Contagious?
No, Alzheimer’s disease is not contagious. Alzheimer’s disease develops in the brain due to genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. If it was contagious, many more people would have Alzheimer’s disease. There is no supportive evidence that Alzheimer’s is transmissible in any way.
Transmitted?
A new study shows Alzheimer’s disease is spread from brain cell to brain cell and slowly moves to cover larger areas of the brain. Before the twentieth century scientists weren’t sure how it was transmitted. It moves along paths that nerve cells use to communicate between. Eventually, patients can lose all memory.
Signs/Symptoms
Forgetfulness is not the only sign of Alzheimer’s disease. A patient with Alzheimer’s may also feel
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The only treatment known now is medication. There are 4 approved medications, Galantamine, Donepezil, Memantine, and Rivastigmine Scientists are working to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and more treatments. It would be nice to have a treatment that doesn’t just mask the symptoms.
Vaccine
There is no vaccine for Alzheimer’s disease, but hopefully there will be one day. Scientists and researchers are conducting studies for possible vaccines. We can only wait; the fact that Alzheimer’s is not an infection makes it very hard to discover a vaccine.
History of Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease was discovered by doctor Alois Alzheimer. The doctor described various symptoms of one patient with the disease in 1906. He realized the patient had brain shrinkage and later made a book in 1910 about the disease. Years later doctors discovered a high amount of protein in the brain.
Fatal and how do they die?
Sadly, Alzheimer’s disease is fatal. The disease itself is not, but the symptoms are. Some people live up to 15 years from the diagnosis to their last seconds on earth. With Alzheimer’s, you can really die anywhere.. falls, confusion, and aspiration are three ways.
Genetic
In times past many people thought that memory loss was a normal occurrence for elderly people. This thinking was major reason for why Alzheimer’s disease was not caught until very later in the stages. Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part of aging. After heart disease, cancer, and strokes, Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of death in adults in the Western world. “It is estimated that 4.5 million Americans over the age of 65 are affected with this condition. After the age of 65, the incidence of the disease doubles every five years and, by age 85, it will affect nearly half of the population” (Robinson).
Alzheimer’s disease is incurable, but there are many stages, warning signs, and risk factors that can serve as detection devices for those who have older adults in their lives. One of the most common early signs of this form of dementia is memory loss. While it is normal for people to occasionally forget things, such as appointments and names, people with Alzheimer’s tend to forget these things more often and are not able to recall them even after a period of time. Other signs that signify a possible case of Alzheimer’s is difficulty performing familiar tasks (cooking, brushing teeth), problems with language (using odd words, failing to remember correct words), disorientation (forgetting where one lives, not knowing how he got to a certain place), problems with abstract thinking (forgetting what numbers represent), misplacing items (putting a hair brush in the freezer), moodiness, personality changes (confusion, suspicion, fearfulness), and loss of initiative
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 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).
Scientists have actually come up with some preventative measures against Alzheimer’s and the onset of this horrendous disease. Physical activity, brain stimulation (such as puzzles, games, regularly reading, watching television, and any other type of social activity), nutritious diet, and also there is an ongoing search for a vaccine. I saw where in Europe they actually treat their age-related dementia patients with gingko biloba. Gingko biloba is thought
With the growing number of people becoming diagnosed, and experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, we must begin to take precautions and somehow attempt to gain knowledge of how the disease can be better treated, and ultimately prevented.
As per Lakhan (2017), Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a disorder dealing with neurodegeneration manifesting the cognitive and behavioral impairment that extensively affects the lives of the people who have the disease. It doesn't have a cure and deals with a long pre-clinical period as well as a progressive course. In hippocampus and some areas of
Even though Alzheimer 's is being researched, it was not a commonly known disease and many aspects of it remain intangible. In 1901 Auguste D. family brought her to Dr. Alzheimer’s after noticing Auguste problem with memory, impaired comprehension, and unpredictable behavior. Dr. Alzheimer treated Auguste till her death in 1906. He performed an autopsy on her brain and discovered dramatic shrinkage of the cerebral cortex, atrophied brain cells, fatty deposits in blood vessels, neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques. Plaques and tangles in the brain are two of the main features of Alzheimer’s disease. The third is the loss of connections between neurons in the brain. (https://www.nia.nih.gov/.../alzheimers_disease_fact_sheet_
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, meaning it attacks the neurons within the brain. Neurons are the areas of the brain that allow for chemical messages, or neurotransmitters, to be transmitted. These neurons are necessary for connections with other nerve cells, and without them, the neuronS ultimately die. Alzheimer’s is a form of, and the most common cause of, dementia, or loss of intellectual capacity and personality. ("Dementia.") Alzheimer’s disease, or AD, is not a normal part of aging, although risk of developing the illness increases with age. The onset behavior of the disease normally doesn’t appear until age sixty and older. Though symptoms that appear before age sixty have occurred, it is less common and tends
Alzheimer 's disease is an ongoing condition that destroys the connection of cells in the brain. According to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA), it is estimated that as many as 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer 's disease today. Alzheimer 's disease was discovered by a German physician named Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer saw changes in the brain tissue of a woman who died from what he presumed to be a mental illness. He described her symptoms as memory loss, language complications, and unpredictable actions. After she died, he examined her brain to further understand how she died. He discovered distinctive plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in her brain tissue.
Medications can help for a time with memory symptoms. The current two drugs for Alzheimer is Cholinesterase inhibitors and Memantine. Cholinesterase inhibitors works by boosting levels of a cell-to-cell communication by providing a neurotransmitter that is depleted in the brain. Whereas the Memantine works in another brain cell communication network and slows the progression of symptoms with moderate too severe Alzheimer's disease. There are also other medications such as antidepressant, that are used to help control the behavioral symptoms.
Alzheimer primarily affects the brain and is essentially cause by brain cell death. Brain damage occurs years before symptoms appear as Alzheimer causes a disruption in metabolic processes that keeps neurons healthy. This disruption prevents nerve cells from communicating with one
Alzheimer’s Disease was first mentioned by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1906 after having studied the case of Auguste D. who was experiencing, “...memory loss, unfounded suspicions about her family, and other worsening psychological changes…” (“Milestones in Alzheimer's”). After this patient had died, the doctor performed an autopsy to find that the brain had “dramatic shrinkage and abnormal deposits in and around nerve cells” (“Milestones in Alzheimer's”). This disease is a type of dementia that is defined as a progressive deteriorating mental condition that affects the patient’s day to day life. One with this disease may experience memory loss, slow cognitive processing, language problems, poor coordination, and what can be described as “odd” social
“Every four seconds someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (Yu Jun, 2014).” Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia affecting about four billion people worldwide. The disease is irreversible and there are no known cures for it at the moment. Alzheimer’s disease is often slow and involves subtle changes (Quadagno, 2014). I will go through what Alzheimer’s is, who Alzheimer’s affects, and cures for Alzheimer’s.
There is no cure for this particular Alzheimer disease or other regular or common kind of dementia (Mayeux, & Sano, 1999). Researchers are as yet to understand completely, how this disease leads to memory loss and different issues with thinking and behaviour. Only few treatments available for Alzheimer disease which can make a difference where it helps to ease symptoms, or slow down their progression in some people for the time being (Mayeux, & Sano, 1999 ; Whitehouse, 1991).