Introduction
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a disease that slowly and gradually damages the brain and it is distinguished by memory loss and ultimately conflict in interpretation, planning, speech, and awareness.
Many scientists consider that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by a certain chemical imbalance in the body. The chemical protein beta-amyloid protein starts the build-up inside the brain which in turn causes the death of nerve cells.
The probability of having Alzheimer’s disease amplifies considerably after the age of 70 and might affect around 50% of people over the age of 85. However, Alzheimer’s disease is not a standard part of growing old and is not something that inescapably takes place in old age. Many instances of people have been known where they have reached the age of 100 without developing this degenerative problem disease. This life-threatening disease was initially explained and named after a German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906. ( Harvey, Ferrier pp. 110-118)
The major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease is an increase in the age of the general population. As the population ages, the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease increases along with it. It is noted that 10% of individuals over 65 years of age and 50% of individuals over 85 years of age have Alzheimer’s disease.
Symptoms
The beginning of Alzheimer’s disease is frequently slow, and it is slowly progressive. There are many symptoms that are ignored by families of people with Alzheimer’s one of them being memory loss. People start thinking that it is part of the normal aging process but later on find out that it was the initial stages of Alzheimer’s. (Taylor pp. 95-112) When memory and additional issues with thinking begin to constantly influence the standard level of performance; families start to believe that something other than “standard aging” is happening.
One of the most common symptoms of Alzheimer’s is short-term memory loss which occurs during the initial stages. Like in some cases a person might forget whether he has taken his morning medicine or whether or not he remembered to turn off the shower. Mild behavior changes, such as spontaneity, lack of concern, and an inclination to extract from social communications, might take place early in the sickness. ( O’Brien, Oscar pp. 65-78)
As this disease progresses, issues in theoretical thinking and additional rational functions increase. The individual might start to have difficulty with numbers when calculating bills, have difficulty understanding while reading, or with categorizing the day’s work. Additional conflicts in actions and appearance might also be somewhat evident at this point, such as anxiety, petulance, confrontational, and the loss of the ability to dress properly.
As the condition gets worse individuals may lose orientation and forget the date and time of the month, day or year. They may even forget their own residential address or the last place visited.
As time passes an Alzheimer’s patient may lose control over certain body functions, be unable to hold a conversation or thought, develop serious mood swings and become increasingly difficult to manage. This continues to such a point that they, unfortunately, lose total ability to take care of themselves.
In the final stages, the patient usually gets affected by another disease such as pneumonia or any other infection that causes serious damage to health. Due to the already deteriorated state of the body and total incapability to take care of itself, death is most likely. (Devlin pp. 146-155)
Causes
Although extensive research has been conducted into the subject by many research organizations, the causes of Alzheimer’s have unfortunately not been found. Amongst all the theories, the “amyloid cascade hypothesis” is probably the most likely and most discussed one.
As per the hypothesis, Alzheimer’s is associated with a genetic condition that results in excessive deposits of amyloid-beta (ABeta) in the brain. ABeta itself is a certain kind of protein and is caused by a mutation associated with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Most scientists think that in most of the random (that is non-genetic) cases of AD (which comprise most of the Alzheimer patients) there is significantly less reduction in the level of the ABeta protein instead of the buildup. (Blacker, Frank pp. 125-138) Therefore a major part of the research towards curing Alzheimer’s has been based on finding ways to reduce the level of amyloid-beta in the brain.
Conclusion
Currently, the US Food and Drug and administration authority has approved the use of four drugs to help Alzheimer patients. Neither of these drugs however is known to be capable of reversing or slowing down the progression of the disease.
With no proper and secured cure for Alzheimer patients, most of the solutions towards caring for AD patients deal with how to care for an Alzheimer patient. The first step in this process is family and home care.
Caring for these patients is both a mental and emotional challenge. It is therefore important to inculcate a sense of patience and endurance in the caregiver first. Dealing with an Alzheimer’s patient can be quite challenging and emotionally exhaustive therefore it is important that the people caring for these patients are prepared for the challenge up ahead. Any form of disability can have serious negative impacts on the entire family, therefore it is crucial to maintain emotional stability during this time.
As awareness about the problem has grown many cities have developed ways of dealing with the problem on a public scale. Localize Alzheimer’s associations have been developed that take in AD patients and also help family members learn about the disease and ways of making life easier for themselves and their loved ones.
References
Blacker Jacob L., Frank Justine C., “Assessing and Managing Alzheimer’s”. American Family Physician 65 (11): 2263-2272. (2010).
Devlin. Thomas M., Textbook of Biochemistry with Clinical Correlations. Wiley-Liss; 7 edition. 2010. Web.
Harvey Richard A., Ferrier Denise R., Lippincott’s Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Fifth, North American Edition edition. 2010. Web.
O’Brien Thomas A., Oscar Charles M. “Alzheimer’s a silent killer“. Neuropsychol Rev 3 (2): 119-69. 2009.
Taylor, Richard, Alzheimer’s from the Inside Out. Health Professions Press; 2 edition. 2009. Web.