Tag: restlessness

Treatment and Care for Alzheimers Patients

Many breakthroughs and important discoveries have been found throughout the years of research and testing regarding the cure and treatment of Alzheimers disease. Despite that though, there continues to be no known cure or prevention for Alzheimers. Furthermore, once the disease has started, there can be no repairing or slowing down the damage of abnormal deposits of proteins in the brain.

People with Alzheimers have abnormal deposits of protein in their brains. These brain protein coat the brain and interacts with the neurons, neurotransmitters and nerves, causing damage and massive atrophy. Eventually, the brain will continue to shrink and the otherwise wrinkled surface will start to smoothen out. This is basically what causes the degeneration in the mind and in the person’s body.

There however are some drugs and treatments that seem to relieve symptomatic conditions slightly in some cases. These drugs and Alzheimers treatments are especially important during the onset and early stages of the illness when the sufferer can still be aware of what he or she is going through.

For instance, a person with Alzheimers at the early stages may suffer from depression or restlessness and certain drugs and Alzheimers treatments can be administered to help with this somewhat. Also, there have been some cases where memory loss at the beginning of dementia can still be improved somehow. Other possible symptoms that can be momentarily alleviated are sleep disorders and hallucinations.

Beyond these, the proper Alzheimers treatment of caregivers for patients is a highly specialized skill and needs to be administered by a professional. This will mean that the patient will eventually have to be entrusted in institutionalized care for the proper Alzheimers treatment needed.

Of course, loved ones of the Alzheimers patient will want to administer care personally but the care and Alzheimers treatment needed by the patient will be full time and specialized so it is best for a professional caregiver to ensure dignity is maintained throughout the course of the person’s disease.

Despite the present lack of Alzheimers treatment and cure, hope should never be abandoned. After all the technological advancements that have been made in the field of science and medicine, it probably won’t be long before the proper Alzheimers treatment and cure will be discovered.

If not the cure or Alzheimers treatment, then perhaps the methods of prevention against Alzheimers will be found to help other individuals not fall into this predicament. Perhaps in the near future, there will be vaccines for Alzheimers disease much like we all have vaccines against diseases like small pox and the like. All those diseases in the past posed a challenge to humanity then just like Alzheimers does now.

In the meantime, if you or someone you know and care about suffers from Alzheimers, it is best to consult a professional for possible options for instance for eventual institutional care, or for support groups or counseling advice that can be given to the patient and to his or her friends and relatives.

There may be some misconceptions and even some difficulty in accepting the situation of this disease whether it is on the side of the patient or from the people around him or her. For instances such as these, the right counseling and guidance is needed as part of the proper Alzheimers treatment.

Alzheimer’s, not just an old man’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease, we’ve all hear of it but do we really understand the disease? According to statistics, there are about 350,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s disease diagnosed each year in the United States.

Doing the math, you could have more than 4.5 million Americans by the year 2050 that would be affected by the disease. A grimmer outlook indicates that by 2025, there will be 34 million people worldwide Alzheimers disease.

Let’s tackle the issue step by step. Alzheimer’s disease is a known brain disorder that is progressive and irreversible. It is still not known where and how the disorder develops in the human brain neither is there any sure fire cure for the disease. What is known by medical scientists is that the disease attacks slowly.

It takes its time, gnawing slowly at the victims’ minds stealing memories and causing deterioration of brain functions. Alzheimer’s is a disease that causes irreversible dementia and is always fatal.

It was German psychiatrist Dr. Alois Alzheimer who first identified the disease. At first he noted the disease’s symptoms as “amnestic writing disordear,” however when later studies were conducted Dr. Alzheimer found out that the symptoms were more than ordinary memory loss. It was far worse.

Dr. Alzheimer found the presence of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques in the brain. The good doctor presented his findings which were accepted by the medical community. And soon enough, by 1910 the name of the disease was accepted and became known as Alzheimer’s disease.

The most common early symptoms of the disease are confusion, being inattentive and have problems with orientation, personality changes, experiencing short-term memory loss, language difficulties and mood swings. Probably the most obvious and striking early symptom of Alzheimer’s is loss of short term memory.

At fist the victim will exhibits minor forgetfulness, but as the disease slowly progress he/she will start to forget a lot of things. However, older memories are oftentimes left untouched. Because of this, patients with Alzheimer’s will start to be less energetic and spontaneous. As the disease progress, they will have trouble learning new things and reacting on outside stimuli which gets them all confused and causes them to exercise poor judgment. This is considered Stage 1 of the disease.

At Stage 2 the patient will now need assistance in performing complicated tasks. Speech and understanding is evidently slower. At this stage, Alzheimer’s victims are already aware that they have the disease which causes a whole lot of problems like depression and restlessness.

At this point, only the distant past can be recalled and recent events are immediately forgotten. Patients will have difficulty telling time, date and where they are.

The final stage is of course the hardest, both for the patient and their family. At Stage 3 the patient will start to lose control of a lot of bodily functions like simple chewing and swallowing. He/she will start getting the needed nutrients through a tube. At Stage 3, the patient will no longer remember basically anyone.
They will lose bowel and bladder control and they will become vulnerable to third party infections and diseases like pneumonia.
Once the patient become bedridden, things will only get worse. Respiratory problems will become more terrible.

It is apparent that the patient will need constant care. At this point, the most one can do is to make sure that the patient stays as comfortable as possible. At the terminal stage, death is inevitable.

Alzheimer’s Disease and Its Symptoms

Alzheimer’s disease, also known as the most common form of dementia, is named after the German neurologist Dr. Alois Alzheimer who first identified the disease in 1907. The main concern with Alzheimer’s disease is that it allows the rapid degeneration of healthy brain tissue associated with cognitive abilities such as judgment, comprehension and memory.

The root cause of this phenomenon in Alzheimer’s disease remains unclear and is still under study. This degeneration of the brain tissues causes a steady decline in memory as well as a steady loss of essential mental abilities responsible for thought, memory, and language. More than four million of the older population in the US is known to be stricken with Alzheimer’s disease. The number of people suffering from this debilitating condition is expected to triple within the next 20 years.

The most common symptoms of Alzheimer’s are loss of memory, the decline of intellectual functions and sudden changes in personality. At the first stages of the disease, symptoms exhibited are patients becoming easily tired, upset and anxious.

With Alzheimer’s disease the changes that happen may be gradual over time and not so sudden. But as the disease progresses, so does the Alzheimer’s symptoms as they accelerate and become more serious and noticeable enough for the people involved to seek help. The usual course of the disease can take anything from five to ten years, from how the Alzheimer’s symptoms develop from simple forgetfulness to showing up as severe dementia.

On the part of the patient, the initial Alzheimer’s symptom that can be very frightening is the realization that something is happening to their memory. Although simple forgetfulness is not the only Alzheimer’s symptom to look for, but it reaches the degree as even forgetting the names of people that the patient sees often, then the condition is a possible Alzheimer’s symptom. The Alzheimer’s symptom starts off with slight memory loss and confusion. It then ultimately leads to severe and irreversible mental impairment if left to develop without any form of initial treatment.

The Alzheimer’s symptom will further lead to degeneration of a person’s ability to remember, reason, learn and even imagine. The Alzheimer’s symptom of forgetfulness can include the names of family members being forgotten as well as familiar everyday objects such as a comb and mirror.

Another possible symptom of the disease include difficulty experienced with abstract thinking. This symptom initially begins with typically mundane everyday things like not balancing a check book and may further develop into not understanding and recognizing numbers.

Difficulty finding the right word can also be an Alzheimer’s symptom that challenges the patient with finding the correct words for expression. It will eventually lead to a diminished ability to follow conversations and further progress to affect one’s reading and writing skills.

Disorientation with time and dates is also an evident symptom of Alzheimer’s, even further deteriorating to the degree as to frequently losing themselves in even very familiar surroundings.

Loss of judgment is an Alzheimer’s symptom that prevents the patient from solving everyday problems and doing simple tasks like cooking on the stove. This Alzheimer’s symptom in its extreme form will lead to difficulty with anything that requires planning, decision-making and judgment.

Personality change is an Alzheimer’s symptom that presents itself as the gradual development of mood swings, distrust, stubbornness and eventual withdrawal from the patient’s usual social circle. Depression is also a coexistent Alzheimer’s symptom alongside with growing restlessness. In its severe form, the Alzheimer’s symptom further develops into anxiety, aggressiveness and inappropriate behavior.

Prevent and Treat Heartburn or Acid Reflux

The most common digestive system disorder people experience is heartburn, which is highly associated to acid reflux. Often, many people will encounter heartburn or acid reflux during night time. When this happens, a burning sensation in the chest will be felt. This particular pain is similar to heart attack symptoms. However, heartburn acid reflux is also a very serious disease that can affect many individuals including infants and young children as well as adults. Infants usually grow out from this condition after time while most young children will likely experience acid reflux in their lifetime. Meanwhile, many adults are likely to experience possible occurrences of this condition due to lifestyle factors and eating habits.

Understanding how heartburn occurs is essential to those diagnosed with acid reflux. Eating habits or lifestyle factors should be changed to prevent heartburn associated to acid reflux. As such, unhealthy eating or eating excessively in one time can cause improper movement of the gastric juices in the lower portion of the esophagus causing possible heartburn to occur that can result to acid reflux eventually.

These juices in the gastric area are highly acidic. When the gastric juice touches the lining of the esophagus, irritation and inflammation of the esophagus occur, causing heartburn. The abnormal gastric juice flow is due to either Lower Esophageal Sphincter, LES in short, caused by the relaxation of the muscle between the esophagus and the abdomen or other related factors such as structural defects or disorders like hiatial hernia or lifestyle factors.

Heartburn or acid reflux needs treatment especially when a night time attack happens. Night time attacks have similar daytime attack symptoms except that night time attacks include snoring, restlessness, fatigue and even abnormalities in breathing are all night time symptoms. Attacks during the night are more severe than attacks during daytime.

Many people with heartburn or acid reflux understand the cause of their condition. However, there are still many people lacking essential knowledge of how heartburn acid reflux can be triggered. The simplest answer is food. Many people experience acid reflux after having a large meal due to improper breakdown of foods causing acid reflux to occur. Foods such as spicy foods, chocolates, fried and fatty foods can trigger this condition. In fact, even citrus fruits have a tendency to flare up heartburn.

If you have been diagnosed with acid reflux, you should try preventive medication and treatments to help aid in its cure. One way that can help lessen the occurrences is by changing your lifestyle. A change in lifestyle can really help rid of acid reflux from recurring. Also, you should avoid eating aa heavy large meal at one time. Instead, eat small meals at intervals. Eating large meals can increase pressure in the esophageal sphincter and at the same time, expand your stomach. Other preventive measures include maintaining your weight, avoiding alcoholic beverages, and not wearing tightly fitted clothes around the waist because all these factors can cause acid reflux.

Acid reflux is a common condition that can lead to severe problems if left untreated. If you are diagnosed with this condition, always take necessary precautions when experiencing it to avoid further serious problems that could affect even the respiratory system. Because acid reflux is a serious problem, people with heartburn acid reflux should seek advice on how to prevent and treat this particular condition.