With symptoms like memory loss, frequent confusions, sleeping problems, personality or mood changes, disorientation, hallucinations, etc. at an old age, one would normally think of the possibility of early stage of dementia. However, a trained doctor will try to first see if there is some other, perhaps curable cause of these symptoms. There are conditions that produce same or very similar symptoms and can be well mistakenly interpreted as dementia. So, is dementia in signs always dementia?
So far there are different tests which will assess cognitive impairment, brain scans, lab tests, but none of these are very accurate methods by which dementia could be proven or ruled out, so the doctor has to lean on experience, the patient’s medical history and their own or the family’s observations. Or rule out all the dozens of other possibilities.
Why Is It So Important That These Are Not Mixed?
First, because these conditions are often curable or at least treatable to minimize the effects. Second, because if missed, the actual condition may remain untreated, taking away the chance from the person to live a healthy life. Third, because treating someone for dementia who doesn’t actually have it, may seriously harm their health.
So, Let’s See What Some of These Conditions Are:
Depression
Withdrawal from company of others, consequent isolation, forgetfulness, poor sleeping (or too much of it) are common in dementia, but so are in depression, as well, so it is easily mistaken for the latter. Depression is not a condition you can recover from overnight, but with a suitable medication and therapy, lifestyle changes, it is a treatable condition.
Anxiety
Also can lead to dementia and is very often a companion in an already developed dementia. Therefore, it can be easily mistaken for dementia. However, prior to the actual onset of dementia, it may be successfully treated. The confusing symptoms are difficulties with concentration, restlessness, irritability, disturbed sleep, being agitated, scared, insecure…
Delirium
This is another condition that can be treated, but they produce symptoms like excessive sleepiness, or lack of sleep, loss of memory, disorientation, confusion, hallucinations – very much like early stages of dementia. The main sign is that in delirium they appear suddenly, sometimes after a traumatic event, while in dementia they develop gradually.
Thyroid Disease
Whether a hypo or a hyper one, both can produce dementia-like symptoms. The first one is the culprit in mood changes, memory and focusing or learning difficulties, while the second one causes restlessness and even anxiousness, which are quite often in dementia. Properly diagnosed, both conditions can be successfully treated.
Vitamin Deficiency
Having not enough of vitamins B12, B1, B6 can cause irritability, confusion, general slowness, difficulty concentrating. Simply by taking in a suitable level of these vitamins will remove the symptoms that resemble those of dementia. In very rare cases also low levels of niacin and folic acid can actually lead to dementia.
Excessive Alcohol Intake
Drinking much more than normal for a prolonged time can cause memory loss, lack of concentration, or ability to perform everyday tasks. Withdrawal from heavy drinking however, also may produce cognitive impairment at the beginning.
Sleep Apnea
A condition where brain is deprived of oxygen for some time during sleep, can slow down the persons cognitive functions, decrease the ability to focus or be attentive. A healthy sleep in general is essential for normal brain functioning.
Urinary Tract Infection
Sudden mood changes, obvious confusion, depressed behavior may as well be the consequence of an UTI in older persons. It is caused by germs and is more likely to occur when the person is under hydrated. Luckily, it is fairly easily treated by antibiotics and a good amount of liquids (an older person needs about 8 glasses of liquid per day only for normal functioning).
Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
This is a condition where cerebrospinal fluids (the liquid which is here to absorb any shocks to the brain and to regulate the surrounding pressure) build up in the skull and increase the pressure on the brain. This will cause symptoms like severe forgetfulness, difficulties in walking, controlling the bladder and can lead to dementia. However, removing the cause, the dementia is potentially reversible.
Diabetes
This condition is actually considered a risk factor for developing vascular dementia. But, it can easily be mistaken for an already developing dementia, as it can produce brain changes that are distinctive in mild cognitive impairment, which usually leads to dementia. A severe hypoglycemia (drop of the sugar level in blood) will deprive the brain of the much-needed fuel and will cause difficulties with walking, thinking or performing everyday tasks. It can actually resemble also drunkenness.
Visual and Hearing Impairment
A person with visual impairment can start bumping into furniture at home, or try to cross the street not seeing the approaching car, or not noticing that someone entered the room, etc. A person that do not hear well may not engage in a conversation, for example, or answer your question. These may look like a cognitive decline which is characteristic for early stages of dementia, but are actually easily “cured” by a visual or a hearing aid.
Subdural Hematoma
It is in fact a head-injury-caused bleeding around the brain. The tissues will become overfilled with blood and pressure the brain itself. The pressure will affect its normal functioning resulting in behavioral changes, confusion, mind absence, apathy.
A small hematoma can gradually disappear on its own, while bigger ones are treated by various methods, all the way up to surgery. The point, however is, that it can be treated, unlike dementia.
Brain Tumor
Even a benign tumor can produce extra pressure on brain, damaging the cells and producing symptoms typical for dementia. After having them surgically removed, patients usually recover fully.
Lyme Disease
On a picnic in the woods or even in your own backyard, or around domestic animals, it is not so difficult to get bitten by a tick. It could pass into your blood stream bacteria that can cause Lime disease. The first typical symptoms are flu-like ones and are successfully treated by antibiotics.
The disease may, however, show its effect even in several months after the bite, when well spread over the body, and will have an impact on the nervous system, producing dementia-like symptoms (confusion, problems with short time memory, difficulties thinking clearly, focusing, performing the daily tasks). In late stage, unfortunately, only about 90% of patients get better.
Medications Side Effects
Pills like sleeping pills, painkillers, some antidepressants and even anti-anxiety medications can be a culprit. Also, even if it is not always directly the side effect of prescribed medications, the mutual effect of various medications can cause a state of confusion, disorientation and generally mental decline.
Liver and Kidney Failure
-will not help, either. This means toxic metabolic waste is not processed properly and washed out of the body. Gradually, it may build up in the blood, and reaching so the brain it can cause mental decline.
Final Thoughts
These are some of the most common conditions that can be mistaken for dementia. There are dozens more that produce similar symptoms. So, when you think you or your loved one is at the beginning of that cruel disease, before you fall in despair, try finding out if it is rather one of the many curable conditions that only “pretend” to be dementia.
I’d like to hear about your potential experiences on these dementia disguised conditions, if any, in the comments. I’d appreciate it and it may help someone.
And, as always, feel free to reach out should you have any questions and I’ll be happy to give you an answer to the best of my knowledge.
P.S. Did you manage to spot both women in the above drawing?
With Love,
Kerryanne
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Hi there,
What an interesting read this was. I’ve learned some extremely valuable pieces of information from your post. It really shows that looking after yourself is key throughout your life to prevent such issues from occurring.
I’ve heard depression can lead to dementia but I never knew that those other factors could contribute to it.
Thank you, Sharon, glad you liked it! Depression can lead to dementia, but can also be mistakenly diagnosed and therefore inadequately treated, as many more conditions, which I even could not all mention here.
Great article, Kerryane,
Back in the years, my dad (R.I.P.) had to surgeries for a subdural hematoma. He was healed, and passed away for a different health condition but not related to this.
Nowadays, I have a friend’s dad who is having some symptoms like my dad did before, and that triggered the surgery, and he was concerned with his dad having dementia, so in my search to find useful information for him, I got to your article and is great that you put these things to the reach of ordinary people knowledge, many can be prevented for wrong treatments as you said, but I do trust in the “head” doctors, in the end, they have studied one of the hardest and longest to acquire specializations, and I believe is mostly people without knowledge are the ones worrying about conditions just because they heard a rumor or about some symptoms.
Thank you for this great article my friend already received my share and he will be very happy to know more when talking to his dad’s doctors.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Pablo. Confusing other conditions with dementia does happen more often outside of the official diagnose, than within, I’ll absolutely agree with that. In the same times, at an older age, the diagnose of the dementia is the first obvious choice, as many people do have it. Doctors have studied indeed and they took the Hypocrite’s Oath to treat the ill to the best of their ability, which they surely do. Even so, it may happen that, due to the many similarities between these conditions, searching for other underlying causes stops too soon and the patient looses the chance to be treated for the condition which might be reversible, unlike dementia.
Thank you for sharing the article and I hope that it will truly be of help to your friend, as well.
All the best,
Kerryanne
This is a long list of conditions which can be mistaken for dementia. I would never have thought to link any of the mentioned but now I have read your post I have learnt this – thank you for bringing this important information to our attention! It is really helpful to know this.
That was my intention and I’m pleased if I succeeded in it!
All the best, Ola!
It is interesting how our bodies can sometimes “fool” us or our loved ones into having a condition that they do not have. Reading this article, I am beginning to realize how often we can mistake certain signs and we really need to see a doctor to rule out any wrong conclusions. It is so easy to make a mistake, and we are no doctors. It is easy for some to get patronizing with an older person who may have health problems and consequently they tend to ommit listening to him/her or what is really going on …
This article – like your other ones – was another eye-opening read for me.
Thank you Catherine, I’m really glad if you liked it.
We can very easily make a mistake, as many of these conditions have very similar symptoms at the beginnig. Human nature and way of thinking is a tricky one, when it comes to illnesses-we either do not take any notice of being ill, or we expect the worst possible outcome of it. So, it is only normal that we fear of the worse one-dementia in this case. It takes a lot of experience and a lot of eliminating to come to the true one. Sadly, not even the doctors do the right diagnose 100% of the time, so it is always on us to observe, double check the symptoms and ask the doctor for a new assessment if we are in doubt. Especially with our elderly loved ones. Too often have I seen a plain loneliness labeled with dementia in beginnings.
Kerryanne, the picture above is amazing. I had to move around just slightly and I was able to see both of them. A dear friend very close to me struggled with an addiction to anti-anxiety meds for 15yrs or more and she kept adding medication to her list to try and keep up with all of the ailments she had. She already had prior depression as well. Over the course of the years, she developed what we had thought was dementia starting. Loss of sleep or sleeping way too much. Delerium was a serious thing for her. She could not keep her days and nights straight or even what day it was. She started hallucinating and eventually lost most of her short term memory and cognitive functions. Keep in mind it is really a sad situation that all of the meds were actually prescribed to her by one doctor. After convincing her to see a new doctor and him putting her into rehab for the dependency of all the medicines I am so happy to say today that she is 98% better. It has been a long road but she no longer has any of the delirium, loss of memory, and she says she feels better than 20yrs ago. I hope that others can find answers to the concerns that make them concerned that their loved one may have dementia and find a positive outcome as we did. I suppose I never realized how many other health concerns could mimic dementia.
Thank you, Cheyenne for sharing with us this obvious and horrible in the same time example of misdiagnosing and mistreating someone, even by a doctor. Lucky she is to have friends like you who persuaded her to ask for a second opinion and to be able to find a doctor who was able to see through those misleading signs. The worse in this story is that it would have not taken that much even for the first doctor to rule out the harming medications and save her years of suffering.
I’m very sorry for what she have had gone through, but very happy that she managed to eliminate the consequences and live the life (almost) to the fullest.
Yes, I managed to spot both women. I passed now, didn’t I? 🙂
But you’re right, the signs don’t always indicate the right illness. So many older people, especially when they are on their own, eat not healthy enough, which causes a lot of problems. And now with COVID the impossibility of social interaction destroys many elderly people.
I see both elements happening for my mother-in-law (almost 90). She doesn’t eat very well and she feels lonely. So the family got into alarm state. Now there are doctors visiting, intake people for a possibly admission to a nursing home, a psychologist, and with all the attention it seems as if she is reviving.
I hope that won’t hinder her admission, because once all the attention is gone, she can relapse.
Passed with an “A”! I’m sorry, however to hear about your mother-in-law. Even more so, as loneliness can easily transform into a depression (not feeling like eating is one of the first signs) and the isolation which helps people not to contract the virus, unfortunately worsen the mental state, especially in such an advanced age. I hope she will be correctly diagnosed and treated adequately. If she lives alone and there is no one who could move in, perhaps the best solution is an admission to a nice assisted living facility.