A woman with whom I work is questioning whether the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is correct for her father. I agreed that, from different things she's mentioned to me about her dad, I've wondered, too, if he actually had AD, or if it was vascular or another type of dementia (he'd had a stroke). I asked what type of doctor he'd seen, and suggested a specialist, since he'd seen only his family physician. After the one physician diagnosed him with Alzheimer's, they put him on medication to slow the disease, though he still entered a nursing home. In a week, my friend will take her dad to a neurologist and they will run some tests.

So, for general purposes, what is the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's disease?  David Roeltgen, MD, wrote a good, understandable article on this subject for ouralzheimers.com. If you're interested in an overview, I suggest you click here and read "The Difference Between Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease."