Daily Archives: April 19, 2015

The Conundrum of PD: Are Memory Problems due to Disease, Medications or Both?: By Dr. De Leon

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defeatparkinsons

“Understanding (PD) is like trying to put together a puzzle with pieces that don’t fit” -Dave Guerrero.

puzzle brain

Cognitive problems and memory loss issues is one of those symptoms of PD which seem to plague all of us from day one whether we are patients or caregivers.

The thing we must first remember is that dementia is defined as loss of previously acquired skills e.g. washing dishes, cooking, driving etc. Parkinson’s dementia does not occur in typically until late stages. This means that patients would have had a diagnosis and symptoms of Parkinson’s for over 10-15 years before dementia sets in. If anyone has symptoms of dementia present earlier than this than chances are the disease they have is not typical, common garden variety Parkinson’s but a variant which could include things like PD plus syndromes (MSA, CBGD, LBD) or another dementia disorder such as FTD or Alzheimer’s and PD as well as…

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