How Does Alzheimer's Disease Effect On Caregivers

Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that affects two to four million people in our country and eight million more worldwide. Alzheimer’s is an aggressive disease that destroys the brain.

Alzheimer’s Disease is a form of dementia affecting more than one third of those over ninety-five years old. Its effects vary per person and become systematically more extreme as time wears on. Alzheimer’s is currently incurable and impossible to slow, destroying neurons and brain tissue, resulting in loss of memory, judgment, awareness, communication, behavior and capacity for emotion. Changes in personality and loss of initiative are also common symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

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.

As the disease progress, people might slowly lose their quality of life (QOL) in term of good health, mentality, communications and abilities that are considered crucial to their life. Patients might struggle to adapt with the new changes and disabilities happened to them and feel depress as they cannot live their normal life. There are three stages of Alzheimer which are mild, moderate and late stages. The mild stage of Alzheimer will starts affecting patient’s cognitive functions in which it might impair short term memories especially the one that are recently learn such as dates, recent events and people names. In terms of behavior, patients might experience depression and personality changes that could affect social relationships and everyday routines. Due to memory loss, family member relationship especially husband-wife relationship are also affected because patients might not remember their loved ones and they also lose sexual interest with their partner. It is hard for Alzheimer patients to live in the society and they are usually isolated because the society tends to assume these patients as crazy or

After Alzheimer's is diagnosed in a parent, or other elderly family member, the caregiver has the task of deciding what the best form of care for the patient is. In order to do this they have to fully understand what the disease is, and

Alzheimer's causes a person’s memory to slowly get worse and worse to where the person will not remember family and the way the world functions. For example, the quote that was said by Joanne Coste, “No more cafés filled with tales and baggage. There has been great brain robbery” (Coste 3). This quote is describing what it is like always forgetting and what it is like having Alzheimer's. A person with the disease feels like life has been taken away, and is controlled by Alzheimer's, and soon forget how life works. Secondly, the disease may also cause someone to “mindlessly wander, repeat questions, and take longer to complete daily tasks” (“Alzheimer's Disease Fact Sheet” n.p.). People who have the disease do all of these things because the individual will forget very often, almost every day. This makes life much harder for the person to love others and love life because the individual is not capable of doing normal, daily tasks. Alzheimer's disease can make a person ungrateful and frustrated, which is caused by the brain’s memory slowly fading

The topic of this article is about the effects that Alzheimer’s has on the patients, family members/caregivers. I believe there is a grave importance in this topic to help understand the effects of this disease and possibly help farther research. This might bring a few questions to the front of this discussion. How the relationship is after a patient is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s? How does this effect the family members/caregivers? What symptoms do family members experience with Alzheimer’s patients? What factors in life play a role in developing this disease? This paper will explore these questions with the respect of these news articles.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a serious form of dementia that involves the destruction of brain cells, and ultimately leads to death (1). What makes AD such a frightening disease, for both the patient and their family members, is the loss of "self" associated with the dementia. Those afflicted with AD can't understand the changes going on within themselves. Family members are upset by the loss of the "person" they once knew. It is common for daughters (for example) to say that a mother in the later stages of AD is not their "mom" because the personality displayed by the patient is so different from the personality they associate with "mom".

Alzheimer’s disease effects hundreds of thousands of older adults. Research has been done and a cure is being searched for, but so far there is no way to cure it. There are treatments for Alzheimer’s that may help, but the cure is slow coming and few things have been learned about it. Older persons who experience the disease can experience a wide array of effects such as confusion, depression, violent tendencies, and many other things of that nature. There are different stages of the mental sickness, from minor, to severe. Different research states that the more schooling you have the, the less likely you are to develop Alzheimer’s, it may also be genetic and passed down through generations.

“Alzheimer`s disease is called a family disease” (ALZlive), because it impacts every family member who is slowly watching a loved one decline. Alzheimer’s disease has an impact on caretakers because caregivers can lead to a variety of emotions, from guilt to anger. When dealing with a client who has Alzheimer; caretakers have a huge responsibility, which can cause stress or depression. If the caretaking is a family member it might lead to finical problems, which can lead to the hard and controversial decision of putting someone in a nursing home, that is better equipped. Guilt is the main emotion that a caretaker can express “I have never spoken to my mother`s doctor, it occurs to me that other children of

     It is inevitable that eventually each of us will grow old and begin to face more and more health problems as our age rises. Elderly people are challenged by many illnesses and diseases that unfortunately, are incurable. One disease that becomes more common as people age is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s a common cause and a form of dementia and can severely damage a patient’s cognitive functions and can ultimately cause death. Living with Alzheimer’s disease can be saddening for both the sufferer and the family. Family and friends will find it very hard to cope when a loved one begins slipping away and losing memory of who they are.

Alzheimer is a disease that affects the elderly most. The disease was discovered by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in the year 1906 when he was examining a female’s brain. He found out that the woman displayed memory loss, language problems and some inexplicable changes in behavior. The disease was named after the doctor who was a German psychiatrist and a neuropathologist. Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder that leads to memory loss, personality changes, and language problems (Gilbert & Julie 2). The disease is mostly diagnosed in people over the age of 65 years, though there is a small minority of people under the age of 50 who get the disease. Studies show that 1% of a whole population aged between the ages 65-75 have severe

Alzheimer’s disease affects 1 out of every 8 people in the United States. It is a long and debilitating disease that affects every aspect of a person’s life from the way they preform daily tasks, to the physical and mental abilities that are diminishing. Along with the lifestyle changes that Alzheimer’s disease presents, it also affects one’s psychological perspective as well their view on what they can offer their family and society. There are some ways to maintain a level of independence with a disease of this magnitude but there are also factors in lifestyle choices that can make it worse. Alzheimer cannot be cured, it cannot be slowed, but there are ways to keep the effected person at a certain level of comfort, independence and safety

The aim of this study is to bring awareness to Alzheimer’s Disease. It is important noting that Alzheimer’s disease does not only affect the patient but also their family and caregiver. This research was conducted at St. Josephs Hospital Medical Nursing Home. We selected 10 medically diagnosed Alzheimer’s patients. We divided the patients into 2 groups. The first group consisted of patients that had a lot of moral support and affection from their families. In this group was also the grandmother of one of the contributors to this paper. The second group consisted of patients that do not receive moral support or have not seen their family for a long time.

First, I will describe Alzheimer's disease it is a progressive condition that damages areas of the brain involved in memory, intelligence, judgment, language and behavior. According to Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and more than five million Americans the ages of sixty and older are living with this disease. In two-thousand and twelve, 15.4 million