinson's disease. The abnormal deposits have been called Lewy bodies.
These deposits are made of alpha-synuclein (a protein). When the brain is healthy, this protein is responsible for the nerve cells playing its role aptly, especially when the brain cells communicate with each other (at synapses).
However, when this alpha-synuclein forms clumps inside the neurons, it results in Lewy body dementia, causing the neurons to work less efficiently. This begins to affect memory and movement negatively. The neurons may ultimately die off.
What Are The First Signs Of Lewy Body Dementia?
Changes in thinking and reasoning are the first signs of Lewy body dementia. It is then followed by the following signs and symptoms:
•
You
will
begin
to
have
visual
hallucinations.
You
might
see
shapes
and
people
who
are
not
there.
Auditory,
olfactory
or
tactile
hallucinations
are
also
possible.
•
Rigid
muscles,
tremor
and
slow
movement
(the
signs
of
Parkinson's
disease)
occur.
•
You
lose
motivation
to
do
anything.
•
Dizziness,
constipation
and
frequent
falling
happen
as
the
nervous
system
responsible
for
regulating
pulse,
sweating,
blood
pressure
and
digestive
process
is
affected.
•
Cognitive
problems,
quite
similar
to
Alzheimer's
disease,
are
observed.
There
are
poor
attention,
memory
loss
and
visual-spatial
problems.
•
There
is
likely
to
be
depression
at
some
point
in
time
during
this
illness.
•
Rapid
eye
movement
sleep
behaviour
disorder
is
common.
You
might
begin
to
physically
act
out
what
you
dream.
•
Your
attention
span
is
reduced.
You
might
take
long
naps
during
the
day.
There
could
be
episodes
of
drowsiness.
How Is Lewy Body Dementia Diagnosed?
Apart from the observation of the above-mentioned symptoms, your doctor would require a thorough analysis to reach a conclusive diagnosis.
Tests for certain biomarkers (presence of certain substances in the blood) are usually performed. The diagnosis typically would include:
•
Tests
to
check
nerve
function
of
the
heart's
blood
vessels
•
Sleep
studies
to
understand
the
brain
wave
activity
•
Nuclear
imaging
tests
(SPECT,
PET)
To rule out other conditions that might cause similar signs like that of Lewy body dementia, the doctors might perform the following:
•
Neurological
examination
to
check
for
signs
of
Parkinson's
disease.
This
usually
tests
walking,
muscle
tone,
reflexes,
sense
of
touch,
balance,
eye
movements
and
strength.
•
A
short
test
is
conducted
to
assess
mental
abilities.
This
is
usually
done
to
differentiate
between
the
presence
of
Lewy
body
dementia
and
Alzheimer's
disease.
•
Blood
tests
are
done
to
check
for
deficiency
of
vitamin
B
12
or
underactive
thyroid
gland.
•
MRI
or
CT
scan
is
conducted
to
identify
bleeding
or
stroke.
This
also
helps
in
ruling
out
the
presence
of
a
tumour.
How Is Lewy Body Dementia Different From Alzheimer's Disease?
The similarity between Alzheimer's and Lewy body dementia is that people with any of these two show signs of difficulties related to reasoning and memory. Vision-spatial cognition is also observed along with problems in execution. Social and occupational functioning are affected drastically too.
However, unlike patients having Alzheimer's, people with Lewy body dementia show symptoms that are quite like Parkinson's disease. There are tremors, rigidity in the body and stiffness of muscles. Also, unlike Alzheimer's, people with Lewy body dementia face autoimmune functionality difficulties.
There is a change in temperature and blood pressure. Digestion is also affected adversely. Some days can be free of issues while some can be really bad, such as with frequent falls and severe visual hallucinations.
How Is Lewy Body Dementia Treated?
There is no one defined care or treatment for Lewy body dementia. Doctors believe in treating the symptoms individually.
Cholinesterase inhibitors are ideally used for Alzheimer's disease, but are effective in treating the symptoms of Lewy body dementia as well. These work by increasing the level of chemical messengers that are important for memory and reasoning abilities of the brain. This improves cognition and alertness.
To reduce symptoms of Lewy body dementia that are similar to Parkinson's disease, medicines such as carbidopalevodopa are prescribed. This can reduce slow movement and rigid muscles.
Sleep and movement problems might be treated with other specific medications.
It should be noted that medicines such as Haloperidol (first-generation antipsychotic medicines) should not be used for the treatment of Lewy body dementia.
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