Early Dementia Symptom Could Include This Sign In Your Vision

Lewy body dementia, according to Dementia UK, is responsible for up to 20% of patients diagnosed with the neurological condition. Dementia UK is a charitable organization providing Admiral Nurses for families with loved ones affected by dementia. Often misdiagnosed in its early stages, Lewy body dementia has one clear symptom that could ring alarm bells.

A Disturbing Symptom

The charitable organization reveals that recurrent visual hallucinations, which could either be pleasant or upsetting, is a tell-tale indication of Lewy body dementia. Such hallucinations include seeing people, shapes, or animals that are not really there. Obviously, having a loved one experiencing such hallucinations can be very disturbing.

Many Lewy body dementia patients also report hearing sounds that no one else can hear and smell scents that are not actually wafting in the air. In some cases, patients experience tactile hallucinations. This is when their sense of touch is very different from those around them.

These hallucinations can twist the patient’s version of reality. They can also feel and look very strange, in most cases frightening, to one suffering from Lewy body dementia.

The notion that loved ones and friends are rejecting your own reality can be downright confusing and very distressing, making the condition very challenging for those involved.

The Likely Cause

According to Dementia UK, Lewy body dementia is triggered by abnormal clusters of protein, referred to as Lewy bodies, which gather inside brain cells. These Lewy bodies can accumulate in several brain sections, but mostly in areas responsible for visual perception, movement, thought, and the area regulating sleep and alertness.

The presence of these Lewy bodies damages brain nerve cells and disrupts the way these nerve cells communicate. Such can lead to a variety of other symptoms.

Difficulty Sleeping

Another manifestation of Lewy body dementia is experiencing difficulty while sleeping. According to Express, those who suffer from the condition may physically act out their dreams. This occurs during the sleep’s REM.

If your loved one has been having such difficulties, better be wary. These incidents during sleep, which sometimes are nightmares, can make the patient very restless.

Attention Levels

Those who have attention levels that are fluctuating may also be suffering from Lewy body dementia. One instance is when people would just stare blankly into space or perhaps experience drowsiness.