Most Lewy Body Patients die from multiple complications which include (immobility, falls, poor nutrition, swallowing difficulties, or pneumonia.
The Lewy Body dementia is a progressive disease and some patients who are diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia die within 5 to 8 years of diagnoses.
The average life expectancy of someone diagnosed with Lewy Bodies Dementia is 5 to 7 years.
The 7 stages of Lewy Body Dementia are.
Stage one: Absolutely normal stage
No symptoms. Patients are absolutely normal
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scans of the brain might show incidental findings during routine examinations
Daytime sleeping with hallucinations and mood fluctuations are noticed in some patients
Stage two: Very mild symptoms
Difficult or impossible to notice these minor symptoms
Mild forgetfulness (forgetting names or having trouble locating familiar objects)
Patients may be able to continue with their daily works and daily activities
Stage three: Symptoms are still mild and may include
Mild memory loss
Mild forgetfulness
Mild concentration problems
Increased risks of falls
Difficulty continuing their daily activities and work
Stage four: Patients may usually have confirmed diagnosis at this stage. Symptoms are moderate and they include
Choking, difficulty swallowing, aspiration and excessive drooling, which are the most common symptoms
Patients often experience tremors and difficulty speaking
Life-disrupting forgetfulness
Difficulty performing daily responsibilities
High risk of falls
Require continuous supervision
Increased daytime sleeping, but with less hallucinations
High risk for potential health problems
Stage five: Symptoms are usually moderately severe
Significant memory loss and may usually struggle with daily activities
Significant confusion, disorientation and may no longer be able to live alone
Fever is common and patients are at a high risk of infections and skin diseases
Almost 24-hours supervision may be required
Cannot perform simple tasks
Constant delusions and patients may also become increasingly paranoid and confused more often
Require assistance for eating and self-care
Stage six: This usually lasts for 2.5 years. Severity in symptoms is mostly increased
Urine and bowel incontinence are the most common in this stage
Patients usually lose their ability to speak
Patients may only be able to recover memories from early life
Require high level of support to live comfortably
Worsened memory loss, difficulty recognizing family members and some personality changes.
Stage seven: Very severe symptoms. Stage seven typically lasts for 1.5 to 2.5 years
In this final stage communication is limited and physical systems may also decline
Patients are unable to walk and individuals in late-stage dementia require extensive assistance with life’s activities and often need round-the-clock support
The first signs of Lewy Body Dementia include Visual hallucinations, depression, movement disorders, poor regulation of body functions, apathy, Cognitive problems, sleep difficulty and fluctuating attention.
Other signs of Lewy Body Dementia are Well-formed visual hallucinations, Delusions, Changes in thinking and reasoning, Confusion and alertness that varies significantly from one time of day to another or from one day to the next and also Slowness, gait imbalance and other parkinsonian movement features.
Lewy body dementia is dementia which is also known as dementia with Lewy bodies.
The Lewy Body Dementia is the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer's disease dementia.
Protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, develop in nerve cells in the brain regions involved in thinking, memory and movement (motor control).
Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a disease associated with abnormal deposits of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain.
These deposits are called Lewy bodies and they affect chemicals in the brain whose changes, in turn, can lead to problems with thinking, movement, behavior, and mood.