Alzheimer's - A Progressive Disease Of The Brain

Introduction

Alzheimer's disease (AD), also called Alzheimer disease, and simply known as Alzheimer's, is a neurodegenerative disease that, in its most celebrated construct, is found in people over 65 years used. Alzheimer's disease has been identified as a protein misfolding disease, or proteopathy, due to the accumulation of abnormally folded A-beta and tau proteins in the brains of AD patients.

Alzheimer's destroys brain cells, causing problems with memory, thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent type of dementia in the elderly and affects almost half of all patients with dementia. Alzheimer's is a major public health challenge since the median age of the industrialized world's population is increasing gradually.

Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

There is a mammoth deal of optimism that early screening and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease will result in treatments that may nick some of the risk factors. At the time of a diagnosis, an individual is not necessarily in the early stage of the disease; he or she may have progressed beyond the early stage.

Accordingly; for most of the twentieth century, the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was reserved for individuals between the ages of 45 and 65 who developed symptoms of dementia. In most people with the disease the increasing impairments in learning and memory will lead to diagnosis, while in a cramped proportion of them language, executive or visuoconstructional dificulties will be more salient.

However, a definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease as a particular cause of dementia must await slight examination of brain tissue; which generally occurs at autopsy and less often with a pre-mortem brain biopsy. Careful neuropsychological testing can command serene cognitive difficulties even eight years before a person fullfils clinical criteria of diagnosis.

Symptoms

Symptoms of AD include memory loss, language deterioration, impaired ability to mentally manipulate visual information, dreadful judgment, confusion, restlessness, and mood swings. But treatments for symptoms, combined with the lawful services and wait on, can perform life better for the millions of Americans living with Alzheimer's. 30% of the patients also construct illusionary misidentifications and other delusional symptoms. All these symptoms probably do this stage the most stressful of all for relatives and caretakers, increasing the likelihood of ending home care.

Treatment

used medical treatment may depend on the developmental stage of the disease. Treatment modalities include counseling, psychotherapy (if cognitive functioning is adequate), reminiscent therapy, reality orientation therapy, and behavioral reinforcements as well as cognitive rehabilitation training. Treatment includes relieving the patient's symptoms and alleviating stress on care givers through benefit groups and counseling services.

Conclusion

The average course of the disease from the time it is diagnosed to death is about 6 to 8 years. Alzheimer's disease cannot be definitely diagnosed until after death, when the brain can be closely examined for determined minute changes caused by the disease. Alzheimer's disease has a huge impact at any age. With recent treatment its more necessary than ever that you view early symptoms and collect support as soon as possible.