Going Home – This is a wonderful short film about dementia symptoms manifesting.
Q: My elderly neighbor’s dementia seemed to be getting worse and she started to have trouble walking. The doctor tested her and it turns out she had fluid on her brain which was causing her symptoms. What is this condition?
A: It sounds like your neighbor might have normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH).
The brain and spinal cord “float” in clear fluid (cerebral spinal fluid or CSF), which cushions and protects them. The CSF is made in the fluid filled spaces of the brain (the ventricles) and circulates from there throughout the brain and spinal cord until it is reabsorbed into the blood. If there is excess production of fluid, decreased reabsorption of fluid or blockage of the fluid flow, CSF can build up in the ventricles, enlarging them and causing them to push on the brain.
NPH is a condition caused by a gradual blockage of the flow of CSF. This causes a slow buildup of fluid, which in turn causes the ventricles to expand (called hydrocephalus). Because this process occurs over time there is no increase in fluid pressure; hence the name normal pressure hydrocephalus.
Although the cause of most cases of NPH is not known, some cases occur after head injury, stroke, bleeding or infection of the brain.
Overall, NPH affects about one per 5,000 people. However, it is much more common in the elderly, affecting up to 3 percent of people over age 65.
The symptoms of NPH usually start subtlety and then gradually worsen. The dementia (often with symptoms of memory loss, behavior changes and/or cognitive problems) may be thought to be from Alzheimer’s or just from “old age,” hence the diagnosis of NPH may be delayed. In fact, some estimates are that more than 10 percent of elderly dementia patients actually have their dementia symptoms caused by NPH. Since urinary incontinence is also common in the elderly and has many possible causes, this symptom may also be overlooked as a clue that the underlying condition is actually NPH. Hence it is the gait disturbance that is most commonly the symptom that brings the NPH patient to medical attention.
NPH is usually first suspected based on the patient’s symptoms, and is then confirmed by an imaging test, usually a CT scan or MRI, showing the enlarged ventricles. A lumbar puncture (LP), where a needle is placed into the CSF of the lower spine, is then done to measure the fluid pressure.
When it is indicated, the treatment of NPH is to create an artificial pathway for the excess CSF to drain; this is usually done by surgically placing a thin tube into the ventricles and then tunneling it under the skin to lower abdomen (called a ventriculoperitoneal or VP shunt) so the fluid can drain.
Unfortunately, only about 50 percent of patients have significant benefit from a VP shunt. The gait symptoms are typically the most responsive to treatment. A VP shunt is an invasive procedure with complications in as many as a third of patients and up to 7 percent of patients suffering very severe complications or even death.
It is thought that earlier treatment for NPH increases the chance that symptoms will improve from VP shunt placement. In fact, patients may have excess fluid removed during their LP to see if they have symptomatic improvement; those patients with significant improvement from this procedure may be more likely to benefit from a VP shunt.
Although the classic triad of dementia, urinary incontinence and gait disturbance may raise a high suspicion of NPH, earlier consideration of this condition in patients with only some of these symptoms may allow an earlier diagnosis, likely increasing the benefits from intervention with placement of a VP shunt. Therefore, patients who develop dementia and/or urinary incontinence should not have these symptoms assumed to be “just from old age”, but instead should be evaluated by their healthcare provider.
Jeff Hersh, Ph.D., M.D., F.A.A.P., F.A.C.P., F.A.A.E.P., can be reached at DrHersh@juno.com.
As we age, brain tumor symptoms can be mistaken as dementia. They are:
numbness or tingling in the arms and legs
slurring of speech or vision problems
memory loss
nausea or vomiting
changes in mood or ability to concentrate
headaches
You can see that a lot of the symptoms above look the same as dementia symptoms so it is easy to get a wrong diagnosis. A good doctor will not only take a physical exam but order tests like an x-ray, CT scan or MRI scan. It could be just swelling in the brain and not a tumor that is pressing on parts of the brain. The tests will be looking for a location of the tumor and also the size and type.
Brain tumor symptoms show up in people over 70 more often than younger people. People who have a family history of gliomas also are at a higher risk for brain tumors. People who work around radiation and chemicals also are at a higher risk. Many people assume that brain tumor symptoms show up in from head injuries but studies have shown that this is not always so.
Brain tumors may not be primary tumors but metastasized from another cancer in the body. Not all brain tumors are cancerous. In fact, non cancerous brain tumors occur more often in women and they are called meningiomas. A third of the people who are diagnosed with brain tumors say that they were experiencing seizures before.
Most doctors will rule out other less severe conditions before determining whether the patient has a brain tumor or dementia. Age, family history, current symptoms and test results will all factor into a final diagnosis.
Even though brain tumor symptoms can be masked by dementia, it is good to have both ruled out.
Brain tumor symptoms are very common to several physical illnesses like migraine headaches, vision complexity, loss of memory, etc. and so most people may have a brain tumor without ever having a doctor recognize it as such. Consulting a doctor is a must to get the proper treatment or advanced precautions against brain tumor symptoms and so it isn’t diagnosed mistakenly as dementia symptoms. Well, in this brain tumor alertness month, it is high time we should all learn about its symptoms, treatments, etc. In the worst cases, it is thought to be dementia, which means loss of memory due to the damage of some brain-cells, but not all the time.
There some common symptoms of brain tumors. They are:
Tumor in the brain stem may cause headache, hear loss, mental disorder, etc. Cerebellum tumors cause disorders in talking or walking. Tumors in Cerebellopontine Angle cause deafness; occipital Lobe tumors cause eyesight uproar and so on. Depending on location, brain tumors have many types. They are:
Some adult tumors are:
Accurate knowledge of brain tumor symptoms and its types can make the people get early diagnosis and proper treatment as early as possible.
New research is coming out about Alzheimer’s disease that can also be connected to dementia symptoms. We know for sure the plaques made in the brain pof a protenin called amyloid beta can block other molecules in the cells. Other proteins call tau, also can crystallize in the brain. They both cause symptoms that are the precursor to Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s. There are also certain genes call the APOE gene on chromosome 19 that will influence whether or not you are prone to developing dementia and the more severe forms of dementia. The APOE gene help break down those plaques mentioned above. If you have more than one copy of the gene though, the gene can’t do it’s job and then you are twenty times likely to develop dementia symptoms before the age of 75.
Studies are showing that if you break down proteins to make them more or less soluble, interesting results appear. Basically it showed that the more crystallized the proteins were and the more concentration of proteins in the brain make a person present dementia symptoms in various forms. Normal brains can usually clean up a lot of these proteins but when there are too many of them, they are overwhelmed and can’t keep up with the workload.
The Scripps Research Institute also found that when ozone attaches to a protein, it is more likely to crystallize. Ozone comes from inflammation when can be induced by trauma, stress, worry because all of those give off a hormone called cortisol which is a hormone made from cholesterol. Cortisol is looking like helps crystallize the protein plaques in the brain. This crystallization or plaques in the brain blocks vital ingredients from getting to brain cells and so they die off. This is the start of the dementia symptoms
that can spiral into Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders.
Hopefully medication in the future will be able to stop this crystallization from even forming in the first place. This medication must be able to not just prevent the plaque from forming but also prevent inflammation and improve protein solubility and help the body dispose of any excess plaque in the brain. More and more research is coming out to help us understand a lot of the body mechanisms that contribute to dementia symptoms and more.
The following brain tumor symptoms will tell you if you may have a brain tumor or not. Please note that these symptoms are common to many other diseases or conditions. Read them and consult your doctor if you experience one or more. Be relaxed and don’t worry too much about it.
The most common brain tumor symptoms are:
#1: Vomiting
Be careful about vomiting especially if you do it right in the morning and without nausea. If you experience nausea, then the chances are slim to none. Keep a symptom journal to track all your symptoms. In this way, you can paint a better picture to your doctor.
#2: Headaches.
Other brain tumor symptoms usually come ahead of experiencing headaches. Headaches can have many other possible causes.
#3: Physical changes.
A person suffering from a brain tumor may experience physical problems on one side of the body. A brain tumor usually affects only one side of the brain. Each side of your brain controls the opposite side of your body. Your arms and legs may be weak and you can have trouble keeping your balance.
#4: Seizures.
One third of the people who have brain tumors had at least 1 seizure before they received a brain tumor diagnostic. A seizure lasts for a couple of minute. You may see flashes of light or lose your consciousness.
#5: Hearing or vision problems.
Consult your doctor if you can not see or hear as usual. You may not hear with 1 ear or hear ringing tones in the ear.
#6: Mood and personality changes.
You may laugh at things that aren’t funny, experience a sudden interest in having sex or paranoia. If there’s a sudden personality change with no apparent cause, this is a strong reason to investigate further.
You don’t have to have a brain tumor just because you experience one or all of the above brain tumor symptoms. A brain tumor is a physical thing. And a doctor will know what to recommend you to do next. He has years of experience. He will know what’s best for you. So make sure you consult one or more doctors regarding your symptoms to be sure that they are brain tumor symptoms.
Do you know what dementia symptoms are? Many people think that forgetting their keys or an appointment makes them a prime candidate for dementia. As we grow older, we all start to forget things and it can sometimes be a problem, and sometimes not. It is a good thing to keep a good sense of humor about it. Remember, even young people forget things and just because you are older doesn’t mean that you will always be forgetful. But it is common for all of us to start forgetting more and more as we try to keep up with the information overload that exists today.
So again keep a sense of humor about it and don’t fret if there are episodes where you are forgetful. Sometimes we block out things unconsciously because we really do want to forget about going to that appointment with the doctor, etc, etc. Constant forgetfulness, however, can be a problem and when it becomes consistent and starts to cause you concern, at that point you should see a doctor about dementia symptoms and dementia treatment.
The next step after diagnosis is an extensive period of dementia treatment. A person diagnosed with dementia has a high degree of memory loss, low attention span and very poor language and problem solving functions over a period of six months. Dementia, on many occasions occurs as a complication of a disease rather than a disease itself and doctors treat dementia according to its cause. Many factors can contribute to the development of dementia, some can be resolved permanently with the use of medications while the most common factors can only be managed with the use of drugs and extensive care to prevent further nerve cell death.
Treatment of non-reversible dementia
Dementia caused by gene-related conditions like Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Niemann-Pick’s disease is treated with the use of cholinesterase inhibitors, antidepressants , anxiolytics and other medications. These drugs cannot cure the patient but can improve mental function. Also, these diseases are neuron-degenerative and if not treated on time, will worsen at a faster rate.
To treat vascular dementia, doctors provide medications that prevent the re-occurrence of stroke and heart failure, which can lead to further nerve cell damage, thereby reducing the progression of dementia. The medications provided will not cure already existing dementia, but will stop further damage in the brain.
Patients with irreversible causes are given the best dementia treatment care plan possible, so that life can be properly managed for as long as possible. Patients are taught how to improve their learning abilities with the use mnemonics and paper tags. Caregivers and family members are also given detailed instructions and education on how to take care of the patient. Check-ups are done on the patient from time to time and anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs are administered regularly to reduce the occurrence of incidences making it easier to care for them.
Treatment of dementia caused by reversible or underlying conditions:
Headaches can be the first warning signs of brain tumor symptoms. Other symptoms may be that you are awakened in the middle of the night with a slight headaches and then throughout the day the headaches get more and more severe. These are symptoms of a tumor. Also some people may in addition to the headaches experience blurry vision.
Different brain tumor symptoms in the body are presented when different parts of the brain are affected. For instance if a tumor is located in the stem of the brain, may different symptoms can appear. You may vomit which is one of the most common symptoms for a brain stem symptom. But also slurred speech, walking clumsily and having difficulty in swallowing are other indicators of a brain stem tumor. Some people will experience muscle weakness on only one side of their face, and think that it is a stroke, but this could also be a sign of a brain tumor.
If a tumor is located in the cerebellopontine angle of the brain, dizziness can also occur. Other symptoms of a tumor located there are ringing in the ears, loss of facial feeling and facial muscle weakness. Some of the other brain tumor symptoms like those that occur with a brain stem tumor can also manifest.
In the cerebral hemispheres of the brain there are four different areas called lobes that could be affected. The frontal lobe processes language and writing, so intellectual thought, memory and behavior will be affected abnormally.
Visual images and the understanding of the written work is controlled by the occipital lobe of the brain. When a tumor is located there, a lot of visual disturbances and seizures can happen.
The temporal lobe area of the brain helps people understand sounds and also depth perception is affected so seizures are common.
The parietal lobe area of the brain not only involves seizures but memory loss and the ability to read. These are just an overview of brain tumor symptoms that occur depending on where a tumor may be located. If any of the brain tumor symptoms sound familiar, see a medical opinion.
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