Symptoms

Lewy body dementia signs and symptoms can include:

• Visual hallucinations. Hallucinations — seeing things that aren't there — might be one of the first symptoms, and they often recur. People with Lewy body dementia might hallucinate shapes, animals or people. Sound (auditory), smell (olfactory) or touch (tactile) hallucinations are possible.
• Movement disorders. Signs of Parkinson's disease (parkinsonian signs), such as slowed movement, rigid muscles, tremor or a shuffling walk can occur. This can lead to falling.
• Poor regulation of body functions (autonomic nervous system). Blood pressure, pulse, sweating and the digestive process are regulated by a part of the nervous system that is often affected by Lewy body dementia. This can result in sudden drops in blood pressure upon standing (orthostatic hypotension), dizziness, falls, loss of bladder control (urinary incontinence) and bowel issues such as constipation.
• Cognitive problems. You might have thinking (cognitive) problems similar to those of Alzheimer's disease, such as confusion, poor attention, visual-spatial problems and memory loss.
• Sleep difficulties. You might have rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder, which can cause you to physically act out your dreams while you're asleep. This might involve behavior such as punching, kicking, yelling and screaming while sleeping.
• Fluctuating attention. Episodes of drowsiness, long periods of staring into space, long naps during the day or disorganized speech are possible.
• Depression. You might develop depression.
• Apathy. You might lose motivation.