First we need to understand what Dementia is?

Dementia is a state of global cognitive decline in a person; with short term memory loss presenting as an early warning sign.
Thus, the common, “I forgot the reason I entered this room," complaint may or may not be the true beginnings of Dementia.
Usually, true Dementia is a progressive decline associated with difficulty reading, writing, speaking, following conversations, reasoning, planning, organizing and/or calculating. It generally is noticeable to the individual first, then perhaps, up to 10 years later, to others.
In 2023 Alzheimer’s disease remained the 6th leading cause of death with heart disease in 1st place, cancer in 2nd place and stroke in 4th place. Right behind Alzheimer's is Diabetes in 7th place. We know that 80% of people with Insulin Resistance or Diabetes Type 2 will go on to get Dementia or as it is known today as Diabetes Type 3 (DM3).
In clinical practice, I noticed that if a patient had a BMI greater than 24.9 they probably had early stages of Insulin Resistance and as they aged and did not change their lifestyle habits, they developed Diabetes2 (DM2) with that 80% chance of developing Dementia.
 [Source: NCHS Data Brief - No, 521, December 2024]

What types of Dementia are there in descending order of occurrence?

• Alzheimer’s Disease – First most common dementia – 60 to 80% of dementia
• --- Pre-Alzheimer’s – Which consists of:    
            - Subjective Cognitive Impairment (SCI) – where the individual knows something is wrong but cognitive testing is still normal.  
              PET scans and CNS tests may be abnormal with MRI showing brain shrinkage. This can persist for 10 or more years before
              progressing to the next stage called Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)      
                         - IF, you want to test this on your own.....don’t. Get professional help, but someone who understands the new protocols
                                and how to work with the findings. More can be done today than yesterday and tomorrow even more.      
           - Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) –cognitive testing is now abnormal.  Memory, reading, writing, speaking, following conversations,
               reasoning, planning, organizing and/or calculating are grossly abnormal but the person can care for their ‘activities of daily living”
               (ADL’s) – still bathe, dress, eat and the like.  
  ---    A few people with Alzheimer’s Dementia:    
           - Norman Rockwell  
           - Barry Goldwater  
           - Charles Bronson  
           - Charlton Heston  
           - President Ronald Reagan  
           - Glen Campbell
           - Gene Wilder  
           - Sugar Ray Robinson  
           - Perry Como  
           - Margaret Thatcher  
• Vascular Cognitive Impairment (VCI) or Vascular Dementia – VCI is due to Cerebrovascular Disease (CVD) where blood flow is cutoff or decreased to areas of the brain from thrombi blockage or narrowing from plaque buildup in the vessels of the brain. We know the underlying precursor, atherosclerosis, is related to CVD.  Thus knowing your intimal thickness by doing a Carotid Doppler with Intimal Thickness, which we offer in our office, is so important.  [Thanks Bale-Doneen!]
• Lewy Body Dementia – Second most common dementia - 5 to 10% of Dementia cases - Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson's disease dementia are similar in many ways, in that they both are characterized by abnormal deposits of the protein alpha-synuclein in the brain. It is characterized by impaired cognition, and  
  ---    A few people with Lewy Body Dementia:    
           - Robin Williams    
           - Ted Turner  
           - Todd Tongen    
• Frontotemporal Dementia  – Incidence is 2.7–4.1/100,000 – It’s a young-onset dementia usually diagnosed between 45 to 65 years of age and consists of a loss of nerves in the brain’s frontal and temporal lobes which cause deterioration in behavior, personality and/or difficulty producing or understanding language.  
  A few people with Frontotemporal Dementia:
           - Malcolm Young, Rock guitarist of AC/DC  
           - John Berry, Beastie Boy  
• Now that we know what kinds of dementia there are, we need to find a medical professional to help examine and give us the "name" of our patient's dementia.
  
• First, make an Allopathic diagnosis.