Is It Alzheimer’s Or Is It Dementia?

Most people are confused.

Even though I live in the Alzheimer’s world, I’m a bit hazy about the difference so am attempting to clarify the distinction.

Yesterday I added the “Keywords Everywhere” extension to my Google search engine and it told me that I’m not the only one struggling with the difference. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia so it follows that most searches of dementia should be about the condition. I checked and Alzheimer’s searches are around 440,000 per month, dementia searches are around 3,300,000, eight times as many.

What is the distinction? If you’d asked me yesterday I’d have said “Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, around 75% of dementias are Alzheimer’s.” The percentage estimates vary depending on the source but you get the picture, the majority of dementia cases are Alzheimer’s. I majored in psychology during my university studies so should be clear on the difference and can now tell you:

• dementia is a behavioural measure, it describes a number of performance metrics that are not optimal such as thinking, memory or reasoning skills.

• Alzheimer’s is described as a disease that causes dementia and represents a large proportion of dementias.

This description of the relationship comes from the Alzheimer’s Association but there’s a big problem with the Alzheimer’s definition: it’s not a disease, it’s a family of symptoms with a good number of possible causes.

In my book “Breakthrough, Surviving Alzheimer’s And Why You Can Too” I describe the dead-end that defining Alzheimer’s as a disease leads to. I use Dr Bredesen’s metaphor of “The Fever” view of Alzheimer’s. In the 19th Century, people appeared to be dying of a single condition, “The Fever”, actually it was a common family of symptoms with many different causes but the doctors didn’t know any better. Alzheimer’s is the same, Dr Bredesen’s teams are successfully treating Alzheimer’s and describe around forty possible causal factors of which each sufferer has a different combination of between ten and twenty five.

I don’t use the term “Alzheimer’s Disease” because it isn’t a disease and the definition leads up the path which has the Alzheimer’s medical world failing all of its patients. Millions die of Alzheimer’s every year while these people fiddle about with doomed research projects, it would be comical were it not for the devastating consequences of their incompetence for the sufferers and their families.

I’m titling the condition “Alzheimer’s Dementia” from now on, if for no other reason than to reach more people who are Googling for helpful information following an Alzheimer’s Dementia diagnosis. In the text of my writings read “Alzheimer’s” as “Alzheimer’s Dementia”.

Here’s my attempt at a definition:

“Alzheimer’s Dementia is a set of behavioural changes demonstrating cognitive decline caused by a selection of possible causal factors. If the contributing factors are identified and treated early, arrest and reversal of the behavioural changes has a high likelihood of success”

As always, if you want more help visit: www.beatingalzheimers.org

Kia Kaha! Stay Strong

Peter