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Symptoms And Effects Of Alzheimer 's Disease

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Alzheimer’s Disease is a chronic neurological disease characterized by memory loss, behavioral changes, and a progressive loss of intellectual function. This disease has a wide array of symptoms and effects that vary greatly from person to person throughout the three stages of disease progression. The three stages are classified as mild, moderate, and severe. It is tough to give an accurate prognosis with Alzheimer’s patients seeing as everyone reacts differently to the disease and the medications. According to Gould and Dyer (2011), about 4.5 to 5.4 million Americans experience the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. When a patient is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it has the potential to turn their loved ones’ worlds upside down. Since there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, loved ones have to constantly monitor and help the person affected. Treatment is a group effort consisting of using doctors and therapists for guidance while family members take care of the person affected. Alzheimer’s has many potential causes that are currently being thoroughly investigated such as “exposure to metals, viruses, and metabolic syndrome” (Gould & Dyer, 2011, p. 522) which causes the disease to be multifactorial in origin. Gould and Dyer (2011) have confirmed a connection linking four defective genes to Alzheimer’s located on chromosomes 1, 14, 19, and 21 caused by genetic mutations. “These mutations account for less than 5 percent of Alzheimer’s disease” meaning that only a small number of

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