If you see that a loved one behaves like this during sleep, you should seek medical help.Dementia is a syndrome that is a group of symptoms associated with ongoing brain decline. It can affect people in different ways, but common signs include problems with memory, behavior, and even mobility.
Symptoms can even appear during sleep.
Along with Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies is one of the most common forms of dementia.
This is caused by the formation of protein clumps inside the brain cells, which create abnormal deposits called Lewy bodies. These deposits interfere with normal brain function by interfering with the signals sent between cells. However, it is not yet known exactly what causes these protein clumps to form.
Sleep and dementia with Lewy bodies
“Common symptoms includeacting out dreams and seeing things which are absent, known as visual hallucinations,” says neurologist Alexandra Alekhina especially for Medikforum.
Signs and symptoms of Lewy body dementia
Patients are five times more likely to have Lewy body dementia if they experience a condition known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder than if they have one of the risk factors now being used to make a diagnosis, such as fluctuating cognition or hallucinations, a new study has found.
As part of the study, the team examined MRI scans of the brains of 75 patients diagnosed with “probable” dementia with Lewy bodies. They cross-referenced this with their medical history to see if they had ever been diagnosed with a sleep disorder.
Apathy could be a marker of impending dementia
“Although it is certainly true that not everyone who has this sleep disorder develops Lewy body dementia, 75 to 80 percent of men with Lewy body dementia do experience REM sleep behavior disorder. So it's a very powerful marker of the disease.”
Sleep problems can exacerbate confusion and behavioral problems in people with Lewy body dementia and increase the burden on caregivers.
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