Source: A Place For Mom
Senior care – resources & articles
You’ve probably heard the term “dementia,” but you may be uncertain about what it means. A fair amount of confusion and misconception surrounds the term. The media, and even some in the medical community, have increasingly begun to use the word “dementia” as a synonym for Alzheimer’s disease.
It’s perhaps a less upsetting term than Alzheimer’s precisely because of its vagueness, but that doesn’t mean the two are equivalent. Having Alzheimer’s means having a disease that will cause one kind of dementia, but having dementia doesn’t necessarily mean having Alzheimer’s.
DEMENTIA SIGNS & SYMPTOMS
There was a time when people used to think that forgetfulness and confusion were a normal part of aging, something as inevitable as menopause or reading glasses. However, now that we know that most adults do not normally develop memory loss and should remain alert and able as they age, some new misconceptions have come to replace the old ones.
Click here for a downloadable Dementia Guide
Also helpful: Top Alzheimer’s & Dementia Books for Caregivers
“ You have to shift the paradigm of defeat by ‘flipping the pain.’ Alzheimer’s disease is going to win. It will take my husband, but it will not take me. I’m going to fight for the next generation. ” – Meryl Comer