What is the difference between Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's disease.?

I read today that Norman Wisdom has Vascular Dementia but a TV reporter was talking about him having Alzheimer's. I think his family said Vascular but what is the difference?

alzheimers is the classic type of dementia with a progressive pattern affecting cognitive function, vascular dementia has similar symptoms ie cognitive - behaviour, thought process, recognition but can often be caused by a number of mini strokes where the blood supply to the brain is reduced - this can mean the progression of the disease is stepped rather than a smooth progression - is more unpredictable and can progress quickly.

There is considerable overlap according to the latest research. Purely Vascular Dementia can be marked by more hostile agitated behaviour at an earlier phase of the illness sometimes.

Vascular dementia is a type of dementia caused by problems in the supply of blood in the brain.

Vascular dementia is a type of dementia caused by problems in the supply of blood in the brain and Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. During the course of the disease the chemistry and structure of the brain changes, leading to the death of brain cells.

Its a nasty disease and to watch someone have it is not a pleasant thing. Seeing them slowly robbed of their life, personality in fact everything. If you want more info goto http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

I work in a nursing home and a care home, where all the residents are EMI (Elderly Mentally Infirm). I have read every single care plan and many of them say Vascular Dementia overlapping into Alzheimers. It's impossible to look at one resident and say 'He/she has vascular dementia' and then look at another one and say 'He/she has Alzheimers'. I think the only time this can become quite distinct is when you work on high dependency units, and all the residents have advanced Alzheimers. They are totally disorientated in time, place, etc, they can no longer read or write, sometimes their speech is unintelligible, they can no longer feed themselves, often they lose all interest in eating and drinking, occasionally they are aggressive, they are always doubly incontinent, etc. They are extremely vulnerable people and need a lot of looking after, a lot of care and reassurance. But OF COURSE so do people with vascular dementia.
Dementia/Alzheimers show no discrimination. It has nothing to do with 'intelligence'. If they haven't totally lost the power of speech, what you find is that they will tell you the same things over and over and over, short term memory is gone, and they will also ask you the same questions over and over ... I do sit and watch them sometimes and wish I could be allowed inside that head for 24 hours to see just what it's like.
One thing that has very frequently struck me - how many of the residents I work with ask me about their mothers. They wait for their mothers to visit them, they want to telephone their mothers, they ask me to find their mother's address so that they can write, they say things like 'I see my mother in this place sometimes but I never quite catch her, but I know she's here somewhere, I suppose I'll just have to wait' etc and these are residents in their 80s and 90s.
There but for the grace of God go you and I ...
Hardest ones to cope with are the (few) early onset Alzheimers, people younger than me.
I haven't answered your question in medical terms, only in the terms of experience. There is a test that people with dementia can take which shows how 'bad' their dementia is, and if it's into the Alzheimers area.

Vascular dementia is caused by damage to the vessels to the brain, ie from blockages, mini strokes and so on. This causes parts of the brain to die. alzheimers disease is caused from the degeneration of the brain protein. Memory loss in vascular or alzheimers can be sudden or a gradual change and slowly, people lose their daily living skills. It is a gradual decline which leads to death. To prevent vascular dementia, diabetes needs to be kept under control, you need to exersise and eat less cholesterol. It can be prevented or made worse by poor diet and so on. A new nursing service has just started called admiral nursing, in which Norman may be in touch with, we are recommended to these by the Alzheimers society. Like any other mental illness, a stigma is often attached of 'madness' due to fear and ignorance. I t is good that the media are educating people.
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/factsheet/4...