Most people do not realize it, but there are many different types of dementia. This includes mixed dementia, which is when you have more than one type of dementia. While the potential combinations are numerous, vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common one. Another common combination is having both Lewy Body disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Unfortunately, as there is no known cure for any type of dementia including mixed dementia. Therefore, the focus is on treating symptoms as they arise, offering palliative care, and trying to slow the progress of dementia or prevent it for as long as possible.
As with all types of dementia, mixed dementia is a slowly progressing and slow-developing condition. While there are ways to stave off the effects of dementia for a period, there is no way to prevent it entirely. Additionally, because there are so many different potential combinations of mixed dementia, the symptoms you might experience are endless, which makes them difficult to treat.
Because there is no cure for mixed dementia, most of the available treatments revolve around treating and managing symptoms, including high blood pressure.
High blood pressure is a common cause and symptom of mixed dementia. While lifestyle changes can help with high blood pressure, you will often require medications, such as amlodipine and verapamil. These medications lower your blood pressure by widening your blood vessels and making it easier for your heart to pump blood.
In addition to medications for high blood pressure, there are many lifestyle changes you can make if you get diagnosed with mixed dementia or are considered at-risk. These lifestyle changes help with high blood pressure as well as other side effects of mixed dementia, such as cognition, memory problems, personality changes, and more.
In addition to lifestyle changes, cognitive behavioural therapy is also a good treatment for people with mixed dementia. Cognitive behavioural therapy is useful for people in the early stages of dementia to understand what is happening to them and what changes to expect. Additionally, cognitive behavioural therapy is language-based and can also help people with mixed dementia retain their ability to speak, think, and problem-solve.
Currently, there are no medications that are FDA-approved to treat mixed dementia. There are, however, medications that have been proven to help with the cognitive effects that mixed dementia has on the brain. These medications, known as cholinesterase inhibitors, increase certain chemicals in the brain that are necessary for cells to communicate with each other.
Galantamine and donepezil are two of the most common cholinesterase inhibitors used to treat mixed dementia. Unfortunately, these medications are not effective with vascular dementia and can only help with symptoms of other types of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
While cholinesterase inhibitors are the best form of treatment for mixed dementia, they can cause unwanted side effects.
For these reasons, it is important to be under careful medical supervision when you are taking cholinesterase inhibitors.
While there is no known cure for dementia, and doctors can only do so much to slow its progress, treatments are constantly improving. Additionally, the sooner you get diagnosed with a type of dementia or are considered at risk for developing it, the sooner you can start treatments. Once again, while these treatments cannot necessarily prevent dementia, they can slow its progress and help you be yourself for as long as possible.