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Alzheimer's Disease
Index
Why I support the Gentle Women United
Causes for Alzheimer's Disease?
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
Who develops Alzheimer’s disease?
What are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?
Ten Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease
Why I
support the Gentle Women United Causes for Alzheimer's Disease?
Alzheimer’s struck my family when we found
out that my Aunt Rita (one of my mother's sister) was diagnosed with
it. If you have visited my Memorial or Angel Site you will know
that this aunt was very special. This aunt showed me that true
love does exist and that you can find it.
My mother and the rest of my aunts and her husband, my Uncle Dunc had to
watch her deteriorate. What was so painful was watching my uncle
watch the woman he loved fade away into her own world. My Uncle
died a few months before my aunt and I believe that this was the perfect
way that two soulmates should pass. He slipped away in the night
and she didn't notice he was gone nor could she remember who he was or
how much she loved him. She was spared the grief process due
to Alzheimer's.
The loss my mother and her sisters and her brother felt was more painful
to watch. The loss of their mother was painful for their children
as well.
My Uncle Dunc and Aunt Rita had four children, Jimmy, Duncan Jr. Mark and
Laura. Jimmy lives in Vancouver and had to fly back home many
times to help with the funeral, legal matters and other things.
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What is
Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive
disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and
a disturbance in at least one other thinking function (for example, language
or perception of reality). Many scientists believe that AD results from
an increase in the production or accumulation of a specific protein (beta-amyloid
protein) that leads to nerve cell death. Loss of nerve cells in strategic
brain areas, in turn, causes deficits in the neurotransmitters, which are
the brain’s chemical messengers.
Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part
of aging and is not something that inevitably happens in later life. Rather,
it is one of the dementing disorders, which are a group of brain diseases
that result in the loss of mental and physical functions.
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Who develops
Alzheimer’s disease?
The main risk factor for AD is increased
age. As the population ages, the frequency of AD continues to increase.
10 % of people over age 65 and 50 % of those over 85 have AD. The number
of individuals with AD is expected to be 14 million by the year 2050. In
1998, the annual cost for the care of patients with AD in the United States
was approximately $40,000 per patient.
There are also genetic risk factors for AD. The presence of several family
members with AD has suggested that, in some cases, heredity may influence
the development of AD. A genetic basis has been identified through the
discovery of mutations in several genes that cause AD in a small subgroup
of families in which the disease has frequently occurred at relatively
early ages (beginning before age 50). Some evidence points to chromosome
19 as implicated in certain other families in which the disease has frequently
developed at later ages.
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What
are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?
The onset of AD is usually very slow and
gradual. Over time, however, it follows a progressively more serious course.
Among the symptoms that typically develop, none is unique to AD at its
various stages. It is important that suspicious changes be thoroughly evaluated
before they become inappropriately or negligently labeled AD.
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Ten Warning
Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease
The Alzheimer’s Association has developed
the following list of warning signs that include common symptoms of AD.
Individuals who exhibit several of these symptoms should see a physician
for a complete evaluation.
1) Memory loss that affects job skills
2) Difficulty performing familiar tasks
3) Problems with language
4) Disorientation to time and place
5) Poor or decreased judgment
6) Problems with abstract thinking
7) Misplacing things
8) Changes in mood or behavior
9) Changes in personality Loss of initiative
10) Problems of memory, particularly recent or short-term memory, are common early in the course
of AD. For example, the individual may, on repeated occasions, forget to
turn off the iron or fail to recall which of the morning's medicines were
taken. Mild personality changes, such as less spontaneity, or a sense of
apathy and a tendency to withdraw from social interactions, may occur early
in the illness.
As the disease progresses, problems in abstract thinking or in intellectual
functioning develop. The person may begin to have trouble with figures
when working on bills, with understanding what is being read, or with organizing
the day's work. Further disturbances in behavior and appearance may also
be seen at this point, such as agitation, irritability, quarrelsomeness,
and a diminishing ability to dress appropriately.
Later in the course of the disorder, affected individuals may become confused
or disoriented about what month or year it is, be unable to describe accurately
where they live, or be capable of correctly naming a place being visited.
Eventually, patients may wander, be unable to engage in conversation, seem
inattentive and erratic in mood, appear uncooperative, and lose bladder
and bowel control. In extreme cases, persons may become totally incapable
of caring for themselves, if the final stage is reached. Death then follows,
perhaps from pneumonia or some other problem that occurs in severely deteriorated
states of health. The average course of the disease from the time it is
recognized to death is about 6 to 8 years, but it may range from under
2 to over 20 years. Those who develop the disorder later in life may die
from other illnesses (such as heart disease), before AD reaches its final
and most serious stages.
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All Information from Medicinenet.com
 
  
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