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Old 09-27-2006, 11:21 PM #1
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Default Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)

Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)

http://memory.ucsf.edu/Education/Disease/ftd.html

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The term "Frontotemporal Dementia" or FTD refers to a group of diseases that are commonly misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's Disease (AD). We use the term FTD as a general term to refer to disorders that are also referred to as:

Pick's Disease
Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration
Progressive Aphasia
Semantic Dementia
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Old 12-09-2006, 10:07 PM #2
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Is it possible that young adults and teenagers or adolescents can possibly get mental or brain disorders that signifigantly affect their cognitive functioning such as dementing diseases known as dementia. I am a young adult experiencing very troubling symptoms that often disable my thinking or thought processing which inhibits, distracts, and disrupts my capability to function normally on own. Is it possible that i have dementia or some serious neurological impairment. I am 19 years old.
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Old 12-10-2006, 08:08 AM #3
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Hi makingtheconnection and welcome to NeuroTalk

I honestly dont know the answers to your questions but I did want to welcome you

Hopefully someone with more knowledge in this area will be able to give you some helpful info

Sometimes there are simple answers to complex symptoms, like nutritional deficiencies that are depriving the brain and nervous systom of essential elements that they need to function correctly.
Even parasitic or chemical toxins have been known to cause a sudden change in mental capabilities etc
Also, if you are on any medications, there may be a med that you are having an adverse reaction to........my son had medication induced psychosis once and so I know that this can occur

Have you been to see a physician?
That would be the first step in finding solutions.

In the meantime, there will always be someone here to offer you support and understanding. I know it must be very scary for you to be experiencing what you are
we care
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Old 12-10-2006, 11:22 AM #4
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Hello, makingtheconnection! I also can't answer you very well but did want to say welcome.

I can only imagine what a scary experience this may be for you. As stated above, there are many things that could cause a disturbance in the way(s) you typically function (mentally, physically, etc.). Some are very small, even a slight infection can do this, reactions to medications, foods, stress, other conditions (not related to the brain), etc. can cause these types of reactions.

I'm going to agree and say you should see a Physician as a first step. The best advice I can give you is to keep your stress levels low, follow-up *always* with your health care providers, and never be upset if they refer you to a mental health provider (it's almost mandatory these days, I thought my Neuro. was insinuating something negative) or a provider you think does not *fit* your current symptoms.

Check around our other topics and make yourself at home. We have an amazing group of members who offer some of the best support! Please keep us updated.

-Ellie

PS: I also wanted to say you seem to be extremely bright!
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Old 09-12-2007, 01:08 PM #5
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you might want to consult with someone in the public health system or more specifically the behavioral side of the public health system in your state. There are a number of mental disorders that appear in the late teen and early twenties. These are treatable biological disorders that are not neurological in their classification and they are treated free in every state by public psychiatrists. I want to particularly emphasize that they are biological diseases, to warn off any mis-information, or stigma.
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Old 01-06-2008, 12:17 PM #6
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I hope I am doing this right...I am a new member..Al, I know about FTD and my hubby's mental health care provider has diagnosed his FTD. He is 65 and everything his doctor told me to expect has happened...I find myself making excuses that he is just having a bad day (he is in the nursing home with multiple other medical problems)...but the social behavior changes, the rigidity of his body, he has both bowel and bladder incontinence saying he has already "done it" before he knows it....he has diabetic neuropathy in his legs and he has left foot drop...we have been married 21 years and never could I have asked for a more kinder, gentler, Christian man than him...now when I go see him he "orders" every one and he curses now like a sailor...yes, I am seeing someone to help me cope with this...I feel so helpless...sorry to unload on ya.....
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Old 01-08-2008, 08:22 AM #7
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Default Fellow FTDer

akla: Thanks for bringing this up!
makingtheconnection: hiya from a fellow new(er) member and FTDer!

I'm 24 and I have the symptoms of an FTD as well. MtC, I don't know what yours were caused by, but mine were caused by what we think is some sort of bug/microorganism (maybe a fungal infection). Mine also came with a parkinson-like movement disorder (essential tremor, intention tremor, stooping gait, profound philosophical issues with stairs, etc.), fever, exercise intolerance, and intense fatigue. In your case, you might want to consider any other neurological, infectious, or autoimmune symptoms you may have in order to properly frame your FTD symptoms with respect to them. "FTD" when mentioned all by itself generally refers to a specific disease of unknown cause affecting the middle-aged and elderly. Because of this pattern, it's not the neurologist's or psychiatrist's first thing on mind when a younger adult walks in with FTD-like symptoms.

A while back (for the benefit of myself as well as my caregivers [parents]), I snatched up a few articles from eMedicine.com (and its affiliate MedScape) and read up on and (attempted to) summarize them. I'm not going to quote the articles directly, but I will state what were, for me, salient points brought up by the authors:

-- Pure behavioral issues include impulsivity, loss of social inhibition, and an introverted withdrawal:

These symptoms are also shared with Alzheimer's disease, but you being 19, and me being 24, I'd be surprised if that were our issue. The combination of #1 and #2 makes patients have an odd sense of humor (mine has been very morbid as of recent; I told my father to have fun suing himself in a wrongful death suit after he refused to install a banister for me to navigate the basement stairs with). #3 is also a problem, caused not just by #2, but also my inability to speak fluently (see the aphasia stuff below).


-- A major issue in FTD is a verbal "aphasia" (inability to come up with words). Pure and full aphasia results in one being completely unable to write or talk due to lack of verbal abilities:

I think it's safe to assume that neither of us have the full version. As for my case, however, I do have a significant degree of aphasia, and to write a long, coherent post like this one takes well over 45 minutes (not counting the following 30 minutes during which I repeatedly edit it!). I also have minor issues with grammar/syntax, which unfortunately can cause the meanings of entire sentences to change (I once caused multiple threads on another message board to go down in flames when I accidentally insulted another member!).


--Despite the aphasia, normal intellect is retained:

Yes, this is how I manage to think up and summarize all of these ideas as well as bringing them up with my doctors, and not to mention, identifying a few possible pathogens of my disease to my infectious disease physician... despite being unable to remember where I put anything or if I took a shower today. Or if I shut the car door when I got home yesterday after shopping (n.B. - I didn't! Mom was not happy, given that it's her car as well.) It's like a hardcore version of AD/HD.


--Another issue seen are impulsions to stimulate oneself, namely the hands and the mouth. FTD patients are apparently prone to toying with any object within reach, and have a propensity for eating a lot and/or just needing something in their mouth to chew on:

Yep, that's me. I'd built so many clocks this past summer that it wasn't funny. My mother thought I had some sort of obsession with clocks, but then we'd later realized that I'd built so many table lamps soon afterwards that clocks weren't the problem. I also was gaining weight from overeating until I realized I was, in fact, overeating.


--"Supporting" (not required but helpful in diagnosis) criteria in the US and Canada include the replacement of verbal abilities with artistic and musical (!) ones:

Subjectively, I think they mean... if you like hard rock, try http://www.psychobiologist.net/music (my music hobby site)... Not kidding, I wasn't able to do music until about a year ago, which is when my other dementia symptoms really went downhill. I was wide-eyed alarmed to read that the US and Canada use this as supporting criteria.


--I'll be looking at other summaries one of these days...


Articles:

Behavioral difficulties in traditional FTD vs. Alzheimer disease: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/555186

Professional article on traditional FT(L)D (registration required):
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/TOPIC140.HTM

Professional article on other causes of fronto-temporal syndromes (causes ranging from traumatic injury to hydrocephalus to encephalitis to you name it) (registration required):
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/TOPIC436.HTM

I hope y'all find my rantings to be a helpful. And, MtC, please do consider if there could be some sort of other brain malady leading to a fronto-temporal syndrome, and speak with a neurologist about it. You might be able to get the problem fixed.

Good health to all and I'll shut up now,
--MaracaSalesman

[EDIT: This post actually took 70 minutes to write, namely as I have a hard time shutting up.]
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Neuro issues: Peripheral (1999-) and brain (2002-) neuropathies w/parkinsonian syndrome, chronic infection w/fever (2001-, fevers became daily in 2006), major depression (1993-), neuropsychiatric bipolar disorder (2005-)

Other: Marfan-like disorder (congenital), VSD (congenital, fixed 1984), Existence (1983-)

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Old 04-17-2012, 05:45 AM #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by makingtheconnection View Post
Is it possible that young adults and teenagers or adolescents can possibly get mental or brain disorders that signifigantly affect their cognitive functioning such as dementing diseases known as dementia. I am a young adult experiencing very troubling symptoms that often disable my thinking or thought processing which inhibits, distracts, and disrupts my capability to function normally on own. Is it possible that i have dementia or some serious neurological impairment. I am 19 years old.
The answer is yes, yet, too, only a licensed physician would be most qualified to offer a diagnosis. There are also other conditions which a doc would need to rule in or rule out.

I hope that you will post again with a possible update.
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