The Symptoms Of Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimer’s is a medical condition which causes debilitating changes to the brain. Over time this worsens to eventually result in a loss of intellectual and social skills which can become severe enough to affect a person’s day to day life. With this disease, brain cells die which leads to a steady decline in memory and mental functions.

There are a number of current treatments including medications and mental management strategies which can temporarily improve symptoms in order maximize function and the patient’s independence. There are also important research efforts to find ways to cure this disease or at least slow its progression.

The early symptoms of this disease are most often associated with memory problems. You may forget where you are or have some mild confusion. Over time the disease will impact your memory more significantly as well as your ability to speak or write coherently.

The manner in which the brain changes with Alzheimer’s disease can lead to many different problems including:

1. Memory lapse – Most people forget things from time to time. However sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) usually exhibit more severe memory problems including repeating the same thing over and over again, forgetting appointments, misplacing items, and eventually forgetting the names of close family members or friends.

2. Sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease may lose track of time or even know what day it is. It may also cause people to become disoriented and even get lost in familiar surroundings.

3. Speaking and writing can become severely impacted by this disease. Eventually sufferers may lose all ability to speak or write.

4. Thinking and reasoning is greatly impacted to the point where patients can no longer perform simple mathematical operations or even balance their checkbook

5. Good judgment is impacted. For example a patient may leave food cooking on the stove and not realize that it is necessary to turn it off.

6. Changes in personality and behavior. This disease can lead to depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, mood swings, and mistrust of others.

Many scientists believe that Alzheimer’s disease is a result of several factors including genetic, lifestyle and environmental. The actual cause is not fully understood but what is known is that this disease kills brain cells.

A brain affected by this disease has fewer active brain cells and fewer connections than those in a healthy brain.

There are two types of abnormalities which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease. For some reason, patients with this disease develop plaques which are clumps of protein. They can damage brain cells and interfere with cell to cell communication.

And brain cells depend on a transport system to bring nutrients to them. This system depends on a complex protein called tau. In Alzheimer’s disease, these proteins form abnormal tangles which disrupt the ability to properly transmit nutrients and other essential materials. This leads to the death of brain cells over time.

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) but it is being closely studied with the ultimate hope of a cure. In the mean time a great deal of effort is being placed on treatments to slow down the progression and bring a better quality of life to patients and their families.