Tag: slight memory loss

Origins unknown, the battle with Alzheimer’s continues

One could trace back the history of Alzheimer’s disease from a presentation and lecture made by a German psychiatrist in 1906 during 37th Meeting of Southwest German Psychiatrists held in Tbingen.

Dr. Alois Alzheimer presented his findings on a woman who had died after years of having memory problems and confusion.
When Dr. Alzheimer autopsied the patient’s brain, he found thick deposits of neuritic plaques outside and around the nerve cells. He also found a lot of twisted bands of fibers or neurofibrillary tangles inside the nerve cells.

Today, medical specialists need to find the presence of the same plaques and tangles at autopsy in order to have a conclusive diagnosis that Alzheimer’s disease indeed caused the disease. And due to this lecture and achievement in research and studies, the medical community has bestowed the honor of naming the disease after Dr. Alzheimer.

However, Dr. Alzheimer’s work only signaled the start of years of medical research and studies which could only resolve the mysteries of the disease by so much. Up until now, Alzheimer’s disease has still unknown origin and remains to have no cure. At first, the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease was limited for individuals between the ages of 45-65 since the symptoms of pre-senile dementia due to the histopathologic process are more common and prominent during this age.

However, during the 1970s and early 1980s, the term Alzheimer’s disease began to be used to refer to patients of all ages that manifest the same symptoms.

Statistics show that around 350,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s disease are being diagnosed each year. It is estimated that by 2050, there are 4.5 million Americans afflicted by the disease. Recent studies have shown that there is an increase risk of contracting and developing Alzheimers as one grows older.

It has been reported that 5 percent of Americans between the ages of 65 to 74 suffer from Alzheimers disease. Also, half of those in the 85 years and older age group are more likely to have the disease.

Generics have also been seen as a factor in the development of the disease. Scientists have found out that mutations on chromosomes 9 and 19 have been associated with the later stages of Alzheimer’s. However, not everyone that manifests the mutations results to having the disease. Up until now, the relationship between genetics and late-onset Alzheimer’s is still a grey area.

Meanwhile, other research have associated trauma as a factor that increases the risk of acquiring the disease. There are also evidences which suggest that lack of exercise increases the risk factor of Alzheimer’s. It is important to avoid high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and low levels folate in order to decrease the risk of developing the disease.

There are basically three stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Stage 1 or Mild Stage is the early of the disease. At this stage patients become less energetic and will experience slight memory loss. Often times, the symptoms at this stage are either go unnoticed or are ignored as but trivial or normal occurrences.

At Stage 2 or Moderate stage, the patient needs to be assisted in some complicated tasks and memory loss is no highly noticeable. The final stage is the severest stage. Because the disease already progresses too far this point, the patient is unable to perform simple tasks and will lose the ability to walk or eat without help.

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.