The actor has been retired from the screens for almost a year due to his health problems and now his family confirmed a worrying diagnosis
By iProfessional
02/17/2023 – 09:21 a.m.
The news shocked the world. american actor Bruce Willisremoved from the screens for almost a year due to health problems, revealed that he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. “It is a cruel disease that can affect anyone,” the movie star’s family said in a statement about this syndrome.
Frontotemporal dementia encompasses a group of diseases that progressively damage the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. It generally involves patients between the ages of 45 and 65 -Willis is 67- and is the third most common cause of dementia and the second most early-onset, behind Alzheimer’s. This type of dementia is manifested by a combination of behavioral and/or language symptoms. For example, in the case of the Die Hard and Armageddon actor, in March 2022 he announced his retirement from acting after his doctors diagnosed him with aphasia, a disorder of spoken or written communication skills.
In the family statement, which bears the signatures of his ex-wife Demi Moore and her five daughters, emphasizes that “today there are no treatments for the disease”, a reality that they hope will change in the coming years, although the patient can take medication and make changes to their lifestyle to try to improve the symptoms and the quality of life.
According to the specialized portal Mayo Clinic, frontotemporal dementia can be “misdiagnosed as a psychiatric problem or as Alzheimer’s disease”, although it usually occurs earlier than the latter. On the other hand, it clarifies that there are different types of disorders and all of them can affect both middle-aged adults and older people.
Bruce Willis, retired from screens for almost a year due to health problems, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia symptoms
The signs and symptoms of frontotemporal dementia They can be different in each person and symptoms progressively worsen over the years. These include behavior, speech, and movement problems. Among others, they are:
- Loss of empathy and other interpersonal skills, such as being sensitive to the feelings of others
- Lack of judgment and interest (apathy), which can be confused with depression
- repetitive compulsive behavior
- Changes in eating habits
- Increasing difficulty using and understanding written and spoken language
- Not knowing the meaning of words
- tremors
- Rigidity
- Muscle spasms or contractions
- Falls or trouble walking
One of the types of frontotemporal dementia is the one that involves the behavioral variant, which represents the most frequent. Causes personality changes behavior, emotions and judgment. On the other hand, there is primary progressive aphasia, which involves changes in the ability to communicate.
Meanwhile, movement disorders occur when the parts of the brain that control movement are affected. There are two classes: corticobasal degeneration and progressive supranuclear palsy. Other of these types of disorders include frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism and frontotemporal dementia with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Among them, the symptoms may vary.
