Many people equate memory lapses and Alzheimer’s disease with old age, and yet, nothing could be further from the truth. Granted, as we age, memories tend to fade and we often forget details, but Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease; a condition that continues to steadily worsen until it takes its victim’s life. While people are often quick to jump to conclusions, memory loss does not always mean that a person is a victim of Alzheimer’s disease.

There are a lot of people who experience lapses in their memory; some of them being serious, while others are not. Those who suffer from serious changes in their personality, memory, and/or behavior may be suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or any other number of forms of dementia. Alzheimer’s is just one of many forms of this disease. Simply because a person is forgetting things, however, is not reason enough to suspect Alzheimer’s disease. There are far more reasons, rather than just Alzheimer’s.

Dementia describes a condition where a number of symptoms are caused through changes in the brain’s ability to function. Those who are suffering from dementia may do things like forgetting familiar faces or becoming lost in familiar surroundings, being unable to follow directions for even the most simple of tasks, or experience severe disorientation in regards to people, places, and time. Those who have dementia may also neglect their own personal safety, their nutrition, and their own personal hygiene.

Many different things can cause dementia. Some conditions that cause dementia can be reversed, while others cannot. Furthermore, many different medical conditions may cause symptoms that seem like Alzheimer’s disease but are not. Some of these medical conditions may be treatable. Reversible conditions can be caused by a high fever, poor nutrition, dehydration, vitamin deficiency, some varieties of alcoholism, allergic reactions to medicines, problems with the thyroid gland, or head trauma.

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