Dementia with Lewy bodies

Dementia with Lewy bodies, also known as Lewy body dementia, is a common form of dementia estimated to affect more than 100,000 people in the UK.

The term “dementia” describes a loss of mental ability (cognitive impairment) associated with gradual death of brain cells. It’s rare in anyone younger than 65.

Symptoms usually develop gradually and become more severe over the course of several years.

Symptoms

People with dementia with Lewy bodies not only experience problems with memory and judgement, like those with Alzheimer’s disease, but are also likely to have difficulties with concentration and visual perception (recognising objects and making judgements about where they are in space).

They may experience:

slowed movement, stiff limbs, and tremors recurrent visual hallucinations (seeing things that aren’t there) sleep disturbances, including sleepiness during the day fainting, unsteadiness, and falls

People with the condition tend to swing from a state of alertness to drowsiness or staring into space. These extreme changes may be unpredictable and happen from hour to hour or day to day.

Read more about the symptoms of dementia with Lewy bodies


The symptoms of dementia with Lewy bodies usually develop gradually and become more severe over the course of a few years.

Like other forms of dementia, the condition causes problems with:

thinking speed language understanding judgement memory (although significant memory loss may not occur until later on)

People with dementia with Lewy bodies may also have other symptoms that can help distinguish it from other types of dementia, such as:

extreme swings between alertness and confusion or drowsiness, which may happen unexpectedly and change from hour to hour or day to day slow movement, stiff limbs, and tremors (as seen in Parkinson’s disease), which cause shuffling when walking seeing or hearing things that aren’t real (hallucinations), which can range from pleasant to distressing fainting, unsteadiness, and falls  sleep disturbances, which can cause talking in your sleep or acting out dreams loss of facial expression difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) depression 

These symptoms can make daily activities very difficult and can lead to further health problems, such as injuries from falls, and chest infections caused by accidentally inhaling food instead of swallowing it.