A ‘vision’ in front of your eyes could be a symptom of dementia?

If you believe that what happened in your dream is real and talk about it violently, or if you do not distinguish between reality and delusion when you wake up and suffer from hallucinations and hallucinations, it may be a symptom of ‘dementia’. In fact, one patient misunderstood that a black cat is passing quickly through the house even though he does not have a cat at home, or has delusions of thinking that the house is a farm with many animals and someone is coming to catch him, and accordingly kicks in the air. appeared to have a behavioral disorder.

If these ▲ hallucinations, ▲ cognitive impairment, and ▲ Parkinson’s symptoms, which are stiff and trembling, occur at the same time, ‘Lewy body dementia’ can be suspected. Lewy body dementia is different from the commonly known ‘Alzheimer’s dementia’, and is known to represent an incidence rate of about 3.4% of the total number of dementia patients in Korea. So, what is Lewy body dementia and how can it be distinguished?

◇ What is ‘Lewy body dementia’?

‘Lewis body’ of dementia is the name of the ‘abnormal protein lump’ discovered by a German scholar, Louis, while observing the brain of a dementia patient under a microscope. In general, Lewy body dementia, which appears frequently in people over the age of 70, occurs when a protein mass found in damaged nerve cells occurs extensively in the brain. Lewy body dementia is often mistaken for ‘Parkinson’s disease,’ as it exhibits markedly slowed behavior and convulsive Parkinson’s symptoms. However, in Lewy body dementia, it is common that Parkinson’s symptoms appear after the onset of dementia.

The most common symptom found in Lewy body dementia is REM sleep behavior disorder. Everyone experiences repeated dreaming REM sleep and non-dreaming non-REM sleep while sleeping. In a normal person, during REM sleep, except for the respiratory muscles for breathing, the strength of the whole body is lost and there is almost no movement. However, patients with Lewy body dementia develop ‘REM sleep behavior disorder’, such as telling the contents of a dream or moving and reacting according to the dream, because the muscle strength does not fall out while dreaming.

In addition, if you suffer from Lewy body dementia, you may experience significant ups and downs in cognitive functions, such as severe memory impairment and memory recovery, as well as slowed behavior and impaired balance. Treatment of Lewy body dementia includes rehabilitation treatment such as ‘exercise therapy’ to help recover muscle movement and ‘reality awareness training’ to recognize basic facts, and drug treatment to prescribe drugs used for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. However, certain medications can make Lewy body dementia worse, so close consultation with an experienced psychiatrist is necessary.