Our society is aging, and more families are caring for an elderly member who is suffering from declining mental function. While memory loss can be a frightening experience for our aging parents, its’ impact on other family members can be equally frightening.

I experienced that fact first hand when I brought my 82 year-old father home to live with me. I had a handful of reasons why I felt he should come to live with me - his home had a steep set of stairs that would result in serious injury in case of a fall, he is suffering from syncope (fainting and dizzyness), and, perhaps the most important, my stubborn belief that family cares for family. For these reasons and the fact that he's my dad and my best friend, I brought him home to live with me.

It wasn't long before I realized his forgetfulness was more than the simple Old Timer's he sometimes displayed. While we can both laugh at his lapses of memory on most days, on others he seems not to know where he is.

Before coming to live with me, he had spent the past 8 years living with my sister. We considered the simple act of going up and down steep stairs quite dangerous as he is on a blood thinner medication. Too, he was frequently alone in a very large house, as my sister and her husband travel extensively.

So, what is dementia? What is Alzheimer's and is there a difference between them? These are frequently asked questions, and simple research is the first step in finding answers.

People often swap the words, and "Dementia" apparently sounds less scary than "Alzheimer's". But dementia and Alzheimer's are very different things.

"Dementia" is the loss of cognitive abilities, beyond what you would expect from normal aging. Dementia is a symptom that has many causes.

Alzheimer's is but one disease that causes dementia. Many other disease processes and injuries can cause dementia. A mini-stroke can cause dementia. Doctors have established a link between Urinary Tract Infection and dementia. I have seen first hand that not drinking enough water can cause dementia.

Many of the causes of dementia are treatable...