From: deputydog23x@gmail.com   
      
   Subtle signs of decline: Frontotemporal dementia often overlooked at first    
   Kristi L. Nelson    
   5:19 PM, Jul 8, 2015    
   8:24 AM, Jul 10, 2015    
   local news    
      
        
   SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL Joann Hill and her husband of 51 years, Don Hill,   
   share a moment on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, at Concord Adult Day Enrichment   
   Services. Don Hill has been diagnosed with Frontotemporal dementia, often   
   misdiagnosed as a psychiatric    
   problem or confused with Alzheimer's disease.    
      
   SAUL YOUNG    
   HIDE CAPTION    
   Joann Hill thought at first that her husband might be having a "midlife   
   crisis."    
      
   His personality changed. His demeanor changed. His interests changed. He   
   behaved oddly, with strange lapses in judgment and reactions that were unusual   
   for him.    
      
   At the time, Joann Hill thought they needed marriage counseling. Now, looking   
   back 15 years, Hill can see those were signs of Frontotemporal dementia --   
   more commonly called "FTD" by those it affects -- with which her husband, Don,   
   was diagnosed around    
   five years ago.    
      
   She learned that, even though its symptoms are often initially blamed on   
   psychiatric problems, experts now say the group of disorders classified as FTD   
   could account for as many as 15 percent of all dementias.    
      
   FTD presents in a completely different way than the more commonly understood   
   Alzheimer's disease, and managing it is also completely different, from   
   caregiver coping tactics to medications that can help with symptoms, though   
   they don't seem to reverse or    
   slow the damage.    
      
   "Professionals are just learning good strategies to support that person (with   
   FTD)," said Janice Wade-Whitehead, executive director of Alzheimer's   
   Tennessee. "Our families tell us that a lot of times they go years without   
   getting the proper diagnosis,    
   when, looking back, they can see the symptoms."    
      
   That's one reason the nonprofit is starting a monthly FTD support group and   
   emphasizing FTD during its annual Caring and Coping Caregiver Conference, July   
   28 at Laurel Church of Christ, though all dementias will be addressed.    
      
   Among conference speakers is Dr. Monica Crane, clinical research director of   
   the Cole Neuroscience Center at the University of Tennessee Medical Center,   
   who has developed a special interest in FTD.    
      
   The symptoms can be more subtle than those of other dementias, Crane said:   
   changes in personality, personal hygiene or appetite, such as overeating; loss   
   of motivation and of empathy for others; impaired judgment; loss of language,   
   where a person is    
   unable to call up the right word for an object.    
      
   "It's so subtle, sometimes it goes unnoticed," Crane said. "In medical school,   
   we are taught that this is rare, so we just basically missed it -- a lot. When   
   you think something is rare, you don't look for it."    
      
   FTD is more common than Alzheimer's in young people, she said, often occurring   
   when people are in their 40s and 50s. Since the first noticeable changes are   
   usually behavioral, she said, providers often misdiagnose FTD as a psychiatric   
   problem -- in up to    
   half of male FTD patients and as many as 70 percent of women with FTD.    
      
   FTD shrinks the brain's frontal lobe, "a critical part of the brain" for   
   decision-making and self-awareness, Crane said -- but the brain is complex and   
   can compensate for the damage for a period of time.    
      
   Many people diagnosed with FTD -- including Don Hill -- don't think they have   
   it.    
      
   It was when Joann Hill was diagnosed with breast cancer that "it hit me like a   
   ton of bricks," she said. Her brilliant, usually compassionate husband was   
   unable to understand or empathize with her illness and the resulting surgery   
   and chemotherapy. It    
   was then Hill decided to move from their Maryland home -- Don Hill had worked   
   as an engineer in Washington, D.C. -- to East Tennessee, where they had built   
   a home for retirement and had a daughter nearby.    
      
   "I knew I could not take care of him and do the breast cancer thing," Hill   
   said.    
      
   Here, Don Hill, 76, takes medications to stave off anxiety, depression and   
   compulsive behaviors common to FTD. Diet and exercise are thought to be   
   beneficial at regulating some brain chemicals, so he works out twice a week   
   with a trainer. He reads daily,    
   and he and Joann, 71, stay busy and travel frequently. He also attends Concord   
   Adult Day Enrichment Services four days a week, and Joann attends CADES'   
   caregiver support group.    
      
   Though she misses the partner she married 51 years ago, "we have a very good   
   life."    
      
   Talking to others has helped her come to terms with her new life, she said.    
      
   "It might be unlikely for (FTD families) to connect with people experiencing   
   the same thing, unless we create a venue for that to happen," Wade-Whitehead   
   said. "There's nothing like sharing the journey with someone who's going   
   through the same thing."    
      
      
      
   http://www.knoxnews.com/news/local-news/subtle-signs-of-decline-   
   rontotemporal-dementia_55923134   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)