No I don't Barb. The problem is Ken's aunty was never diagnosed with anything. In those days, some 30 years ago, there was such a stigma attached to mental health that everything was hushed up.
Lewy Body disease as far as I know affects 2 separate parts of the brain. The deep brain which is connected to movement and spatial awareness and has links with parkinson's disease, is one area. The other area is high up frontal lobe area and is connected to memory, speech and language. This is why our husbands have a 'double whammy'. I'm not sure which pat of the brain causes the hallucinations.
The disease is called Lewy Body Disease because of Doctor Lewy who examined brains after people had died and found small, white fatty deposits which blocked the neuron transmissions.
Depending on which symptoms are strongest, it is sometimes called parkinsons with Lewy Body, and one of the brain areas can be affected more than the other.
LBD does affect people at a younger age than some other dementia problems. It also shows itself in an inability to do such things as clean your teeth. The person can recognise a toothbrush, even give it a name,but cannot perform the actions that have to be done with a toothbrush. They can name slippers but cannot put the left one on the left foot or vice versa.
Another common symptom is to 'see' things on the floor which are not there and try to pick them up, often resulting in falls as balance is also very affected. Hallucinations are also very common and some medications can make the hallucinations worse and have serious side effects. Haloperidol is a drug which is particularly dangerous for LBD sufferers. 90% of the men on Ken's hospital ward had LBD because it also produces very disturbed and hard to handle, violent behaviour problems. Ken's Consultant said that it was one of the types of dementia which is the most difficult to cope with.
There are some good websites if you type in Lewy Body disease into the search engine. A lot of the info is very technical but worth while struggling through.
xxTinaT
xxTinaT