Parkinson's disease dementia is definitely different. As a matter of fact, if a physician uses medications that treat "regular" dementia on a person with Parkinson's, it often makes the situation worse.
The Reuters story "Parkinson's and Alzheimer's dementia very different" explains a recently-completed study of the differences between Parkinson's disease dementia and Alzheimer's disease dementia. Parkinson's patients tend to retain more memory, but also have greater attention deficits than patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Occasionally a patient with Parkinson's is treated for dementia in an emergency room or hospital. While emergency room physicians are amazing, they are not always familiar with Parkinson's disease. After all, an emergency room physician has to be prepared to treat a motorcycle accident in one moment, a diabetic emergency a few minutes later, followed by poisoning. They may not have had recent opportunities to take care of patients with PD.
Some ER doctors automatically treat dementia with a general strategy that works well for most patients, as long as they don't have Parkinson's disease. When they use these treatments in people with Parkinson's disease they get worse, often experiencing more dementia and/or heightened Parkinson's disease symptoms.
If your family member or friend with with Parkinson's is having trouble with dementia, you should call his or her neurologist. At night and on the weekend you should contact the physician on call for your neurologist. Many physicians forward their main number to an answering service.
For health concerns unrelated to Parkinson's disease, the emergency room is the right place. Have the emergency room contact your neurologist once you get to the hospital. Your neurologist will coach the emergency room physicians.
