Lewy Body Dementia

I absolutely loved Scooby Doo when I was growing up. I tried my best to talk like him and bark like him. I imagined myself hanging out in the ‘Mystery Machine’ along with his crime fighting, mystery solving buddies, as I grew older, I tried to imagine what kind of herbs Shaggy had been smoking all those years…

The recent news that Casey Kasem, the voice of Shaggy has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's with Lewy Bodies is tough for me to hear. I thought it would be a good idea to educate people on what LBD (Lewy Body Dementia) is all about. This is for a great guy who made me laugh as a kid day after day.

Lewy body dementia is one of the most common causes of dementia in the elderly. Dementia can be defined as the progressive loss of mental function to the point where the person is no longer able to carry out normal activities of daily life without supervision

Lewy body disease happens when abnormal structures, called ‘Lewy bodies’, build up in areas of the brain. The disease causes many different mental changes, including

• Changes in alertness and attention
• Hallucinations
• Problems with movement and posture
• Muscle stiffness
• Confusion
• Loss of memory

Lewy body is very tough to distinguish from Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease because of similar symptoms. Scientists think that these diseases are related, or that they sometimes happen together.

Lewy body disease usually begins between the ages of 50 and 85. The disease gets worse over time. There is no cure. Treatment focuses on drugs to help symptoms.