"Dementia is a formidable adversary, and the history of efforts to treat Alzheimer’s has to temper any excitement about potential medicines for frontotemporal disease. The drugs for Alzheimer’s have been a disappointment, with just temporary effects on symptoms at best." Denise Grady, NY Times
An interesting article in the May 5, 2012, NY Times - sent to me by a friend. The physicians quoted say that probably many cases of what is now thought to be Alzheimer's Disease, are actually other types of dementia. The article talks about frontotemporal lobe dementia, which sounds similar to LBD. Perhaps the similarity is in the parts of the brain that are affected, as with Dwane - it is the frontal lobe that is atrophying. The quotes from the wives resonated with me: silence at the dinner table, the absence of the spouse we once knew, looking back and seeing symptoms a decade before the diagnosis, personality change, accidents and mishaps. Like LBD, frontotemporal dementia strikes at an earlier age and is faster in its path of destruction. Perhaps the research being done in these types of newly-recognized form of dementia can help those of us who deal with LBD (Lewy Bodies Dementia) as well.
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