Tishelle: My late ex husband suffered from Frontotemporal dementia. Follow the wonderful longtime poster, MargaretMcKen's suggestion to access posts on FTD.
That is my husband's formal diagnosis. The first MRI imaging done a year ago showed plaque formations in his brain-they look rather pale, denser than the surrounding areas. They were mostly in the front of the brain and on either side. I made it very clear to the neurologist that I wanted follow up imaging to be done a year later to asses the changes. Recently a PET scan was done, and it has confirmed Frontal Temporal Dementia. There are slight to more obvious differences with FTD vs Alzheimers. It tends to manifest earlier between the ages of 40-60. The duration of the disease tends to run about 5-10 years. Obviously this is another form of dementia and it still means that brain capacity is being lost. It's just how the various regions are affected. My husband has more difficulty walking, talking, sleep issues, anxiety, word finding, sporadic falling, appetite loss. He just had a couple days of high level activity (initiated by himself) and will probably be sleeping a lot to compensate. Occsionally he'll have visual hallucinations. I've gotten much better at managing anger outbursts, key to dealing with any form of dementia.
My husband was first diagnosed by a neurologist to have frontotemporal dementia but the second neurologist said Alzheimer’s. Since both types are dementia and share many similarities, I didn’t care what the exact diagnosis was called. FTD has no treatment, while Alz has a few meds for early and moderate stages. My husband is now in advanced stage, so there’s nothing anyone can help him.
If you put FTD in the magnifying glass symbol at the top right of the screen, you will get links to old posts about FTD. They might give you a range of experiences. I’m sorry that I have no personal experience, and I hope this can help.
There are slight to more obvious differences with FTD vs Alzheimers. It tends to manifest earlier between the ages of 40-60. The duration of the disease tends to run about 5-10 years. Obviously this is another form of dementia and it still means that brain capacity is being lost. It's just how the various regions are affected.
My husband has more difficulty walking, talking, sleep issues, anxiety, word finding, sporadic falling, appetite loss. He just had a couple days of high level activity (initiated by himself) and will probably be sleeping a lot to compensate. Occsionally he'll have visual hallucinations. I've gotten much better at managing anger outbursts, key to dealing with any form of dementia.