FTD?

[Alzheimer's Al]

My friend, don't be confused. There are over 70 different dementias
that mimic the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Some are reversible,
some are not. One thing is for sure, dementia is dementia. They could
be calm and docile one minute, agitated and arrogant the next. One
thing is also for sure, in 15 minutes they'll forget all about it.
Never reason with the person, just agree and try to create as little
stress as possible to them, and at the same time to yourself.
At home care is a rough road, so prepare yourself with knowledge.
It makes all the difference in the world. Best of luck and God Bless!

Well, since I can't seem to find an appropriate usenet group for
fronto-temporal dementia I thought I might try here.
My mother was diagnosed today, after extensive neurological testing,
with FTD. I've spent all morning on the internet doing my research,
but I have become very confused on two points.
#1 - Is this the same as Pick's disease, or is there an entire class
of fronto-temporal dimentias and Pick's is one? Should I ask my folks
to get a clarification of exactly what type of FTD this is, or is
there just one? Does it make a difference in terms of
symptoms/treatment/prognosis?
#2 - The primary symptom I've seen listed is behavioral changes. My
mother is depressed, and has memory loss. That's it. No food
cravings, no inappropriate behavior, I've not even noticed her
misusing words. I have seen her forget I told her something 2 minutes
after I told her. I've seen her prepare a dish differently than she's
prepared it for the last 30 years or so. And I've also seen her get
lost driving in a city that she's lived in for the last 29 years (of
course, she's always had a rotten sense of direction). None of what
I'm seeing seems like what the FTD websites are describing.
I would really appreciate hearing from other folks who have dealt with
this. Is it possible my mother just has atypical symptoms, or is this
typical and I'm just not interpreting what I'm reading correctly?
Sorry for all the questions, but I really am overwhelmed a bit right
now and have no idea who to ask. Of course, I also keep hoping that
the diagnosis is just plain wrong. (denial is the first stage of
something, right?)
Thanks for your help.
-Meredith

[Adelle D. Stavis, Esq.]

http://www.pdsg.org.uk/articles/GaA-1.htm
Above is a good article on the differences - Pick's is one type of
frontotemporal dementia. But you are right - the symptoms do tend be
quite distinctive and involve language and social behaviours earlier
and more profoundly than most other dementias.
http://www.emedicine.com/NEURO/topic140.htm
http://www.caregiver.org/factsheets/frontotemp.html
How did they decide it was frontotemporal?

I'm going to echo what Mary said and her question. Pick's is one form of
FLD/FTD. My Father in Law had it, ultimately diagnosed with a 'scan' - not
sure if it was a CAT or PET.

Some of the language stuff can be easy to 'hide.' Can she always retrieve
the word she wants when speaking? For years before a lot of the behavioral
stuff came up, my FIL would have to describe something or 'talk around' a
word instead of being able to retrieve the exact word he wanted (would say -
"what was that word?" "Oh, you know," or things like fish would be "swims,
has gills, eat it for dinner, Oh, you know what I mean"; or, "Hon, what was
it we had for dinner last night that I thought you cooked wonderfully...?"
MIL didn't notice it at all, because she spent every day with him (they were
retired). We did notice it, but didn't think much about it at the time.

Other early symptoms were becoming more socially withdrawn, losing items,
compulsive behavior and trouble following directions. We actually thought he
(and Mom-in law) were just being nasty when they'd come to visit in MA (from
NY), say he was too tired to follow through with plans to sight see with us
and the grandkids, and then go do what we had planned, but without us.
Looking back, I'm going to bet he couldn't handle the commotion of the kids
being around. Not long after that he began thinking people were coming into
the house at night and taking things. He was probably hiding things from
fear/paranoia and forgetting where he put them. Losing his keys appeared
then, but losing his way came up much later. And compulsiveness manifest in
trying to enter every sweepstakes, lottery and get rich scheme he could. He
also started to have problems following directions for carpentry projects,
even ones he'd done before to perfection.

Each person is slightly different, though. Some symptoms crop up earlier
with some people and not others.

Adelle

[Zetekitoxin]

http://www.pdsg.org.uk/articles/GaA-1.htm
Above is a good article on the differences - Pick's is one type of

Thank you so much for the articles. They definitely helped me sort
some things out and I'm beginning to be able to see more of my mom's
symptoms described.

How did they decide it was frontotemporal?

Neuro-psych testing, CT scan to rule out tumors (I assume), and maybe
other things, but I'm not sure. Next week she will have a PET scan,
but the neurologist seems fairly confident in his diagnosis, from what
my dad tells me.

Thanks again.

-Meredith

[Alan Holbrook]

***@danger.org (Zetekitoxin) wrote in news:***@posting.google.com:
I just dropped in for one of my rather infrequent visits to this group, so
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but there is an association for
FTD, The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, at
http://www.theaftd.org. A good resource for FTD informatiomn.

To add to what some of the other replies are touching on, my wife exhibited
the classic symptoms of AD and was diagnosed with AD by a very good,
competent, and world-renowned neurologist. It wasn't until 8 years later,
after her death, that an autopsy revealed she had FTD.

[Dennis P. Harris]

On 23 Jun 2003 11:18:35 -0700 in alt.support.alzheimers,

And I've also seen her get
lost driving in a city that she's lived in for the last 29 years (of
course, she's always had a rotten sense of direction).

I sincerely hope that she's no longer driving. If she is, you
need to have her doc notify your DMV ASAP, so they cancel her
license. Better that the doc and DMV do it, so they, not you,
are the bad guys.