Still Alice Howland's Quality Of Life

Suspecting that something is seriously wrong, and without the knowledge of her husband, John, Alice goes to see her doctor who refers her to a neurologist. After testing, Alice receives the stunning diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer 's. It is both numbing and terrifying for her. She is 50 years old. Alice struggles to tell John, who is a cancer cell biologist, because telling him will make it all "real". When she does, his reaction is almost cerebral and clinical. At first reluctant to believe her, John offers Alice no comfort. Instead he tells her he needs to find out more about Alzheimer 's.

Just Love me: My life turned upside down by Alzheimer’s (Lee, 2003), has allowed Lee (2003) to put on paper what an individual going though Alzheimer’s disease thinks and feels. This book has been written in order to better inform individuals that have Alzheimer’s, as well as the non-suffers who have been touched by Alzheimer’s in friends and family. It follows Lee (2003) though her struggles with early onset Alzheimer’s, describing her experiences before being diagnosed as well as how her disease progresses. It also examined the difficulties in diagnosing a disease that is not yet well understood. Lee (2003) talks about her everyday struggles as the disease worsens and she begins to lose her occupations and the person she use to be.

An individual’s needs and abilities change over time as a result of their condition and are different for each person. All abilities involve more than one memory and dysfunction of the brain will affect a person’s abilities. Self-awareness and identity can be lost that may affects a person’s abilities and needs. Furthermore anxiety, depression, mental health issues, loss of independence, loss of companionship, change of circumstance. Moreover Seven Stages of Alzheimer's (2006) going from no impairment to very server cognitive decline shows the fluctuation of the needs and abilities.

The theme of the book is related to the early onset Alzheimer’s disease and how the main character, Alice Howland’s quality of life or in other words her lifestyle is affected due to the disease she is diagnosed with (Genova, 2009). The novel sheds light on the lives of those

By the numbers, Alzheimer’s disease looks even worse than it may be. The cost of Alzheimer’s overwhelms the caregiver and everyone involved with the patient. The price businesses pay for Alzheimer’s it detrimental to their industry, show by “A 2002 study showed that United States businesses lost $36.5 billion that year because employees missed work or quit and had to be replaced so that they could care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease” (Adams 24). The caregivers play vital roles in the lives of the sufferer, but the business take an even heavier loss. Heath care is necessary for someone with Alzheimer’s disease, however it can get expensive “The costs of

This question is supposed to turn the conversation towards a more positive experience. It is often easy to see what problems aging causes but it is equally important to understand that aging can also have positive aspects. In case my aunt would answer any of the prior questions negatively, this is the chance to end the interview on a better note.

Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, a heartbreaking book about a 50-year-old woman's sudden diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and Dementia USA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. Genova's work with Alzheimer's patients has given her an understanding of the disorder and its affect not only on the patient, but on their friends and family as well (Simon and Schuster, n.d.).

A major devastating and debilitating disease, Alzheimer 's is a public health issue that affects not only the United States but also countries all around the world. In 2010, there were 35.6 million people living with Alzheimer’s. Researchers and medical personnel expect this number to triple by the year 2050. The disease is costing America an exorbitant amount of money and has become a burden on families, caregivers, medical personnel, the healthcare system, and the nation’s economy. If attention is not focused on this major problem, “nursing homes will be overloaded, caregivers will be burned out, healthcare system will be overwhelmed, and federal and state budgets will be overtaxed” (Alzheimer’s Association, 2011).

This screenplay follows the protagonist Alice Howland, who is a professor of linguistics at Columbia University. Alice Howland is later diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, which turns her world completely upside down; especially given her career and ambitious nature. She becomes unable to perform normal everyday activities, and struggles with the loss of her independence. Alice’s husband, John, who is a physician, attempts to act as a guide for her through this time, but it ultimately puts a strain on their relationship. John’s job offer to move to Boston does not help matters either, and it quickly becomes the last straw for the two of them. He soon moves to New York to take the job after Alice’s memory starts to decay at a faster rate. John and Alice have 3 children, Lydia, Anna, and Tom as well as a son-in-law, Charlie. They are introduced at the beginning of the screenplay, as they all gather to celebrate Alice’s 50th birthday at a restaurant. This is also the time in which the audience notices her decline in normal conversation as she is unable to follow smoothly. Alice could be considered the catalytic hero of this screenplay, and the disease being the antagonist. Alice wants to hold on to as much of her memory that she can, and slow the regression by writing down everything. By Act 3, Alice loses her ability to do activities that she had been doing for many years; such as going out for her morning run without getting lost, remembering words, phrases, and

     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.

Dementia is an extremely common disease among the elderly, with 4 million Americans currently suffering from the Alzheimer’s type alone. Figures show that 3% of people between the ages of 65-74 suffer from the disease, rapidly increasing to 19% for the 75-84 age bracket, and as high as 47% for the over 85s. Therefore, it is easy to see why Dementia is such a large part of many people’s lives, whether they are suffering from the condition themselves, or have an elderly relative who requires full time care just to undertake simple day to day tasks. The disease can be extremely traumatic for the patient and their families, as the person, who may have been extremely lively and bright throughout their

Alice faced severe challenges throughout the movie. However, she was a college professor, who was well-known and very intelligent. Alice had a wonderful husband with 3 beautiful children, 2 girls and one son. Alice family was the most important thing to her as a wife and mother. Alice was always on the go as a professor and wife. Alice loss her mother and sister in a car wreck a year ago on January 19th and her father passed away due to being an alcoholic. In the beginning of the movie Alice well aware of her surrounds and competent to her priorities. Alice was a peaceful, sweet, and humble young lady, who had a lot of respect for individuals. As time went by, Alice became fearful of the episodes she were experiencing. However, she felt it had to do with menopause. With that being said, she never took it seriously of the traumatic episodes that she came in contact with on a daily basis. Thoroughly, Alice begin to realize as time went by that her episodes begin to get worse and she start experiencing hallucinations. Alice experienced many different events of losing memory. Alice enjoyed exercising every morning. One particular morning, Alice went out to do her daily exercise, while do so Alice breath got heavier and heavier to obtain. Alice stop to caught her breath, in the process of trying to caught her breath, everything around her was spinning. Alice forgot where she was at that moment and had to give herself time to come back to reality. She became fearful and realized

Alzheimer’s disease slowly steals a person’s dignity and erases precious memories. The “Alzheimer’s Disease Guide”, found on WebMD explains that tasks become more difficult to do often leading to confusion and behavior changes. The article further explains the progression of the disease also brings hardship to family and friends (1). To best cope with Alzheimer’s we must better understand the disease.

“Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception.” (Howard Crystal) In Health 1000 we were asked to read the book Still Alice. I have never dealt with or have done any study on Alzheimer’s disease before reading this book. After finishing this book it has really opened my eyes to how bad of a disease and how it cripples the mind. I never imagined the effect of this disease on a patient and the patient family. This book is about a upper middle aged lady named Alice who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and how she and her family learn how to deal with disease. One of the things this book

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