Comparing Dementia And Alzheimer's Disease

Similarities and Differences in Symptoms

There are several similarities and differences in symptoms between the two conditions. Alzheimer's disease has all the symptoms of dementia, but it also has additional criteria of its own. Dementia and Alzheimer's disease can both lead to impaired communication, impaired memory, and improved cognitive function and problem-solving capacity. Additional Alzheimer's disease symptoms include depression, apathy, disorientation, impaired judgment, and difficulty with remembering recent conversations or events. Dementia doesn't typically impair short-term memory, since short-term memory is stored and recalled differently from long-term memory. Dementia also doesn't cause emotional symptoms like depression and apathy. Alzheimer's disease causes these symptoms because of progressive damage to the emotional processing parts of the brain.

Other types of dementia may not include emotional involvement and short-term memory impairment. Alzheimer's disease patients may also experience behavioral changes and confusion that aren't part of the overarching dementia umbrella. In the later stages of the illness, Alzheimer's disease can make it difficult to walk, swallow, and speak. The type of dementia an individual has is diagnosed by evaluating these non-dementia symptoms to see what diagnosis fits best.