My Brain is Damaged

Damaged

The following information is hard for me to cope with as I am losing my brain slowly but surely.

Not my words or imagery.

I have dementia.

My form of dementia is Fronto-Temporal Behavior Disorder.

The following is from the National Institute for Aging.

Frontotemporal disorders (FTD), sometimes called frontotemporal dementia, result from damage to neurons in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Many symptoms can result, including unusual behaviours, emotional problems, trouble communicating, difficulty with work, or difficulty walking. FTD is rare and occurs at a younger age than other forms of dementia. Roughly 60% of people with FTD are 45 to 64 years old.

FTD is progressive, meaning symptoms get worse. In the early stages, people may have just one symptom. As the disease progresses, other symptoms appear as more parts of the brain are affected. It is difficult to predict how long someone with FTD will live. Some people live over 10 years after diagnosis, while others live less than two years after someone diagnosed them.

Exercising the brain often and hard. Playing games that stimulate the brain. Eat brain food. Exercise often.

Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal lobe dementia (FTD) is an umbrella term for a spectrum of relatively uncommon disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain.

These are the areas of the brain associated with personality, behaviour, and language.

The death of brain cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain caused this disease, causing portions of those areas to atrophy or shrink and is a significant cause of dementia in younger people.

The frontal lobes of the brain are behind the forehead and are associated with personality and behaviour (on the right side) and language (on the left side). The temporal lobes of the brain handle comprehension or the understanding of words (on the left side) and a person’s memory (more on the right side).

FTD occurs at a younger age than Alzheimer's disease (typically between 40 and 70 years of age). It’s more common when a person reaches their 60’s but has been known to occur as early as the 30s. It is the third most common cause of dementia in this age group.

They consider it to be more rapidly progressive than Alzheimer’s disease.

It can be as short as two years when it is associated with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also referred to as motor neuron disease or Lou Gehrig's disease).

We often assume that Frontotemporal Dementia is synonymous with Pick’s disease. This is not true. Pick’s disease is just one type of FTD.

We have associated FTD with multiple proteins- Tau, TDP43, FUS etc.