Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s disease is a terrible disease that most likely affects the elderly after the age of 60. Most people have heard about Alzheimer’s and how this disease affects one’s memory and their ability to carry out daily activities. Although scientists know how this disease affects the brain, they are still unsure of the cause of Alzheimer’s. In 2013, it was said that as many as five million people were living with this disease (Alzheimer’s Disease). These five million individuals have to struggle every day to carry out everyday activities and to know that there isn’t a cure is devastating. Learning more about this disease and learning how to deal with it is very important for caregivers and families. As many know, the …show more content…
The first stage is also known as the mild Alzheimer’s. In this stage, a person can still function independently and just has some memory issues and can forget familiar words. During this stage certain difficulties would be; problems coming up with words, trouble with names, misplacing valuables, and some trouble at performing tasks. The second stage, which is known as moderate Alzheimer’s, is the longest stage. This stage can last for many years and keeps progressing, causing the person to need more care. During this stage the nerve cells in the brain become effected and it makes it harder for the person to express their thoughts and harder to perform everyday actions. The second stage can cause the individual to feel moody, forget important events of their history, confused about the time of day or what month it is, and increased risk of getting lost. The last stage, which is known as severe Alzheimer’s, is when the person usually experiences worse memory loss and their cognitive skills start to suffer. Individuals in the last stage of Alzheimer’s will require full-time help, they will have a difficult time speaking, will require assistance with everyday tasks, and will lose awareness of everything that is going on around them …show more content…
In a scholarly article written by Wayne McCormick, it discusses the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The study used patients that were in the University of Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Registry. In the study, they took individuals who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and individuals who did not have disease like Alzheimer’s or dementia. The study took place to see if when the elderly start to complain about memory problems, if that can be useful in an early evaluation of having Alzheimer’s. After the study, results showed that symptoms of cognitive impairment were evident at an average of six months in 95% of the cases, 77% were in non-demented cases and 6% was in the control cases. People with Alzheimer’s disease do complain of symptoms clearly related to cognitive impairment early in the course of illness, but may under-report common symptoms not suggestive of cognitive impairment, even though their comorbidity is similar to patients without dementia
During the onset of the disease, symptoms are usually non-existant, and progress slowly over the course of many years, often going unnoticed until they become more severe. Alzheimer's is somewhat difficult to diagnose, but there are some common symptoms to all patients. Memory loss occurs in all patients. The person may have trouble remembering small things such as phone numbers, or where he/she put the keys. Eventually, short term memory is lost, and only memories in the far past are able to be recalled. People with Alzheimer's can become disoriented and can get lost easily when out on their own. Mood changes also occur, and the person can be easily irritated or agitated by seemingly insignificant things. Cognitive deterioration also occurs, with the person losing the ability to understand spoken language or recall the meanings of different words (Grayson, "Recognizing Alzheimer's" 1). Despite these common symptoms, making a diagnosis is difficult since Alzheimer's patientscan display the same symptoms as a head injury or 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
Early Stage. Generally, the early stage of Alzheimer's is divided between 4 stages. Stage 1 is known as the “normal” or rather the “no impairment” stage. There are not any noticeable symptoms here. Most individuals will not be aware they have the disease. People can last years or even decades with stage 1 Alzheimer's with not even a single symptom and living completely independently. (DeMarco, B. 2017, March 02) Stage 2 is labeled as very mild impairment or normal forgetfulness. Individuals here will start to notice little memory hiccups. For example, they may realize they cannot recall where they last left an item as well as they did before. They can also become aware of the fact that name of familiar people start to be forgotten. In stage
The alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging and only up to 5 percent of people with the disease have early onset Alzheimer's (also known as younger-onset), which often appears when someone is in their 40s or 50s. This disease doesn’t have a cure, but there are treatments for symptoms available and research still continues to find the answer to cure this bad disease. Also, an interesting fact is that ninety percent of what we know about Alzheimer's has been discovered in the last 15 years. Lastly, Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years. In its early stages, memory loss is mild, but with late-stage Alzheimer's, individuals lose the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to their environment. It’s the sixth leading cause of death in the United
The Alzheimer’s Association lists ten items to watch for as follows: “1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life, 2. Challenges in planning or solving problems, 3. Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure, 4. Confusion with time or place, 5. Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships, 6. New problems with words in speaking or writing, 7. Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps, 8. Decreased or poor judgment, 9. Withdrawal from work or social activities, 10. Changes in mood and personality (“Memory Loss”). There are three main stages of Alzheimer’s that are characterized by specific signs that are generally similar at all ages. The first stage, mild, “starts with mild impairments in memory, communication patterns and executive ability, and depression,” and in this stage the disease may be seen as only normal signs of aging, not as Alzheimer’s (Wattmo). In addition, in this stage there also may be a “marked reduction in the capacity to conduct more advanced instrumental activities of daily living,” and this may be recognized more easily as Alzheimer’s disease (Wattmo). In moving on to the moderate stages of this disease, it has been shown that common symptoms are “disorientation of time and/or place, dyspraxia, dysgnosia and decreased judgement and skills” (Wattmo). The
Alzheimer’s is a neurological disease, which causes memory loss, and other cognitive impairment due to the degeneration of the brain. It’s also a progressive disease, since its symptoms develop slowly, and gradually get worse over time. It usually occurs in three stages, which include early (mild), middle (moderate), and late (severe). In the early stages of this disease, memory loss is most common, whereas in the late stages, it becomes severe enough to affect daily tasks, such as communicating with friends and family. Moreover, Alzheimer’s symptoms, include memory loss, delusions, mood swings, etc., thus it causes issues with the individual’s memory, thinking and behavior. Furthermore, an individual diagnosed with Alzheimer’s can live up
Alzheimer’s disease is not something we can control. The disease is a progressive, permanent, and overwhelming brain illness that causes cognitive decline, including memory, language and thinking problems. After many decades of trying to find a cure, there still isn’t one, although researchers continue to make progress. “It is unknown what causes Alzheimer’s disease but older age and family history appear to play a role” (Shu, 2011). Not only do age and family history play a factor in Alzheimer’s disease, changes to the immune system can also play a part. This could play a large role in why we do not have a cure, because we do not know, with certainty, what causes it.
Although age and genetics are the two biggest determining factors of causing Alzheimer’s disease, there are other small factors that can be controlled in order to help lower the risk or the age at which symptoms start to become prominent. Several scientists are digging into prevention strategies such as diet, exercise, and “brain games” can help delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline. They are also investigating how certain medical conditions, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, influence risk for cognitive impairment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). After studying those risk factors, results have demonstrated that certain health and lifestyle factors does not slow down
Initial signs and symptoms are rather mild during the early stages. It might not be noticeable at first. They are not exactly the same for everyone, but most people have difficulty learning new things and recalling pieces of new information. As it progresses, victims of the disease forget more and more information. They struggle to communicate and travel as they’re increasingly unable to remember important information needed for these functions. In the latest stages, Alzheimer’s patients lose even more of their memory, which makes it hard for them to perform even the most basic functions, such as walking and eating. They have difficulty sleeping, they get agitated, they hallucinate, and they have to be helped in almost any and all endeavors, even to the most basic of functions. (this paragraph all from https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/info/20007/types_of_dementia/2/alzheimers_disease/2)
Alzheimer’s is a slow disease, taking 8 to 20 years from diagnosis to death. The main culprit of the infamous memory- loss disease is the beta amyloid protein. This protein builds up forming plaques. Beta amyloid also attaches to neurons first blocking synapses and eventually forming tangles by killing them. Over time more and more of these plaques and tangles accumulate while killing over 100 billion nerve cells. The damage these buildups of protein cause are tragic. Physically the brain shrinks; starting with the hippocampus and slowly progressing. However the changes the person affected with the disease encounters are far worse.
Alzheimer’s disease is defined as a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. This progressive disease consists of memory loss and the loss of cognitive abilities serious enough to interfere with daily tasks of everyday life. Common things patients with Alzheimer's might forget are their loved ones, how to dress themselves, using the toilet, or feeding themselves. This heart breaking diseases causes brain tissue break down and, generally 1 in 10 people who are over 65 get diagnosed with it. Getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging. There is not enough research to know why some people get it and others don’t. This disease kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer
Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative neurological disorder that is now the sixth leading cause to death in the United States. In the recent years several genes have been pinpointed that are responsible for the disorder, along with twenty genes that have been known to increase and decrease the risk of getting it. Although this newly learned information is helpful it does not fully explain the cause. Scientists have been searching relentlessly to find the explanation to onset Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's disease is a terrible thing to have. It gets passed down through generations of family members and it usually starts appearing around age 60. Though Alzheimer’s is unavoidable, it can be treated with certain treatments to not make it so severe so fast. Unfortunately, the treatments cannot cure or get rid of it, so Alz is the 6th leading cause of death in the United states. So what could be done to not make it not so severe or to let people know more about the disease?
For years, researchers have been searching for what causes Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive brain disorder that is irreversible and greatly affects one’s thinking skills and memory. Symptoms of the disease usually emerge during a person’s mid-sixties, and is the most common cause of dementia among the elderly (National Institute on Aging).
The cause of this illness is a microscopic unicellular eukaryote organism moving by minute contractions of small contractile fibrils organelles unlike many other Protozoa moving by locomotion.