Alzheimer’s Disease Essay

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly, accounting for 65–70% of all cases (Jellinger, Janetzky, Attems, & Kienzl, 2008). The other dementias are of the Parkinson 's group, the fronto-temporal group and the vascular group. The total worldwide yearly costs for the treatment and care of patients suffering from dementia are estimated to be around 250 billion US dollars. The lifetime risk for AD between the ages of 65 and 100 is 33% for men and 45% for women with an annual increase of 1–2% in the seventh decade to almost 60% in the 10th decade with doubling every 5 years (Jellinger et al., 2008). AD is incurable, and thus represents a major public health problem. AD represents a challenge to humanity due to its relatively recent discovery, progressive nature of the illness, and complex diagnosis.

II. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include: loss of memory, loss of cognitive skills and depression.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia that generally initiates the lost memory, problem of critical thinking and behavior problems for the elderly patients. It’s not a normal part of aging but the large number of elderly people reached 65 and older are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. The most common early symptoms are struggle in remembering recent events or short term memory. As the disease advance more symptoms begin to show up like problems in speaking and language, disorientation like getting lost and cease to remember the present activity that they are supposed to do. Mood swings go from happy to sad for no reason. Not managing their self, personal hygiene

a) Depression- individuals with severe depression suffer with poor memories and lack concentration. They will also become less motivated and become withdraw. These are all signs of dementia. A general practitioner may think that it is more likely that an elderly person is suffering from dementia than depression.

The first of the two types of the disease, Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, is much more rare than its counterpart. Less than five percent of all people living with Alzheimer’s disease have this version. The demographic which it affects is between the ages of thirty and sixty. As this is a genetic disease, this version of

Certain qualities are consistently observed in the Alzheimer’s victim. These dysfunction’s, though, are not exclusive to Alzheimer’s disease. Consequently, declaring Alzheimer’s by these parameters is a matter of degree rather than an absolute. Characteristic dysfunction’s have been noted in Alzheimer’s victims, but the degree and severity of these varies from patient to patient. Thus, evaluation of the patient’s mental status must be made based on the sum, rather than a single characteristic. Memory is one of the first noticed deficiencies, beginning typically with the recent and short term memory, and progressing from there as the disease grows more severe. In addition, deterioration in language skills, attention span, praxis (performance of an action), and visuospatial skills are commonly seen. Also observed are changes in the actions and personality of the Alzheimer’s victim. These include changes in mood, motor activities, activities of daily living, socialization skills, psychotic disturbances, vegetative symptomology, and rise in anxiety levels. Again, the

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are often confused because of the similarities and mysteriousness that they share. According to the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the are actually very different in many ways. Dementia is term used to describe a disorder that impairs the mental processing of thoughts and memory. Other forms of dementia besides Alzheimer’s are Huntington’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Alzheimer’s Disease is a form of dementia and is the most common, from 60-70% of all dementia cases. To determine cause of dementia, doctors will use different mental evaluations, brain scans, and blood tests. Alzheimer’s is diagnosed through the evidence that the brain scans provide. One significant difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia is the fact that Alzheimer’s is a nonreversible disease. Some forms of dementia are temporary or reversible but Alzheimer’s has no cure and is degenerative.

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s are hardly ever the same for any one patient. Although the side effects of Alzheimer’s can result in the similar symptoms, such as memory loss, cognitive impairment, difficulty focusing, and taking care of ones self can be an outcome for most patients. Many will have a different personality, loss of sight, sense of smell, as well as no longer being able to taste (Medicine).

Depression, memory problems, and delirium may be mistaken for dementia because these are often the onset symptoms of dementia, and therefore may be mistaken for the start of dementia in the elderly.

Dementia symptoms most commonly observed by people would be memory loss and an inability to complete simple mental activities such as adding or subtracting or remembering where things were placed, or a difference in a person’s normal behavior. There are times that a person without dementia will experience similar symptoms but, the difference is if these symptoms persist and do not go away after a period of time. Dementia isn’t something that happens quickly it is an illness that gets progressively worse as time passes. When a person that is effected with these symptoms

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disease which slowly destroys thinking and memory skills. These changes are severe enough to interfere with day to day life. This irreversible disease is the most common cause of dementia amongst the elderly, with an appearance of first symptoms after age 60.

When it comes to Alzheimer's vs. dementia, it is clear to see the differences. Dementia is comprised of many different illnesses, and it is used to describe memory loss. If a person has Alzheimer's, then he or she has a form of dementia. However, if someone is diagnosed with dementia, it does not mean that they have Alzheimer's disease.

Dementia is not considered a specific disease because it is such a broad disease there are many different types.

These relate to the age at which the disease first manifests itself. The occasion of early-onset is much lower than that of late-onset. There is a 10% occurrence rate for persons over the age of sixty-five, and a 50% occurrence rate for those over age eighty five. Late-onset Alzheimer's is often confused with senility due to old-age. This also makes diagnosis difficult for older patients. However Alzheimer's is not an inevitable part of the aging process, unlike a certain amount of senility. It can be helped and with new research may be prevented.

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.