One of the most disheartening and distressing things that you could ever hear is for the doctor to tell you that your loved one has dementia. If this has happened to you, there are probably many questions that you have about this disorder.

Dementia is the progressive decline in cognitive function due to disease or damage in the brain that is greater than what might be expected from normal aging. Cognitive function refers to how a person comes to know and interpret things.

With dementia, the cognitive or knowing areas that can be affected include attention, language, memory and problem solving. Most frequently, in the later stages of dementia, people can be disoriented in time (not knowing what day of the week, month or year it is).  They may also become disoriented in place and person (not knowing where they are or who they are).

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is an umbrella term that is used for a group of disorders that affect the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain. These are the areas of the brain that are generally associated with behavior, language and personality. Frontotemporal dementia is characterized by portions of the temporal and frontal lobes shrinking or atrophying.

There are other names that are used for frontotemporal dementia. It is also called Pick’s disease, corticobasal degeneration, frontal lobe dementia, primary progressive aphasia and semantic dementia.

Frontotemporal dementia often affects people at a younger age than other forms of dementia. It often occurs between 40 and 70 years of age.

There are several different signs and symptoms that you may notice in your loved one that may be indications of frontotemporal dementia. Some of these are:

• Loss or impairment of linguistic and speech abilities
• Apathy
• Euphoria
• Poor coordination
• A decline in personal hygiene
• Rigidity
• Repetitive compulsive behavior
• Muscle weakness
• Increasingly inappropriate actions
• Tremor
• Lack of awareness of behavioral or thinking changes
• Lack of inhibition and judgment
• Muscle spasms
• Difficulty swallowing.

You may have a loved one who has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. This disorder and/or complications resulting from it may be why your loved one is disabled.

You may need help for and with your loved one if this is the case. You may need financial assistance.

You may be planning on applying for financial help on behalf of your loved one from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by frontotemporal dementia and/or complications resulting from it. Have you already tried this option and your loved one was turned down by the Social Security Administration?

If you are thinking about appealing the denial of your loved one by the Social Security Administration, remember this important fact. People who are represented by a disability lawyer like the one you will find at Social Security Home are approved more often than people who do not have a disability attorney standing with them.

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