Difference Between Dementia & Stroke

Dementia and stroke refer to two very serious and very different conditions. A stroke is one potential cause of dementia.

Definition

Dementia is not a disease but rather a group of symptoms that can be caused by a variety of diseases and conditions. Stroke is a medical emergency that occurs when blood stops flowing to the brain.

Symptoms

Dementia is characterized by impaired cognition, memory loss, loss of language capability, changes in personality, behavioral and emotional disturbances, hallucinations and agitation. Symptoms of stroke occur suddenly and may include numbness in the arms, legs or face, confusion, impaired speech, impaired vision, loss of balance, dizziness, and severe headache.

Types

Different types of dementia include Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. Different types of stroke are ischemic stroke, which can be further classified as thrombotic or embolic, hemorrhagic stroke and transient ischemic attacks.

Cause

Dementia may be caused by conditions including stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases, toxic reactions to drugs and alcohol and head injury. Ischemic stroke is caused by a blood clot that blocks a blood vessel in the brain, and hemorrhagic stroke is caused by a broken blood vessel that bleeds in the brain.

Treatment

Medications such as Aricept, Exelon, Razadyne and Namenda may slow the progression of symptoms of dementia. According to the National Institutes of Health, stroke should be treated quickly and administration of blood thinning drugs is the most common form of treatment.

References

• National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health website
• MayoClinic.com: Health and medicine information
• WebMD.com: Health and medicine information