Alzheimers

Alzheimers disease is the most common form of dementia. Dementia is a disease that simply causes the loss of certain mental abilities. The disease develops during old age and it is marked by a decline in mental functions such as memory, reasoning, and the ability to plan.

In patients you will see a gradual decline in mental functions; first stages include a slight loss in memory, such as the inability to remember names and places. As the disease progresses, the patient will loose the ability to carry out familiar tasks, to reason, and to exercise normal judgment. Also you might see mood swings, personality changes, and ability to communicate clearly may be affected.

At present people with Alzheimers can typically die within eight to ten years of diagnosis others may live as long as twenty years, but sadly there are some that die within a year of diagnosis. In the United States this disease is the fourth leading cause of death after heart disease, cancer, and stroke. But development for a cure and better Alzheimers Treatment is ongoing and there is strong evidence of a cure in the future.

Did you know that the disease is not limited to the just the elderly and there is one form of the disease that affects people in their forties and fifties, however the majority of patients are older than sixty-five and the older you get the greater the risk of getting the disease, over 45 percent of those over the age of eighty-four have some form of Alzheimers.

CAUSES

The cause is not known but ongoing research has produced some promising indications. Some research has been based on people who have died from the disease and autopsies have shown that brain cells responsible for learning and memory have been significantly damaged.

The research showed that brain cells had become clogged with abnormal structures; these structures are known as senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. It is thought that these structures stop the brain cells from normal function and this prevents the transmission of the signals in the brain from one cell to another. Inflammation in the brain could be a another factor and very active damaging chemicals in the brain, called free radicals, are another possible cause, but the exact cause is not known.

10 warning signs:

• Memory loss that affects job skills.
• Difficulty in performing familiar tasks.
• Problems with language.
• Confusion about time and place.
• Poor or diminished judgment.
• Problems with abstract thinking.
• Misplacing of things.
• Changes in mood or behavior.
• Changes in personality.
• Loss of initiative.

Symptoms of the disease vary and warning signs need to be monitered carefully. Your local Doctor will be able to help point out the early warning signs of Alzheimers.