Lewy Body Dementia Commonly Misdiagnosed as
Alzheimer’s
Gary Joseph LeBlanc
Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) is the second most common form of
dementia. Although many doctors or medical professionals are not that
familiar with LBD, it is not consider it to be a rare disease. There are an
estimated 1.3 million people diagnosed with it just here alone in the
United States.
In the early 1900's, while researching Parkinson’s disease, a
scientist named Friederich H. Lewy discovered abnormal microscopic
protein deposits in regions of the brain that are involved with
facilitating essential thinking and normal body movement.
Sadly, there are severe symptoms with this disease and one of
them is strong visual hallucinations, causing the patient to often believe
they’re seeing people or animals. Occasionally, having long one-sided
conversations or possibly even screaming arguments with them.
People with LBD also may have reoccurring problems with their
eyesight, such as double vision. This may cause them to mistake a pile
of socks for being snakes. These strange behaviors have caused many
nursing homes in the past to refuse the admittance of those diagnosed
with this disease.
Other symptoms of LBD are: the degradation of cognitive
function, similar to that of Alzheimer’s and also the breakdown of
motor skills, resembling Parkinson’s disease. It is almost as if the two
diseases intertwined.
In its early stages LBD is often confused with Alzheimer’s.
However, it tends to progress more rapidly. All types of dementia can
be difficult to properly diagnose and even more so in the aged
population. The typical route of this diagnosis begins through a
persons’ medical history and focuses on the pattern of symptoms.
Doctors are usually looking for the hallucinations and that characteristic
blank stare before making a diagnosis of probable LBD. Unfortunately,
as with Alzheimer’s, the only 100 percent foolproof diagnosis is through
an autopsy.
I can only imagine the difficulties in caring for someone with this
disease. When caring for my dad with Alzheimer’s, I have to say that
probably the hardest events we endured were the hallucinations.
According to the Lewy Body Dementia Association most persons
with the disease treated with antipsychotic medication have severe
side-effects, making prescribing medication very challenging for this
disease. The drugs currently used for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s may
also cause adverse effects.
As I said many times before, it is vitally important to receive a
proper diagnosis really when treating someone for any form of
dementia.
While at the present time there is no cure for LBD, the aggressive
research into this disease may also help in the understanding of other
forms of dementia.