How does dementia and Parkinson's effect the brain?

On YouTube - Senior Helpers National & anything by Teepa Snow. She has done a multitude of video seminars that are a must know for caregivers. Ms. Snow explains the various types of Dementia and what is happening in the brain.
Bottom line - the brain is dying and cumulative short circuits along the way.

Go to alz.org for more answers. It depends on what symptoms are presented at time of diagnosis to be considered Parkinson's or Dementia or can be a combination. My mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's first. Then later added dementia then later Alzheimer's . Mostly it is a slowly down progression of brain function and motor functions. Good luck, it is a terrible disease no matter what you call it.

To "pamstegman". Parkinson's is not a type of dementia. However, Parkinson's patience may develop a type of dementia.

Dementia refers to a deteriorating mental capacity, which can have many different causes including strokes, head trauma, infection, nerve damage, calcifications or tumors. Parkinson's is a type of dementia. Alzheimer's is another type, Vascular Dementia is a type, or the patient may have a mixed dementia with more than one type.
"Parkinson's Chills" can be helped with adjustments in medication, so I would cover this with the MD as soon as possible, because it points to damage in the hypothalamus of the brain.

It could be worse. My brother-in-law has PD caused dementia and he thinks every female that comes near him is there for a sexual encounter. He has asked each one of his female caregivers (and a female relative) inappropriate questions and made comments that would make a sailor blush. Now, they can only use male caregivers with him. LOL

My dad had the same symptoms.. His doctor told me the hallucination & story telling is part of his disease. He did talk about increasing one of his meds but because my dad is a kidney transplant patient it can cause more problems with his kidneys disease. After about less than 2 yrs it all stopped. I do miss the story telling because now he hardly speaks. May God bless you with strength.

My dad had the same symptoms.. His doctor told me the hallucination & story telling is part of his disease. He did talk about increasing one of his meds but because my dad is a kidney transplant patient it can cause more problems with his kidneys disease. After about less than 2 yrs it all stopped. I do miss the story telling because now he hardly speaks. May God bless you with strength.

My Dad has had PD with dementia for the last 15 years. It has been my experience that many times it is possibly a medication, or the lack of a needed one, that is causing the unusual feelings or behavior. Dad was hallucinating regularly and having converstations with people no one else could see. When we discussed this with his neurologist, Dad was placed on a new patch called Exelon. It was amazing the difference it made. Of course, it was very expensive so we switched to the pill form-rivistigmime but the results are the same, excellent. He still has dementia but he seems to be more aware of when he's acting "different" and will call himself on it. I'd begin by discussing the medications with the treating neurologist and see if any changes should be made. Good luck to you. It's a horrible disease but there are still good memories to make.