Disability Resource Directory

Dementia - Age Related?

A sobering fact about dementia and Alzheimer's is that it can strike anyone at any age. There are a number of factors that contribute to dementia in persons under the age of sixty-five. Some of these factors are early onset Alzheimer's as well as dementia caused by lifestyle or head impacts.

Any diagnoses of Alzheimer's before the age of sixty-five is considered to be early onset. Early onset Alzheimer's has also been found to be inherited. If a grandparent has it, everyone in the family line will have a greater chance of developing early onset of this disease and should be aware of the symptoms of this disease in its early stages. Early onset Alzheimer's is routinely misdiagnosed as a simple lack of motivation, forgetfulness or psychiatric issues.

Closed head injuries are a leading cause of early onset dementia in younger people. Riding 4-wheelers and motorcycles without the proper safety gear and automobile accidents that result in the head striking the windshield are among the largest factors in early dementia cases. Dementia may not show up for years and is particularly common in brain injuries where a certain area of the brain has been damaged.

Current studies indicate the front part of the skull where the frontal lobe of the brain is located is one factor in the early onset of dementia. The frontal lobe controls perceptions and is also in charge of impulse control, short-term memory functions and sense of smell seem to be affected. One of the earliest symptoms of early dementia is often reported to be phantosmia, or olfactory hallucination which is smelling an odor although it really isn't there, usually in the form of rotting meat or even a flower smell. The patient will spend a good deal of time trying to locate the source of a smell; not knowing it may be an early symptom of a much larger problem.

Alcohol can also contribute to dementia. Most people assume heavy drinkers will pay for their lifestyle with liver problems. However, another aspect of severe alcoholism is alcohol induced dementia, or "wet brain" which unfortunately is an incurable type of dementia that frequently appears in end stage alcoholics. In a nutshell, the internal spaces of the brain become wider and fissures are created. The fissures fill with fluid and the end result is mental confusion, impaired coordination and significant memory loss.

If someone you know is showing early signs of dementia or Alzheimer's disease persuade them to get a thorough physical and mention their symptoms to their family doctor Early symptoms can include loss of memory, mixing up words on a frequent basis, sudden lack of attention span, disturbances in language such as searching for commonly used words to complete a sentence or suddenly feeling disoriented when in a familiar place such as forgetting where the bathroom is in the home of a friend they have visited on many occasions.

Alzheimer's and dementia affect not just the elderly. If someone you know is showing symptoms of early onset dementia urge them to get a medical check up and discuss the symptoms with their physician, especially if they have a history of early onset Alzheimer's in their family or are victims of a closed head injury. Early medical intervention combined with healthy lifestyle changes can help the person slow the progression of their disease and have a productive life for many years to come. - dementia