Who is Lewy?

The majority of dementia diseases are pretty much lumped together under the umbrella of Alzheimer's dementia. When Steve first began signs of deteriorating mental functions we were told it is white matter disease, mini strokes, oxygen not getting to the brain etc. It took six years for us to get any kind of diagnoses as to what was really happening. In the meantime I would get questions like; 'how is your husband, does he still know who you are?'

When the neurologists called and informed me that he had a dementia labeled Lewy Body Dementia, my first response was 'what is that'? At the time many health care professionals knew very little or nothing about the disease and gave me a blank stare.

My only resource and basically still is the internet. I am thankful to be able to share with other bloggers who are going through similar experiences.

LBD is a common cause of memory, motor emotional and behavioural disturbance and is the second leading cause of dementia. Because it has similar symptoms to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, it is difficult to diagnose.

Lack of information can have devastating consequences on the patient, their family and even healthcare providers. The patient himself is misunderstood; the family is totally shattered, and giving the wrong kind of medication can be fatal.

Lewy Bodies are abnormal structures in the brain; microscopic protein deposits found in nerve cells in regions of the brain involved in thinking, memory and movement which causes the brain to slowly deteriorate. They were first discovered in 1912 by Frederick Lewy, a colleague of Alois Alzheimer,for whom Alzheimer's disease is named.

For more information on the subject go to www.lbda.org.

My next post will give some comparisons between Lewy Body Dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

I am not an expert on the disease and my future posts will be more to do with the every day living and coping with the disease.