Visceral pain is often described as generalized aching or squeezing. It is caused by compression in and around the organs, or by stretching of the abdominal cavity. Sometimes visceral pain may radiate to other areas in the body, making it even harder to pinpoint its exact location.
Data from the largest analysis to date of amyloid plaques showed they can appear 20 or 30 years before dementia symptoms.
This type of dementia is diagnosed by taking a careful history of the pattern of symptoms, and by excluding other possible causes such as Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. A brain scan may reveal brain degeneration, but the Lewy bodies can only be identified by examination of brain tissue after death. Lewy body disease is similar to Alzheimer's disease in many ways, and in the past it has sometimes been difficult to distinguish the two. It has only recently been accepted as a disease in its own right. It can occur by itself or together with Alzheimer's disease and/or Vascular dementia.