Alzheimer's Disease
If we accept that the brain's ability to "fill in the blanks" about each experience we have, then we can conclude that our past is indeed partially our own brain's creature. However, there are still some norms created by people that define certain experiences as normal and others as not. What happens when a person starts to behave ab-normally? How is his/her brain filling the blanks in a different manner? To discuss this subject we would discuss the most common form of dementia among old people, the Alzheimer's disease.
Dementia is a brain disorder, a loss of intellectual function (thinking, remembering, reasoning), which substantially affects a person's ability to carry out daily activities.
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Thus, the ability of the person to participate in normal interaction with other people is severely damaged. (3)
The experiencing of the world and the way the patient reacts to it is radically influenced by this unhealthy interaction within the brain. The initial symptoms involve mild forgetfulness of recent events, activities or familiar people/things. In the process of development of the disease, skills acquired throughout the life of the patients such as brushing the teeth, easting with a fork and a knife are forgotten; thoughts are very unclear, and behavior becomes unable to be subordinated to normal human life norms. All the clues the brain has learned so as to be able to fill in the blank in everyday life have been forgotten. (3)
The symptoms of the disease are predominantly behavioral – agitation, anxiety, depression or sleeplessness, in general mood swings a feeling of withdrawnness. (1)
Main characteristics are personality changes, impairment of judgment (4)
Plaques and tangles develop in the brain, leading to the death of brain cells. The rate of progression can vary from 3 to 20 years with the final stage being common to all – a complete incapability of taking care of oneself. There is a list of warning signs developed by researchers that are used as base for judgment of resemblance of a medical condition to AD and the potential further examination this could prompt. Among the major signs, as formulated by
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).
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.
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
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
In 1901, a fifty one year old woman named Frau Auguste D. was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. She had an unusual bunch of symptoms. While she had no history of prior psychiatric illness, her husband had noticed that Frau D. was becoming increasing paranoid, hallucinatory, agitated, disoriented, and having increasing difficulties with language functions and memory.
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.
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
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.
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
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
This disease consists of three major levels, mild, moderate and severe. Each symptom consists of drastic changes in behavior and daily life. In the mild level the patient would experience slight memory loss.
Fish contains Omega-3 is very beneficial for the body and brain, especially salmon, herring. Omega-3 will cover the neurons with good fats, allowing them to move easily in the brain. Omega-3 also provides more oxygen to the brain, maintaining the old information and new information received easily. Thus, the incidence of Alzheimer's disease in the elderly decreased significantly.
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).
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