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Cognitive Impairment: trouble with memory, visuospatial abilities (judging distance, misidentifying objects), and to a lesser degree attention and executive functions.

Cognitive Fluctuations: Unpredictable changes in concentration, attention, alertness, and wakefulness.

Visual Hallucinations: hallucinations are realistic and detailed, often not frightening

Parkinsonism: tremor, rigidity, gait and balance problems.

Sleep disorders: act out the dreams, insomnia, narcolepsy.

Core diagnostic features:

Fluctuating cognition

Recurrent, well-formed visual hallucinations

Parkinsonism developed after the cognitive decline

Suggestive diagnostic features:

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder

Severe sensitivity to neuroleptics

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Typically appears between the ages of 50 and 85 (most cases: onset in the mid-70s). Average duration of 5 to 7 years, but can range from 2 to 20 year depending on health, age, and severity of symptoms. Sometimes, the disease first presents with a cognitive disorder that might look like Alzheimer’s disease. Specific DLB symptoms: unpredictable levels of cognition, attention, or alertness; changes in walking or movement; visual hallucinations; REM sleep behavior disorder; and sensitivity to neuroleptics. In other people, the disease manifests first with a movement disorder leading to the diagnosis of PD, and they later develop dementia and other symptoms common in DLB. A small group presents first with neuropsychiatric symptoms, which can include hallucinations, behavioral problems, and executive dysfunction.

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Abnormal deposits of a protein alpha-synuclein, called Lewy bodies, builds up in the brain. These clumps damage nerve cells and interfere with the brain's normal functions by affecting signals between brain cells. Accumulation of Lewy bodies is associated with a loss of certain neurons in the brain that produce two important neurotransmitters: chemicals that act as messengers between brain cells. One of them is acetylcholine, important for memory and learning. The other, dopamine, plays an important role in behavior, cognition, movement, motivation, sleep, and mood.

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Levy Body Dementia Association, https://www.lbda.org/

Levy Body Resource Center, https://lewybodyresourcecenter.org/

"What Is Lewy Body Dementia? Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments" - National Institute of Aging, https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/lewy-body-dementia/what-lewy-body-dementia-causes-symptoms-and-treatments

"Caring for a Person With Lewy Body Dementia", - National Institute of Aging, https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/lewy-body-dementia/caring-person-lewy-body-dementia

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OUR MISSION

Through outreach, education and research, we support those affected by Lewy body dementias, their families and caregivers. We are dedicated to raising awareness and promoting scientific advances.

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Lewy Body Dementia Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

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LBDA supports those affected by Lewy body dementia by raising awareness and promoting scientific advances. Donate to help treat LBD today!