Learn About the Difference Between Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease and MCI

People often use dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and MCI or Mild Cognitive Impairment interchangeably in describing a memory loss or thinking problem in their older adults. Yes, these three conditions are related, but they aren’t the same thing. This blog by Anthem Senior Homes aims to discuss just that.

Learning about all the aforementioned conditions is important. That way if you are told your older loved one is diagnosed with one of these conditions, you’d exactly know what the doctors are saying and will be in a better place to help your parent get treatment and the right form of care. So let us walk you through the terms for you to have a better understanding of them.

First, let us understand Cognitive Impairment.

Cognitive Impairment: one dealing with cognitive impairment means the individual is facing some kind of an issue with his/her thinking, memory, concentration or some other function of the conscious brain. Some of the signs indicative of the condition include confusion, forgetfulness, delusion, hallucination and (the person is) way more spaced out than normal. These signs are indicative of the fact that the brain is not working to its normal potential (brain is malfunctioning).

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): experts often describe this condition as both a syndrome and a diagnosis. A syndrome can be defined as a set of symptoms or characteristics that often appear together. The underlying cause is often not obvious, or there could also be multiple underlying causes, especially in regards to senior people.

MCI could be described as a decline in some aspect of thinking or memory in an older individual. However, it is not bad enough to come in the way of efficiently carrying out one’s activities of daily living. It is mainly diagnosed through tests by experts.

If you see your loved one experiencing any aforementioned sign (normally memory loss, you feel most of their thinking processes seem to not live up to the usual standard for their age and education level), get them evaluated at the earliest. The underlying cause may not be clear like for many syndromes that impact seniors. However, an underlying Alzheimer’s disease could be the reason.

Dementia: dementia is also a syndrome and could be termed MCI but worse than that. This means the cognitive decline has happened to an extent where the person is unable to live (carry out their daily tasks) independently. Look for signs, such as problem with learning and memory, communication, attention, executive function, perceptual-motor function, for example, visual spatial skills, hand-eye coordination, and social cognition (awareness of how to behave appropriately in certain situations).

Alzheimer’s disease: Alzheimer’s disease basically is a form of dementia. It is a neurodegenerative condition. The difference between the aforementioned conditions and Alzheimer’s is the fact that in the former doctors can observe or identify from the outside from their signs and symptoms, whereas Alzheimer’s can be defined as something going inside in the brain of the person that is not easy to identify.

The cause mainly is buildup of deposits of a protein called amyloid beta that create clumps among the brain cells. Accumulation of tangles of another protein called tau also happens among some brain cells. The brain cells, with the buildups, fall sick, stop functioning as efficiently and begin to die, and the individual starts showing signs of cognitive impairment. Anthem Senior Homes in Phoenix has been a pioneer in offering the best-in-class Anthem assisted living care and specialized memory care for those dealing with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. To book a suite for your older adult, reach out to us on 623-300-1180.