Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurological condition in which the nerve cells in the brain die. The onset of AD is typically gradual, and the first signs of it may be attributed to old age or ordinary forgetfulness. As the disease advances, cognitive abilities, including the ability to make decisions and perform everyday tasks, are eroded, and personality changes and difficult behaviors may emerge. In its later stages, AD leads to dementia and eventually death.

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A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease for yourself or a loved one can be difficult to accept. As you read through this fact sheet, we encourage you to keep an open mind and remember that you are not alone. Organizations that provide assistance and support to people with AD and their families are located in communities all across the nation. You’ll find contact information for service organizations at the end this Fact Sheet under Community Resources.

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The term “dementia” is used by the medical community to describe patients with impaired intellectual capacity. Dementia patients may also be labeled as having “presenile” or “senile” dementia, “chronic” or “organic brain syndrome,” “arterio-sclerosis,” or “cerebral atrophy.” It is important to point out that dementia is not a normal part of the aging process. Dementing conditions are caused by abnormal disease processes, and can affect younger as well as older persons.

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Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) is a progressive degenerative disease or syndrome of the brain. It shares symptoms — and sometimes overlaps — several diseases, especially with two common diseases of older adults, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Persons who develop DLB have behavioral and memory symptoms of dementia like those of Alzheimer’s disease and, to varying extents, the physical, motor system symptoms seen in Parkinson’s. However, the mental symptoms of a person with DLB might fluctuate frequently, motor symptoms are milder than for Parkinson’s disease, and DLB patients usually have vivid visual hallucinations.

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Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) is a degenerative condition of the front (anterior) part of the brain. It differs from other causes of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, Pick’s and Creutzfeldt Jakob’s diseases. The areas of the brain affected by FTD—the frontal and anterior temporal lobes—control reasoning, personality, movement, speech, social graces, language and some aspects of memory.
FTD is marked by dramatic changes in personality, behavior and some thought processes. Changes in personal and social conduct occur in early stages of the disease, including loss of inhibition, apathy, social withdrawal, hyperorality (mouthing of objects), and ritualistic compulsive behaviors. These symptoms may lead to misdiagnosis as a psychological or emotionally-based problem, or, in the elderly, be mistaken for withdrawal or eccentricity. FTD progresses to immobility and loss of speech and expression. Structural changes in the FTD patient’s brain can be seen via scans or neuroimaging.

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Since the start of the AIDS epidemic more than two decades ago, doctors, caregivers and patients themselves have observed that some people with the disease experience declines in brain function and movement skills as well as slight or sudden shifts in behavior and mood.
These are symptoms of a neurological disorder called HIV-Associated Dementia (HAD) or AIDS Dementia Complex. The syndrome frequently appears in later stages of AIDS. It is usually—although not always—associated with both an increase in viral load, which is the amount of HIV found in the blood, and a drop in the number of disease-fighting blood cells known as CD4 cells. Experts believe this group of symptoms occurs as a result of HIV infection of the brain, damaging the central nervous system, and in some cases peripheral nerves as well.

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