Types of dementia

Vascular Dementia. Usually caused by a major stroke, or one or more silent strokes. The initial symptom is usually having poor judgement or difficulty planning, organizing, and making decisions. Other symptoms may include memory problems that disrupt your daily life, trouble speaking or understanding speech, problems recognizing sights and sounds that used to be familiar, being confused or agitated, changes in personality and mood, or problems walking and having frequent falls.

Alzheimer's Disease. This is the most common type of dementia. It affects about 5 million people in the United States. The signs and symptoms include memory loss, difficulty planning or doing regular tasks, being confused about where you are or what day or year it is, having problems speaking or writing, losing things and being unable to remember where to find them, showing poor judgment, or having mood and personality changes.

Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). The symptoms may include personality and behavior changes, sudden lack of inhibitions in personal and social situations, problems coming up with the right words for things when speaking, or movement problems, such as shakiness, balance problems, and muscle spasms.

Dementia With Lewy Bodies (DLB). Signs and symptoms include problems thinking clearly, making decisions, or paying attention, trouble remembering things, seeing things that aren't there, unusual sleepiness during the day, periods of staring, problems with movement, including trembling, slowness, and trouble walking, or having dreams where you act out physically, including, talking, walking, and kicking.

Huntington's Disease. This is a brain disorder caused by a genetic defect. Symptoms usually don’t show up until between ages 30 and 50. Symptoms include problems with thinking and reasoning, memory, judgment, planning and organizing, and concentration.

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. Caused by a severe lack of vitamin B-1 in the body. Most commonly occurs in people who excessively abuse alcohol. The most common symptom is problems with memory.

Mixed Dementia. This is a combination of two types of dementia. The most common combination is Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Symptoms and treatment depend on the parts of the brain involved and the types of dementia present.

Parkinson's Disease Dementia. Eventually develops in about 50 to 80 percent of people with Parkinson's disease. This condition is very similar to DLB because the symptoms are the same. People usually start to see symptoms of dementia about then years after they get Parkinson's disease.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. The symptoms include memory and concentration problems, poor judgment, confusion, mood swings, depression, sleep problems, and possibly trouble walking.

Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. Caused by a buildup of fluid in the brain. The symptoms include problems walking, trouble thinking and concentrating, and personality and behavior changes.