The Famous Face Test (FFT) for dementia assesses a person's ability to recognize and name famous people (like Oprah, Einstein, Princess Diana) to help diagnose early-onset dementia, particularly Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), by revealing deficits in semantic memory and face recognition, differentiating it from normal aging or other conditions by showing if the issue is recalling the name versus knowing the person. Patients with PPA struggle significantly more with naming than recognizing faces, indicating a loss of stored knowledge about the person, not just difficulty accessing a name.
The SAGE test is a short, self-administered evaluation that screens for early signs of memory or thinking problems like dementia. You take it on your own, at home or at your provider's office. It's simple and there's no studying needed. It can catch issues early.
Impaired clock-drawing can provide a signal of cognitive impairment that guides the clinician to better understanding of the patient and the context of the presenting symptoms. The clinician can also use clock-drawing as a means of monitoring cognitive changes and providing a teaching tool for family and students.
Symptoms
Other conditions which may cause or mimic dementia include depression, brain tumors, nutritional deficiencies, head injuries, hydrocephalus, infections (AIDS, meningitis, syphilis), drug reactions and thyroid problems.
Weakness on one side of the body or one side of the face. Falling. Inability to solve problems or organize tasks. Reduced creativity.
The "2-finger test" for dementia involves an examiner showing a hand gesture (like interlocking index and middle fingers) and asking the patient to copy it, testing motor skills, visual memory, and coordination, as difficulties can signal early cognitive decline, but it's a screening tool, not a definitive diagnosis, prompting further medical evaluation. Other related tests include finger-tapping and finger-to-nose, looking for hesitation or misjudgment in movement.
The number one cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, responsible for 60-80% of cases, characterized by brain plaques (beta-amyloid protein) and tangles (tau protein) that damage nerve cells, leading to progressive memory and cognitive decline, though vascular dementia from blood vessel damage is also a significant factor.
Three cholinesterase inhibitors are commonly prescribed:
People with dementia often develop restless behaviours, such as pacing up and down, wandering out of the home and agitated fidgeting.
This deficit in clock-reading is attributed to a loss of semantic memory regarding clocks at all stages. Additionally, visuospatial dysfunction and reduced ability of number recognition may lead to deficit in clock-reading in the advanced stage of AD.
You can live with dementia for an average of 4 to 10 years after diagnosis, but this varies significantly, with some people living 20 years or more, depending on age, overall health, and dementia type, with Alzheimer's averaging 8-10 years and vascular dementia closer to 5 years. Factors like diagnosis stage, age, gender, other health conditions (e.g., heart disease, frailty), and dementia subtype greatly influence life expectancy, with people often succumbing to infections or complications rather than the disease itself.
A large study found that older adults who took vitamin D had a 40% lower chance of developing dementia than those who didn't. You can get vitamin D from food like fish, eggs, and vitamin D-fortified milk.
Although the early signs vary, common early symptoms of dementia include: memory problems, particularly remembering recent events. increasing confusion.
Dementia can cause significant changes in a person's mood and behavior. This can include increased irritability, depression, anxiety, agitation, and apathy. Some individuals may also exhibit more pronounced behavioral changes such as aggression or wandering.
But Romano says it's a leap to say that skipping breakfast actually causes dementia. “Alzheimer's disease is a complex brain illness,” he says. “Although the study found these correlations between skipping breakfast and dementia, skipping breakfast might be an indicator of other health habits or life circumstances.”
Our results confirm that vitamin D deficiency is associated with a substantially increased risk of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer disease.
Seroquel is the brand name for quetiapine, an atypical antipsychotic that is used off-label to treat severe behavioral signs of dementia. It can help with bad symptoms, including agitation, aggressiveness, and hallucinations, that other drugs don't help with.
You Miss Out on Sleep
You do a few things you know you shouldn't -- we all do. But some of those bad habits can take a toll on your brain. For example, lack of sleep may be a cause of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.
The 10 warning signs of dementia include memory loss, difficulty with familiar tasks, confusion about time/place, trouble with language, poor judgment, misplacing things, personality changes, loss of initiative, and problems with visual/spatial skills, requiring professional assessment to distinguish from normal aging.
The Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam, known as SAGE, is a short pen-and-paper test to detect the early signs of cognitive, memory, or thinking impairments. The exam is meant to evaluate your thinking abilities and can help your doctors understand how well your brain is functioning.
Frontal lobe injuries can cause the following symptoms:
Memory deficits. Impaired information processing speed. Reduced judgment. Increased impulsivity and disinhibition.
Prefrontal cortex
There also seems to be a functional separation between left and right sides of the PFC: the left is more involved in verbal working memory while the right is more active in spatial working memory, such as remembering where the flash of light occurred.
With diffuse or focal cerebral edema the patient can develop increased intracranial pressure (ICP) which typically presents with headaches, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, cranial neuropathy, altered mental status to coma and death.