What's the difference between dementia and Alzheimers?

My great aunt was just diagnosed with dementia. I asked my mom what the difference was between dementia and Alzheimers since they seem to be the same thing to me. Does anyone have any info?

A little more info...she walked out of the house at 2am and was found by the cops, who then brought her to the hospital. They ran some tests on her and said it was dementia. Please say a prayer for her. I love her a lot.

Dementia is a loss of mental skills that affects your daily life. It can cause problems with your memory and how well you can think and plan. Usually dementia gets worse over time. How long this takes is different for each person. Some people stay the same for years. Others lose skills quickly. A variety of conditions can cause dementia, including injuries to the brain from tumors, head injury, or stroke; diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease; or long-term alcohol dependence. People (especially older adults) who are depressed may seem to have dementia when they do not (pseudodementia).



Alzheimer's disease is more severe than the mild memory loss that many people experience as they grow older. Alzheimer's disease also affects behavior, personality, the ability to think clearly, and the ability to carry out daily activities. Close family members usually notice symptoms first, although the person affected also may realize that something is wrong.

It's basically the same thing, except dementia is any of the kinds of things that make old people forget. Alzheimers is just a certain type of dementia, but mostly when people say dementia, it's alzheimers.

They can have similar symptoms. Alzheimers disease has specifically to do with the degrading of the sheath round the nerves.

With Alheizemer people forgets things, people, that they used to know; with dementia people may believe to see things that doesn't exist, etc.

dementia is a symptom of it but it's not the only one. sometimes they don't know who they are OR who you are. My grand father had it and there is nothing worse than some you have loved looking at you and calling you"young lady" because they don't know your name anymore.

What鈥檚 the difference between forgetting things and early signs of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease?
Some loss in memory function is an inevitable consequence of aging. Eighty percent of seniors complain of some memory trouble. As we age, it takes more time to process information and retrieve memories. The ability to remember a name, where we put the keys, whether we locked the door, missed one item from a 10-item shopping list, etc., is called 鈥榖enign forgetfulness of aging.鈥?These episodes are usually infrequent, and relate to stress, anxiety, being very busy or not being well rested. These individuals don鈥檛 have difficulty with reasoning and problem solving and these episodes don鈥檛 affect day-to-day functioning.Memory issues of Alzheimer鈥檚 affect a person鈥檚 ability to function over time. The patient with Alzheimer鈥檚 has trouble with short-term memory and becomes unable to learn new information. It鈥檚 simply gone and cannot be retrieved. Episodes occur frequently and interfere with social and work function. We hardly ever see Alzheimer鈥檚 patients in stages 2 and 3 because they often don鈥檛 have enough symptoms to seek treatment.The Alzheimer鈥檚 patient in stages 4-7 forgets they made a list. They may forget how to get home. They may forget that family looked for them for eight hours before finding them. These patients also have problems with calculations and complex brain functions. Balancing a checkbook would be impossible at stage 4.I hope this helps you some.

Dementia is just a broader term.

Dementia is another word for Agitation

Dementia is a craziness, where the mind won't locate on a particular, but goes in all directions. This makes the person affected seem like another individual entirely.

Alzheimer is a forgetting. The people can otherwise be as they always have been, except they cannot remember names or faces - and often forget what they are doing in the middle of doing it. Their basic personality often remains as always.....either as kindness, or irritability.....
My dear aunt got this disease but remained as sweet and loving as she had always been.

Both very sad illnesses that attack elders.

Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia(loss of intellectual funtion).
Alzheimer disease is a neurological disorder characterized by slow, progressive memory loss due to a gradual loss of brain cells. Basically it is cortical dementia -- where outer cortex is affected.
Info on alzheimers can be found in:
www.alz.org
www.alzheimers.org
http://www.nia.nih.gov.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov.

i will pray for her..my mother has dementia too so i know what you are going through..it's a tough road...good luck

I work in a home with older people .Dementia is a progressive brain dysfunction,that leads to increasing restriction of daily activities,there are over 100 different types of dementia, most common Alzimers disease,vascular dementia,& Dementia with lewy bodies, there is no cure,however there are drugs available that may alleviate some symptoms.

Alzheimer's is a type of dementia. There are other kinds of dementia, like vascular which is caused by a stroke. See first link for a list & descriptions.