Non-Alzheimer’s Dementias

At Pathways Memory Care, we are committed to helping family members understand the approach we take to our dementia care plans, whether they are being tailored to a resident with Alzheimer’s disease or to a resident requiring vascular dementia treatment.

Pathways memory care services put the care and treatment interventions below into practice. We work closely with family members to determine the best dementia care plans for their loved one. For questions about our approach to caring for dementia, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Dementia Type	Symptoms	Interventions
Lewy Body Dementias: Parkinson Disease with Dementia (PDD) & Dementia with Lewy Bodies (LBD)	Progressive dementia Visual spatial processing Attention deficit Executive dysfunction Visual hallucinations Delusions and depression/anxiety are common Confabulation Parkinsonism and fall risk: slow movement, rigidity, tremors and gait difficulties Day to day fluctuation, variable memory Autonomic dysfunction Daytime drowsiness, and difficulty staying asleep REM sleep behavior disorder: acting out of dreams Constipation Loss of smell PDD versus LBD symptoms: PDD: dementia develops after motor disorder LBD: dementia develops prior or at same time as motor disorder	Mindfulness-based dementia care Whole care team and family involvement Physical, occupational, and speech therapies Improve sensory impairment Structure environment (safety issues) Behavioral interventions

Dementia Type	Symptoms	Interventions
Frontotemporal Dementia	Symptoms start between 40–60 Poor planning Disinhibition Apathy Emotional blunting Euphoria Obsessions and compulsions Mental rigidity Depression Disease itself, not environment, is cause of behaviors Specific FTD variations Behavioral variant (Pick’s Disease) Disinhibition Flattening of affect Distractibility Impulsiveness Poor planning and judgment Hyperorality Hypersexuality Memory intact Primary progressive aphasia Nonfluent variant: loss of ability to produce language Semantic variant: loss of word/object meaning Logopenic aphasia: word finding problems, loss of language comprehension For all 3, episodic memory is intact	See Administrator Mindfulness-based dementia care Whole care team and family involvement Replace difficult behaviors with more benign behaviors Repetitive ritualistic behaviors may have to be tolerated For apathy, structure day, help stick with task within capabilities Small rewards for completing ADLs Nutrition management, such as limiting overeating, serving limited amounts at mealtime, restricting foods or sweets, and monitoring intake
Vascular Dementia	Similar to Alzheimer’s Memory loss Organization, problem-solving, word finding challenges Slowed thinking, distraction, absent-mindedness Depression, irritability, apathy Hallucinations, delusions Balance and movement problems	See Administrator Vascular risk factor control Mindfulness-based dementia care Whole care team and family involvement

Dementia Type	Symptoms	Interventions
Alcohol-related Dementia (Wernicke-Korsakoff’s)	Symptoms/acute: Abnormal eye movements Gait problems Confusion Symptoms/chronic (if not treated): Severe and persistent amnesia Personality change Apathy Confabulation	See Administrator Mindfulness-based dementia care Whole care team and family involvement Physical, occupational, and speech therapies Improve sensory impairment Structure environment (safety issues) Behavioral interventions