Essay about Alzheimer's Disease

     Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia, “a brain disorder that seriously affects a person’s ability to carry out daily activities (Shenk 14)”. Alzheimer’s is a progressive and irreversible brain disorder that slowly destroys a person’s memory and ability to learn, make judgments, communicate, and accomplish daily activities. As Alzheimer’s progresses, individuals may also experience changes in personality and behavior, such as anxiety, suspiciousness or aggravation, as well as illusions or hallucinations.

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 is a weakening in the mental ability (a sign of this may be asking the same question frequently) which affects the memory and many other aspects of the brain which causes difficulty with thinking, problem solving and concentration it is also the result of the death of multiple brain cells.

get it, but most cases are the only ones in a family. Some patients who develop

In the United States there are approximately 5.4 million people living with Alzheimer’s. Every sixty-nine seconds a person is diagnosed. This is an ongoing issue, and unless something is done, sixteen million people will be affected by 2050 (Latest).

Dementia is a condition resulting from obtained brain disease and distinguished by progressive decay in memory and other cognitive fields such as judgment, abstract thinking, language, and executive functioning. This disease is usually caused by degeneration in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for thoughts, memories, actions, and personality. Death of brain cells in this area leads to the impairments that distinguish dementia. Though the cognitive outline of single diagnosed with dementia vary somewhat by etiology, the degree of deterioration stands for a decrease from previous levels of cognitive functioning and is enough to impede with social and occupational functioning. This downfall is beyond what might be expected from normal aging in a person. It can cause impairment with everyday activities such as dressing, feeding, and bathing.

What exactly is dementia? By definition, “Dementia, which is from the Latin word dement meaning ‘without mind,’ is a progressive deterioration and eventual loss of mental ability that is severe enough to interfere with normal activities of daily living, lasts more than six months, not present since birth, and not associated with a loss or alteration of consciousness” (Thomasson, 2014). Dementia is usually caused by a loss of brain cells in the cerebral cortex of the brain, the part responsible for thoughts, memory, actions, and personality (Thomasson, 2014). The loss of brain cells in this part of the brain usually leads to what is called cognitive impairment which can at some point be diagnosed as dementia (Thomasson, 2014). What a lot of

Episodic memory, or personal life events, is affected in the earlier stages of AD. In the beginning, cognitive deficits do not begin showing symptoms in the patient (Vos, 2013). AD prevents those suffering from it to not be able to create or retain any new memories. AD can be linked to the semantic memory, or factual knowledge of an individual, that is stunted when influenced by AD. People with AD are not able to use facts or general knowledge such as connecting an object to a specific category or specifying simple associations. With procedural memory, or the storage for simple skills that become involuntary to an individual without thinking about it, AD impairs the patient’s ability to use this knowledge that they would have otherwise known. Finally, with working memory, a patient with AD is unable to process new memories. It is possible to recall older memories, but at one point, new memories are unable to be encoded. The primary functions of memory that are impacted the most in AD are the episodic memory and semantic memory, followed by procedural memory and working memory. These factors cause the brain to stop being functional to some extent, creating

The damage to the brain may start as early as a decade before any symptoms are revealed. The symptoms of AD include wandering, irritation, hallucinations, apathy, depression, agitation, and memory loss. AD is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. This disease affects more than 5 million people in the United States alone; it is purported to triple every five years ( ) unless something is

Kevin Arnold once said, “Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose.” Memories are the things hold on to in life. Whether it’s bad or good, memories are engraved in us and as we carry them through our everyday lives they become a part of us. But what if as times goes by, those memories start to disappear? Imagine that the things you held onto for years could no longer be conjured up no matter how hard you tried. Or even worse, you begin to lose your language skills, ability to recognize familiar things and in turn, start to feel paranoid and confused constantly. For those who suffer from Alzheimer’s, as they age they experience a serious deterioration in one’s self.

Alzheimer's Disease is a condition that affects 50% of the population over the age of eighty five, which equals four million Americans each year. It is becoming an important and high-profile issue in today's society for everyone. There are rapid advancements being made in the fight against this disease now more than ever, and the purpose of this essay is to educate the public on the background as well as the new discoveries. There are many new drugs that are being tested and studied every day which slow down, and may even halt the progress of the disease.

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.

Alzheimer’s disease is a common cause of dementia. This disease is a gradual deterioration of memory a personality that’s marked by the formation of plaques of beta-amyloid protein and tangles of fat in the brain. Abnormalities destroy the ability of neurons to communicate with one another. The brain has a plaque that is located in the tissues surrounding neurons. The tangles are twisted mass of threads made of a protein called tau within the neurons. Normal brains contain beta-amyloid and some tau, but brains with AD plaques and tangles causing proliferate in the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a part of the brain’s structure and deals with memory. First forgetfulness and working memory disappear. Plaque is a symptom that people have when they develop Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s is a chronic disease that as of 2017 does not have a cure, but there are certain treatment options that can help to reduce one’s AD symptoms. There are drug and non-drug treatments that assist in memory loss, treatment in behavioral changes, treatment for sleep changes, and self care (16).

In the next stages of AD, more genitive damage is evident as well as problems with expression, emotion, language, and reasoning. In the middle stages of AD patients have trouble identifying people they know, they are unable to learn new things, and they are very uninhibited. The final stages are significantly different form the beginning and middle stages. In the final stage a person’s body begins to