Picks disease - WatsonsHealth

PICKS DISEASE

Pick’s disease is an uncommon illness that causes a distinctive and irreversible dementia. This illness is one of the many types of dementias known as frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Frontotemporal dementia is the consequence of a disorder recognized as frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

When you have dementia, your brain doesn’t function most of the time. Consequently, you might have problems with language, behavior, thought, judgment, and memory. Like people with other forms of dementia, you may have personality changes.

Many different aspects can cause dementia. Pick’s disease affects the frontal and temporal lobes of your brain. Your brain’s frontal lobe controls your everyday activities. These include planning, decision-making, emotional control, demeanor, inhibition, executive function, and multitasking. Your temporal lobe often impacts language, together with emotional response and conduct.

Pick’s disease is brought about by irregular amounts of nerve cell proteins, known as tau. These proteins are observed in your nerve cells. In Pick’s disease, they mostly collect into spherical clumps. After they gather within the nerve cells of your brain’s frontal and temporal lobe, they cause the cells to die. This leads to the symptoms of dementia.

Scientists don’t know what causes these irregular proteins to form, but geneticists have found that abnormal genes are linked to this disease.

Symptoms

Pick’s disease can lead to the following symptoms:

  • Abrupt mood changes
  • Compulsive or unsuitable conduct
  • Depression-like symptoms, such as indifference in day-to-day interests
  • Withdrawal from social contact
  • Trouble retaining a job
  • Poor social talents
  • Poor hygiene
  • Repetitive behavior
  • Decreased writing or studying skills
  • Echoing, or reciting what’s been mentioned to you
  • Incapacity to communicate or problems in speech
  • Shrinking vocabulary
  • Accelerated memory loss
  • Physical weakness

Diagnosis

There’s no single test that your doctor can use to diagnose Pick’s disease. The doctor may obtain a medical history, request for specific imaging tests, and different exams. These tests may include the following:

  • Speech and writing exams
  • Physical examination
  • Neurologic examination
  • MRI, CT, or PET scans
  • Blood tests to rule out differential diagnosis for dementia such as thyroid function tests, and syphilis testing

 

Medications/Treatment

There is no effective treatment for Pick’s disease. Your doctor can recommend treatments to help ease the symptoms. Antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs can help people deal with emotional and behavioral changes.

 

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