Alzheimer’s Disease Requires Full Understanding
Alzheimer's Disease can leave the elderly utterly bewildered
It is now estimated that some 18 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease and the trend continues to grow. This is a disorder and a disease that is all too common among those who are 65 years of age and older. It is a disease where brain cells are destroyed and mental capacity diminishes quickly especially in the areas of thought, memory, and language. The loss of mental capacity eventually becomes severe enough to interfere with the performance of daily tasks and functioning becomes impossible without help. Eventually 24/7 care will be needed by the Alzheimer’s Disease patient for safety reasons as well as their continued health and wellbeing. It is a progressive disease and invariably becomes worse with time. The effects of Alzheimer’s Disease are irreversible and at present there is no cure in sight for the short term.
Typical Alzheimer’s Disease symptoms
Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease are often termed to have Dementia which simply means they have deterioration of brain function especially with thought, memory, and language. The impact on sufferers with the disease is that their reasoning becomes impaired and their ability to carry out everyday tasks becomes impossible. They often become disoriented with respect to their location, the time of day, and where they are going. They may forget where they live or fail to recognize other members of their family. They lose the ability to make sound judgements. Mood swings are very typical of the Alzheimer’s Disease patient and personality changes are quite common at the same time.
The disease develops in stages
The Alzheimer’s Patient typically dies within eight years after being diagnosed, although some may live only for one year while others may live for twenty years. Often they are housed in special facilities where they can be looked after and taken care of on a 24/7 basis and are usually confined to life within that facility. In recent years there have been some developments in medicines that slow down the rate of deterioration. This has been helpful in allowing some Alzheimer’s Disease patients to postpone the point at which it is necessary to commit to long term care facilities by several months or sometimes even years.
Alzheimer’s Disease has no known cure
There is no known specific cause for this devastating disease. Over the years, the various stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and possible Alzheimer’s treatments have been identified, which may help with a more accurate diagnosis of the process. During the very early stage, families will notice memory loss in the patient and changes in the ability to function and to reason in a normal fashion. Overtime these symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease all become more extreme and in particular the sufferers understanding of what is happening becomes much diminished. There is no treatment for this disease but specific medications can help to slow down the progression and some of the typical symptoms of the disease. In particular, some medication can actually help the Alzheimer’s Disease sufferer focus better, although only for a temporary period.
Alzheimer’s disease cannot be fought alone, stay in touch with me at Twitter (@ DonMClaassen)
