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Mental Deterioration Of Alzheimer 's Disease

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“I want to tell you how much I miss my mother. Bits of her are still there. I miss her most when I’m sitting across from her,” (Crowley, Candy. October 21st, 2014). This quote refers specifically to Alzheimer’s, which is defined as progressive mental deterioration that can occur in middle or old age, due to generalized degeneration of the brain. It is the most common cause of premature senility. However, Alzheimer’s is merely only a form of many debilitating diseases under the umbrella of Dementia, defined as a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury and marked by memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning. Some examples of these disorders include: Vascular dementia, Frontotemporal dementia (Pick 's disease), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and of course as was previously for mentioned, Alzheimer 's disease. Each form of dementia will be discussed in depth including their symptoms, treatments, and their histories.

Vascular dementia is a decline in thinking skills caused by conditions that block or reduce blood flow to the brain, depriving brain cells of vital oxygen and nutrients. Conditions that can block blood flow to the brain are generally transient ischemic attacks (TIA’s) or strokes. When these occur, often major brain blood vessels are damaged and blocked causing effects on personality, ways of thinking and problem solving, and generally can coexist with changes linked with other types of dementia.

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