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What is Alzheimer's?
The first discovery of Alzheimer’s disease was by Dr. Alois in 1906, who was a german physician. Alzheimers, the most common type of dementia, is a slow progresssive and unfortunately an irreversible disease that worsens as the patient ages. As the condition worsens, the patient will find simple tasks such as washing the dishes to be challenging and difficult to carry out. Today, the cure to Alzheimer's is still unknown, yet the cases will continue to rise as almost 50% of seniors over the age of 85 have Alzheimers. Although uncommon, the disease can also develop in individuals as young as 30-65 as almost 5% of Alzheimer patients have early on-set Alzheimers due to genetic mutations.
How does Alzheimers Progress?
According to what scientists have discovered so far, the brain damages itself usually a decade before the symptoms occur or any cognitive problems are detected. The brain will create protein deposits that are unusual and form amyloid plaques which are misfolded proteins and tangles in the brain that develop in the parts of the brain (entorhinal cortex) associated with memory. Together the tangles and amyloid plaques restrict healthy neurons from functioning properly causing a lost connection with other neurons. This disconnection causes the healthy neurons to die. As more neurons begin to die, the brain shrinks causing other parts of the brain to become affected. As this process goes on the damage worsens and brain tissues will result in a significant shrink.
Stages for Alzheimers
Stages of Alzheimers
There are different stages of alzhemiers that range from the patient living with Alzheimer's wandering around at the mild stage to the point where they cannot communicate or take care of themselves at the severe stage. Usually, the beginning symptoms are memory loss, misplacing items, personality changes, problems with language and decreased judgement. From there, other symptoms can be found to determine the stage of Alzheimer's the patient is at.
Mild stage
Greater memory loss occurs
Wandering, needing to repeat response multiple times, daily tasks take much longer than usual
stage at which Alzheimers is usually diagnosed
Moderate
Damage in the brain occurs associating with language, reasoning, conscious thinking (frontal lobe) and sensory processing (parietal lobe)
Memory loss worsens to the point where they may not be able to recognize their loved ones anymore
Hallucinations and delusions are present
Cannot cope with situations
Severe
Plaques and tangles form
Brain has shrunk significantly
Unable to care for themselves and cannot communicate
Treatments
Although there is no cure to fully stop Alzheimers as of right now, there are medications that can slow the process of brain shrinking and aid with behavioural problems.
Donepezil (Aricept Ⓡ), Galantamine (Razadyne Ⓡ) to help with mild and moderate Alzheimers
Memantine (Namehola Ⓡ), Exelon Ⓡ Patch to help with moderate to severe Alzheimers
General Facts
Known to be the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S and the 5th leading cause in Canada for females
Alzheimers affect more women than men as nearly two-thirds of patients living with Alzhemiers are women
More than half of the 5.4 million Americans living with Alzheimers may not know they have it
APA Citations/References
“Alzheimer's Disease Fact Sheet.” National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved January, 7, 2021, from www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet.
“Helpful News and Resources for the Family Caregiver.” Caregiver News and Resources | Home Instead | Lynchburg, VA. Retrieved January, 7, 2021, from www.homeinstead.com/514/blog/facts-on-alzheimers.
“What Is Alzheimer's Disease?” National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved January, 7, 2021, from www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-alzheimers-disease.
“What Is Alzheimer's?” Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia. Retrieved January, 7, 2021, from www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-alzheimers.