About Alzheimer's disease process
Introduction
Alzheimer's is a progressive brain disease that destroys the thinking skills, memory and ends up affecting an individual's ability to perform certain tasks. It is an irreversible brain disease that mainly affects old people who are above the age of 60. Alzheimer is the main cause of dementia which the loss of remembering, reasoning, thinking and behavioral abilities. Alzheimer is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer who noticed a change in the brain tissue of a woman who had died after suffering from some mental illness. He examined the woman's brain and discovered abnormal clumps and tangled fiber bundles which are the two main features of Alzheimer.
Early alzheimer
The disease process of Alzheimer begins with the early stage. During this disease process, the Alzheimer is developing. The first symptom to appear at this disease process is memory problems. It is followed by other aspects like impaired reasoning and judgment, vision problems and troubled word finding. Diagnosis of Alzheimer at this early stage can be done by the use of bio-makers and imaging. Though Alzheimer is irreversible, detecting the disease at his early stage will help to preserve some of the important brain functions longer and help the family to plan for the future of their loved one as well as come up with support networks that will help the affected person.
Mild and moderate Alzheimer disease process
Mild disease process
during this disease process, the memory loss becomes worse and the cognitive abilities are more noticeable. Short comings like getting lost, repeating questions, change in moods, change in personality, trouble doing the normal daily tasks and poor judgment are exhibited at this disease process. Most of the Alzheimer patients are diagnosed at this disease stage.
Moderate Alzheimer process
this stage is more severe than the mild and early stages. At this disease process, the brain is damaged. The brain damage tends to affect the areas that control speech, reasoning, conscious thought and sensory processing. Memory loss and confusion worsen at this disease process. The patient is unable to; recognize friends and family members, do the normal daily tasks like dressing on their own and have difficulty coping with new situations. At this stage, the patient can experience hallucinations, paranoia, delusions and may exhibit some impulsive behavior.
Severe Alzheimer disease process
The last stage of Alzheimer is the severe disease process. At this stage, the tangles and plagues are all over the brain and the brain tissues have shrunk considerably. At this stage, the patient cannot communicate at all and he/she depends completely on the family members and care takers. Just before death, the patient tends to remain in bed for most of the time as the body cuts power.
Important tips to note:
Alzheimer is properly diagnosed after death through a brain tissue examination test.
The treatment given to the patients do not aim at curing the Alzheimer but are aimed at maintaining the mental functions like speaking, thinking and memory. However, the disease still progresses to the other processes.
Caring for an Alzheimer patient is demanding. It is therefore important for the family members to understand the disease and their loved one.
Family members and care givers should be tolerant and very supportive to the patient.
