We are a specialist care provider offering a wide range of support options for clients. There are many people out there who need an extra set of hands for one or multiple reasons. Sometimes it is families with a loved one that needs extra help. Thanks to our domiciliary care service, we can do almost anything, allowing people to remain in the comfort of their own property. We promote inclusion, opportunity, independence, and dignity, all while ensuring wellbeing.

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia frequently get mentioned together. This can result in confusion about their differences and relationship. Some common symptoms do occur. However, you need to understand their distinctions. You can’t gain a correct diagnosis, management, and treatment otherwise. So, we want to clarify what sets Alzheimer’s disease apart from dementia.

Dementia is an umbrella term

It describes a collection of symptoms with links to a decline in cognitive function severe enough that it interferes with daily life. What we have here isn’t a specific ailment. Dementia is a general term for someone’s impaired capacity to make decisions, think, or remember. It manifests a myriad of symptoms because of the individual conditions or diseases.

Several types of dementia exist, including Alzheimer’s disease. This is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for around 60-80% of cases.

Vascular dementia is another type. It often occurs after a stroke and is the second most common kind. This results from reduced or blocked blood flow to the brain.

Lewy Body dementia (DLB) is characterised by abnormal deposits of alpha-synuclein in the brain. The deposits can have an impact on thinking, sleeping, movement, and more.

Frontotemporal dementia is itself an umbrella term. It is a group of diseases that involve the degradation of nerve cells in the temporal and/or frontal lobes of the brain.

Last up is mixed dementia. It happens when someone has changes in the brain linked to more than one kind.

As you can see, there are a lot of different types of dementia and the conditions can vary massively. As a result, it means services like domiciliary care have to be flexible.

A progressive disorder

Alzheimer’s disease is capable of slowly destroying thinking skills and memory. Eventually, you lose the capacity to do simple tasks. As we said, it is only one kind of dementia. However, it is the most prevalent and defined by its specific pathology.

Key differences

Now that we’ve gone over both issues in detail, we can discuss their key differences. Alzheimer’s is a specific disease, with dementia being a syndrome that includes a wide range of certain conditions. This includes Alzheimer’s.

For symptoms, all kinds of dementia include cognitive decline. Alzheimer’s tends to begin with memory issues and then gradually shifts to other functional and cognitive difficulties. Other dementias can start with separate symptoms. These include the personality changes with frontotemporal dementia or the movement problems of Lewy body dementia.

Finally, there is cause and progression. Every variety of dementia has its own underlying cause. Alzheimer’s progresses in a somewhat predictable pattern. The progression with other kinds of dementia can vary a lot.

Find domiciliary care that works for any needs

At Diamond Care and Support, we’re ready to working alongside our clients and their families. This allows us to maximise the level of care. We can fit in to any schedule, and also adapt at any time if there are changes in conditions or extra help is needed.

We work to make sure our domiciliary care services are high quality. So, if you need us for any reason, please give our team a call.