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Robin Williams Dementia

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What honestly did kill Robin Williams?“ He WAS suffering from dementia but that wasn’t what killed him, ” it was asphyxiation!” many would say, but the real cold killer is Lewy Body Dementia-- that’s exactly what he was secretly suffering from. Folks who do not know what Lewy Body Dementia is would just shrug it off as just another name for dementia, but actually it is the other way around. My personal childhood friend, even though we never met, he touched my heart along with so many other before me, that he has entertained, in his life. He played numerous memorable film roles, both comedic and dramatic: Robin Williams. (Bio) Mr. Williams's longtime companions throughout his life were drugs, alcohol, depression mostly.(Cieply) Some of those …show more content…

Fluctuations in cognition, attention or alertness; Problems with movement including tremors, stiffness, slowness and difficulty walking; Visual hallucinations (seeing things that are not present); Sleep disorders, such as acting out one’s dreams while asleep Behavioral and mood symptoms, including depression, apathy, anxiety, agitation, delusions or paranoia; Changes in autonomic body functions, such as blood pressure control, temperature regulation, and bladder and bowel function. The symptoms of LBD are treatable: All medications prescribed for LBD are approved for a course of treatment for symptoms related to other diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease with dementia and offer symptomatic benefits for cognitive, movement and behavioral problems. (Washington) It is not uncommon, however, for early signs of dementia to go undetected. The Mini Mental Status Exam – a common screening test for cognitive impairment and dementia used by many physicians – is not able to detect cognitive impairment in early DLB. (10 things) Lewy body dementias (LBD) are the second most common form of degenerative dementia. Lewy bodies are misfolded protein deposits found in the brains of individuals with several different disorders including Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB); and the autopsy of Mr. Williams, indicated the presence of ‘diffuse Lewy body dementia’ in the brain of Mr. Williams. This is more commonly called ‘diffuse Lewy body disease’ which reflects the biological disease process in the brain. LBD is an umbrella term for dementia associated with the presence of Lewy bodies (abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein) in the brain. (Washington) Although with so much intensive research, doctors still have trouble diagnosing patients

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