Symptom: Dementia

Introduction: Dementia

Dementia: Mental confusion and impaired thought. See free access online books about Dementia below. See detailed information below for a list of 289 causes of Dementia, including diseases and drug side effect causes.

» Review Causes of Dementia: full list

Causes of Dementia:

The following medical conditions are some of the possible causes of Dementia. There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor about your symptoms.

• Dementia
• Delirium - see also causes of delirium (similar symptoms to dementia)
• Alzheimer's disease
• Stroke
• Multi-Infarct Dementia
• Dementia With Lewy Bodies
• Parkinson's disease
• Huntington's disease
• Familial Alzheimer's disease (type of Alzheimer's Disease) - rare early-onset genetic Alzheimer's.
• Down syndrome
• Akinetic-rigid syndromes
• Pick's disease
• Vascular dementia
• Certain metabolic or hormonal disorders:
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Myxedema
  • Kidney disease
  • Liver disease
  • Wilson's disease
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Vitamin B12 deficiency
  • Acute intermittent porphyris
  • Chronic hypoglycemia (see Hypoglycemia)
  • Certain cerebellar ataxias (see Ataxia)
• Brain disorders
  • Head injury
  • Subdural hematoma
  • Frontal brain tumor
  • Chronic meningitis
  • Encephalitis

See full list of 289 causes of Dementia

» Review Causes of Dementia: full list

Causes of Types of Dementia:

Review the causes of these more specific types of Dementia:

• Alzheimer's-like symptoms (18 causes)
• Alzheimer's disease (2 causes)
• Short-term memory loss (6 causes)
• Poor memory (3 causes)
• Loss of memory (47 causes)
• Temporary memory loss (1 cause)

More types of Dementia

Dementia: Multiple Symptom Checker

Listed below are some combinations of symptoms associated with Dementia, as listed in our database. Visit the Multiple Symptoms Checker, to add and remove symptoms and research your condition.

Multiple Symptom Checker - Other Symptoms

• Dementia: Multiple Symptom Checker

Multiple Symptom Checker Combinations

• Dementia and Behavioral symptoms (184 causes)
• Dementia and Personality symptoms (177 causes)
• Dementia and Mental problems (173 causes)
• Dementia and Muscle symptoms (139 causes)
• Dementia and Movement symptoms (135 causes)
• Dementia and Seizures (124 causes)
• Dementia and Spasms (118 causes)
• Dementia and Muscle spasms (111 causes)
• Dementia and Head symptoms (103 causes)
• Dementia and Nerve symptoms (94 causes)
• Dementia and Forgetfulness (79 causes)
• Dementia and Speech symptoms (78 causes)
• Dementia and Weakness (73 causes)
• Dementia and Sensations (73 causes)
• Dementia and Memory symptoms (71 causes)
• Dementia and Society problems (70 causes)
• Dementia and Confusion (67 causes)
• Dementia and Pain (67 causes)
• Dementia and Eye symptoms (63 causes)
• Dementia and Muscle weakness (63 causes)

See full list of 1369 Multiple Symptom Checker combinations related to Dementia

Causes of General Symptom Types

Research the causes of these more general types of symptom:

• Mental problems (1944 causes)
• Behavioral symptoms (2767 causes)
• Personality symptoms (2477 causes)

Causes of Similar Symptoms to Dementia

Research the causes of these symptoms that are similar to, or related to, the symptom Dementia:

• Confusion (418 causes)

Diagnostic Guides for Dementia

12 MEDICAL SYMPTOM BOOKS: FULL TEXT ONLINE! Read the full text of published book sections related to Dementia from the following published medical books for more detailed information about Dementia. Free access (no registration): read all online diagnostic book sections about Dementia

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Misdiagnosis and Dementia

Undiagnosed stroke leads to misdiagnosed aphasia: BBC News UK reported on a man who had been institutionalized and treated for mental illness because he suffered from sudden inability to speak....read more »

Alzheimer's disease over-diagnosed: The well-known disease of Alzheimer's disease is often over-diagnosed. Patients tend to assume that any memory loss or forgetulness symptom might be Alzheimer...read more »

Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for a patient to show mental decline to dementia. Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical conditions, such as a stroke or Alzheimer's...read more »

Tremor need not be Parkinson's disease: There is the tendency to believe that any tremor symptom, or shakiness, means Parkinson's disease. The reality is that there are various possibilities,...read more »

Rare diseases misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease: A rare genetic disorder is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease for men in their 50's. The disease Fragile X...read more »

Brain pressure condition often misdiagnosed as dementia: A condition that results from an excessive pressure of CSF within the brain is often misdiagnosed....read more »

Huntington disease maybe confused: Huntington Disease is an autosomal dominant disorder presenting as an inherited adult onset neurological disorder. The patient has three...read more »

Dementia to be spotted early on: Dementia is an important diagnosis to consider in the elderly. A vigorous search for a possible cause of dementia is warranted since there are significant numbers of reversible...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Dementia

Diagnostic tests for Dementia:

Various tests are used in the diagnosis of Dementia. Some of these are listed below :

• General appearance
  • Looking for any dysmorphic ( abnormality of shape) features of face and body - e.g. Down syndrome, Cornelia de Lange syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, Soto's syndrome - may suggest intellectual disturbance rather than dementia.
• Physical examination
  • Examine for signs that symptoms may be due to delirium rather than dementia - e.g. temperature, neck stiffness (may suggest meningitis or subarachnoid hemorrhage), neurological examination to look for focal neurological signs and papilledema.
  • If suspect multi-infarct dementia, examine for signs of vascular pathology e.g. high blood pressure, signs of previous strokes

See full list of 24 diagnostic tests for Dementia

Diagnosis Checklist: Questions your doctor may ask (and why!)

During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in their assessment of Dementia. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor about your symptoms may help them with their diagnosis. Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:

• How long have you noticed the dementia - type symptoms? - to determine if acute or chronic. If onset is rapid and symptoms have been present for hours to weeks must consider delirium as possible cause of symptoms. Delirium is an acute confusional state due to many causes e.g. infection, drug intoxication, alcohol withdrawal, liver failure, kidney failure, hypoxia, low blood sugar, stroke, heart attack or head injury. If the onset is slow and insidious and symptoms have been present for months to years a diagnosis of dementia, psychiatric illness or intellectual disability may be more likely.
• What symptoms of dementia are experienced? - e.g. impaired memory, impaired judgement and thinking, impaired verbal fluency and impaired ability to perform complex tasks. Personality may change, impulse control may be lost and personal care deteriorates. People with dementia may also have psychiatric symptoms such as delusions, paranoid ideas, hallucinations, mood disturbance and behavioral disturbance.
• At what time of the day is the cognitive impairment worse? - e.g. if symptoms are worse in the late afternoon and at night, delirium ( acute confusional state) is most likely. Dementia -type symptoms and acute psychosis have minimal variation over the course of 24 hours.
• Has deterioration been step-wise? - suggests multi-infarct dementia.
• Is there insight concerning the memory loss? - patients with cerebral arteriosclerosis e.g. stroke or with AIDS notice their memory slipping whereas patients with Alzheimer's disease are unaware of memory loss.

See Diagnosis Checklist for Dementia (16 listings)

Diagnosis Checklist: Associated symptoms your doctor may ask about (and why!)

Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. The symptoms your doctor may ask about (in association with Dementia) may include:

• Symptoms of stroke? - e.g. limb weakness or paralysis, facial muscle weakness or paralysis, difficulty with speech and swallow.
• Symptoms of Huntington's disease? - e.g. relentlessly progressive course of dementia, chorea (continuous flow of jerky movements, flitting randomly from one limb or part to another), personality change ( especially irritability), epilepsy.
• Symptoms of Parkinson's disease? - e.g. coarse hand tremor most marked at rest, rigidity of limbs, slowness in initiating and executing movements and speech, expressionless mask-like face and dementia.
• Symptoms of depression? - Depression may exhibit many of the features of an early dementia, especially memory impairment, slowed thinking and lack of spontaneity.
• Fever? - can suggest any infection that may cause delirium.

See Diagnosis Checklist for Dementia (16 listings)

Stories from Users for Dementia

Real-life user stories relating to Dementia:

• Im not sure if this is where im supposed to post this...but i need advice
• does anybody recognize this ?
• Does anyone recognize these symptoms????

Symptom specific forums: The following patient stories in our interactive forums and message boards relate to Dementia or relevant symptoms:

• Cardiovascular (Heart and Blood Circulation) (171)
  • Chest pain and shortness of breath
  • Hand numbness
  • Purple-blue skin color
  • Need help with diagnoses
  • Anxiety and high BP
  • More user stories
• Neurological (Nerves) (357)
  • Could this be MS?
  • Numbness and tingling all over
  • Tingling/numbness in arms/hands/legs/face/head [more symptoms]
  • Eye twitch
  • Essential tremor
  • More user stories
• Psychiatric (Mental Health) (218)
  • PLEASE can anyone help my son?!
  • My husbands making me sad
  • Heart condition or mental health problem?
  • Anxiety or...?
  • Weird Behavior at School. Normal?
  • More user stories

Videos for Dementia

Patient Surveys for Dementia

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about diseases related to your Dementia
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Causes of Dementia listed in Disease Database:

Other medical conditions listed in the Disease Database as possible causes of Dementia as a symptom include:

• Alpers disease
• Aluminium (dialysis related) toxicity
• Alzheimer's disease
• Amyloidosis
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-parkinsonism dementia complex of Guam
• CADASIL
• Cerebral amyloid angiopathy
• Cerebrovascular accident
• Ceroid lipofuscinosis, neuronal 1, infantile
• Ceroid lipofuscinosis, neuronal 4
• Ceruloplasmin deficiency
• Childhood disintegrative disorder
• Chorea-acanthocytosis syndrome
• Corticobasal degeneration
• Decompression sickness
• Dentatorubropallidoluysian degeneration
• Dural arteriovenous fistula
• Dutch type hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis
• Ethanol
• Familial British dementia

See full list of 289 causes of Dementia
- (Source - Diseases Database)

Medications or substances causing Dementia:

The following drugs, medications, substances or toxins are some of the possible causes of Dementia as a symptom. Always advise your doctor of any medications or treatments you are using, including prescription, over-the-counter, supplements, herbal or alternative treatments.

• Various medications or drug interactions produce behavioral effects that may be mistaken for Alzheimer's or dementia in the elderly
  • Lithium
  • Barbiturates
  • Tricyclic antidepressants
  • Bromides

See full list of 32 medications causing Dementia

Drug interactions causing Dementia:

When combined, certain drugs, medications, substances or toxins may react causing Dementia as a symptom. Always advise your doctor of any medications or treatments you are using, including prescription, over-the-counter, supplements, herbal or alternative treatments.

• Methyldopa and Haloperidol interaction
• Fluphenazine and Clonidine interaction
• Plendil and Grapefruit Juice interaction
• Procardia and Grapefruit Juice interaction
• Seldane and Grapefruit Juice interaction

See full list of 6 drug interactions causing Dementia

Article Excerpts about Dementia

Dementia is characterized significant loss of intellectual abilities such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in older people. (Source: excerpt from Aging - Women Getting Older: NWHIC)

People who have serious changes in their memory, personality, and behavior may suffer from a form of brain disease called dementia. Dementia seriously affects a person's ability to carry out daily activities. Alzheimer's disease is one of many types of dementia. (Source: excerpt from Clinical Trials Alzheimer''s Disease and Related Disorders: NIMH)

Dementia is characterized significant loss of intellectual abilities such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in older people. (Source: excerpt from Aging - Women Getting Older: NWHIC)

People who have serious changes in their memory, personality, and behavior may suffer from a form of brain disease called dementia. Dementia seriously affects a person's ability to carry out daily activities. Alzheimer's disease is one of many types of dementia. (Source: excerpt from Clinical Trials Alzheimer''s Disease and Related Disorders: NIMH)

Definitions of Dementia:

Dementia: The loss, usually progressive, of cognitive and intellectual functions, without impairment of perception or consciousness; caused by a variety of disorders, (structural or degenerative) but most commonly associated with structural brain disease. Characterized by disorientation, impaired memory, judgment, and intellect, and a shallow labile affect. SYN: amentia (2). [L. fr. de- priv. + mens, mind]
Source: Stedman's Medical Spellchecker, © 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Brain damage which has persisted over a long period of time.
- (Source - Diseases Database)

Mental deterioration of organic or functional origin
- (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Loss of intellectual functions such as memory, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and abstract thinking while vegetative functions remain intact.
- (Source - CRISP)

Organs affected by Dementia:

The list of organs typically affected by Dementia may include, but is not limited to:

• Brain

Detailed list of causes of Dementia

The list below shows some of the causes of Dementia mentioned in various sources:

• A ?-protein amyloidosis - Alzheimer's disease
• Aceruloplasminemia - dementia
• Acute intermittent porphyris
• Advanced AIDS
• Aguecheek disease - dementia

See full list of 289 causes of Dementia

How Common are these Causes of Dementia?

This information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of Dementia. Of the 289 causes of Dementia that we have listed, we have the following prevalence/incidence information:

• 1 causes are "very common" diseases
• 6 causes are "common" diseases
• 9 causes are "uncommon" diseases
• 10 causes are "rare" diseases
• 12 causes are "very rare" diseases
• 263 causes have no prevalence information.

See the analysis of the prevalence of 289 causes of Dementia

Conditions listing symptoms: Dementia:

The following list of conditions have 'Dementia' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.

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Causes of Dementia Based on Risk Factors

This information shows analysis of the list of causes of Dementia based on whether certain risk factors apply to the patient: