The Stages and Treatments of Alzheimer’s Disease Essay

Alzheimer’s disease in many ways is not yet defined. It is a progressive disease afflicting between 5 and 15 percent of people over 65. Additionally, it is not restricted to the elderly, reportedly having

In advanced stages, loss of speech entirely can occur, though emotional signals can still be cognitive and recognizable. At this point, pertinent exhaustion and apathy are presented as the patient loses the ability to perform the most simplest of tasks. Because the patient becomes bedridden at this point, they are completely dependent on the caregivers. Death usually occurs at this point, not directly due to the disease, but from outside sources such as pneumonia.

Alzheimer’s Disease is a form of dementia affecting more than one third of those over ninety-five years old. Its effects vary per person and become systematically more extreme as time wears on. Alzheimer’s is currently incurable and impossible to slow, destroying neurons and brain tissue, resulting in loss of memory, judgment, awareness, communication, behavior and capacity for emotion. Changes in personality and loss of initiative are also common symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Due to this, medical professionals have termed the disease “early onset Alzheimer’s” and make a suspected diagnosis due to symptoms characteristic of the disease. A diagnosis is only confirmed by brain biopsy after death. Unfortunately, due to this many answers aren’t found until it is too late. Similarly, as researchers are struggling to find a solution and a cure to Alzheimer’s, the epidemic of people struggling with the disease is rapidly growing.

Alzheimer’s is a disease that attacks the nervous system, more specifically, the brain. What Alzheimer’s disease does, is degenerate brain cells, it is a progressive disease which means that it gets worse over time (Alzheimer's Disease Fact Sheet. 2011). Alzheimer’s starts with short term memory loss and eventually can affect the rest of the body, making it harder for the body to function properly, this disease leads to death when in an advanced stage. This Disease currently has no cure (Alzheimer's Disease Fact Sheet. 2011).

Alzheimer Disease, the most common form of dementia (to a group of symptoms affecting the brain), is a neurological disorder affecting an individual’s memory, thinking skills, and ability to conduct simply everyday tasks. Alzheimer Disease is irreversible, and no cure has been established. Dr. Alois Alzheimer-the individual in which the disease is named after-detected Alzheimer in 1906 from a woman with abnormal clumps and tangled neurofibrillary (Castellani 2010). These characteristics of the brain are now directly associated with Alzheimer Disease. There are essentially two forms of the disease. Both experience the same symptoms, but one is early onset and the second is late onset. In early onset Alzheimer Disease, symptoms develop as early as 30 years of age. Late onset AD, the most common form, develops at sixty years of age and older. A family history of the disease does improve the individual’s probability of experiencing symptoms. The progression of this paper will consist of the medical changes caused by Alzheimer, how an individual can obtain it, and lastly prevention methods discovered throughout the years.

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a type of dementia that is irreversible and it causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. The symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks. (“Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia,” n.d.). Dementia is a term for a decrease in the intellectual ability which it can be severe enough to interfere with an individual’s day to day life. The German neurologist Alois Alzheimer was the first person to label and decode the symptoms of Alzheimer 's disease. In 1901 Alois did a study on a woman named Auguste Deter. She was 51 years of age and she was having problems with memory and other psychological problems.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder, meaning that the disorder gets worse over time. It is the most common cause of dementia among people over the age of 65 and it is thought that up to 4.5 million people have Alzheimer's disease,

A ravenous disease known as Alzheimer’s is a, still, relatively unknown illness. While a fair amount of people may suffer from it eventually in their life, little can be done about it. Research, however, is continually being conducted into this baffling matter. Rendering people completely helpless, Alzheimer’s has claimed the lives of many, including several members of my family long before they would’ve passed normally.

First, people should know the definition of Alzheimer Disease (AD). “Alzheimer Disease is one form of Dementia.” “It affects memory, thinking, and behavior.” “Dementia is loss of brain function which occurs with certain diseases (Alzheimer Disease: Causes).”

Unfortunately the most accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is by postmortem examination of the brain. The disease itself is not well defined, and its varied yet subtle manifestations lend difficulty in distinguishing it from other nervous system diseases or dementia-causing diseases. The danger exists that appropriate therapy that might bring relief or even cure, might be withheld from some patients if their conditions are misdiagnosed. Because, even though no effective treatment for AD is available, there are useful therapies for various diseases that produce symptoms of dementia (4).

Changes occur in the body, in behavior, and in memory. Inside the body neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques develop and are found in the brain and spinal cord, this helps doctors test for this disease. Other symptoms that may not have been caused by Alzheimer’s but do increase the risk of it occurring are heart problems, stroke, diabetes and more. In the beginning stages of the disease a patient will present with short term memory problems meaning that will remembers family members and life events but fail to be able to recall some recent events. Because of this they will struggle with learning new things this along with the other symptoms often causes the patient to become depressed and irritable. As the disease progresses so do the symptoms, memory problems become more severe and communication is hindered. Also one of the biggest changes in this stage when the person affected needs help with ADLs. ADLs are activities of daily living such as going to the bathroom, walking, or eating. This is one of the most difficult stages for the patient because it is when they lose a majority of there independence. In the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease a person will need constant supervision to be able to keep them safe. At this point communication will be nonexistent and the patient becoming mute is likely. Another symptom includes aggression and some patients

Essentially, Alzheimer’s causes the computer of the brain to go down, and the whole of life becomes gradually disarrayed (Gray-Davidson, 1996).

Alzheimer’s disease is a very slowly progressive disease that occurs inside the brain in which is characterized by damage of memory. Also this type of disease can lead into interruption in language, problem solving, planning and perception. The chance of a person developing Alzheimer’s disease increases enormously after the age of 70 (Crystal, 2009). Also people who are over the age of 85 have over a 50 percent chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease. This type of disease is not at all normal in the aging process and is also not something that happens out of no where in a person’s life.

Often times this disease has been called “the long good-bye” because the symptoms progress so gradually. Most often the disease shows itself in the elderly around the age of about eighty, and is rarely seen in people under the age of sixty-five. One of the characteristics of this disease that makes it so hard for scientists to find a cure, are the numerous factors that present themselves in different patients. It seems as if no two cases of Alzheimer’s can be exactly alike.