Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is a chronic disease where brain cell connections and the cells die. In the beginning of the disease, patients encounter increasing forgetfulness or mild confusion. Alzheimer's Association posted an article that goes over the basics for the disease. "Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years. It's early stages, memory loss is mild, but with late Alzheimer's, individuals lose the ability to to carry on a conversation and respond to their environment." Alzheimer's is not treatable but an individual can take medication to control their symptoms.
The National Institute of Aging wrote an article talking about Alzheimer's. There are three stages of Alzheimer's disease: mild Alzheimer's disease, moderate Alzheimer's disease, and severe Alzheimer's disease. The mild stage is where "As Alzheimer's disease progresses, people experience greater memory loss and other cognitive difficulties. Problems can include wandering and getting lost, trouble handling money and paying bills, repeating questions, taking longer to complete normal daily tasks, and personality and behavior changes. People are often diagnosed in this stage." My great grandfather had Alzheimer's disease. I would hear stories about him wandering out of the house at random hours of the night and he would get lost. My great grandmother would have to go search through the city to find him. As the disease progresses it becomes the moderate Alzheimer's disease where "damage occurs in the brain that control language, reasoning, sensory processing, and conscious thought. Memory loss and confusion grows worse, and people begin to have problems recognizing family and friends. They may be unable to learn new things, carry out multi-step tasks such as getting dressed, or cope with new situations. In addition, people at this stage may have hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia and may behave impulsively." My grandmother also has Alzheimer's and my sister and I went to visit her one summer. When we walked in to the house she had no idea who we were and she kept asking our names. My mother called her the day after and my grandmother did not remember us coming to her house. The final stage is severe Alzheimer's disease. In this stage " plaques and tangles spread throughout the brain, and brain issue shrinks significantly. People with severe Alzheimer's cannot communicate an are completely dependent on others for their care. Near the end, the person may be in bed most of or all of the time as the body shuts down."Tangles are twisted fibers of another protein called tau that builds up in cells and plaques are pieces of a protein fragment called beta-amyloid that build up in the spaces between the nerve cells. My aunt couldn't leave her bed when she was near the end. She had hospice care come and take care of her for her final couple months.
There are two different medications that individuals with Alzheimer's can take to modify their symptoms. There is cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine. Cholinesterase inhibitors boost levels of cell-to-cell communication by providing acetylcholine. Also, Memantine slows the progression of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease. Although there isn't a cure for this disease these medications help control a person's symptoms enough for them to do everyday tasks again.
Not everyone is affected by Alzheimer's disease. The ages that are affected the most by this disease are sixty years old and up. Sometimes it is sooner, but that is rare.  There has been cases where dementia started at age nineteen. Everyone that has Alzheimer's disease that is in my family has started showing symptoms after being sixty years old. According to helpguide.org there are six pillars of Alzheimer's prevention. Pillar one is getting regular exercise. "According to the Alzheimer's research and prevention Foundation, regular exercise can reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to fifty percent. As we grow older be gin to isolate ourselves. To reduce Alzheimer's disease you should have a moderate amount of social engagement. This can be volunteering or just meeting up with a couple friends. When my grandmother lived at home the only other person she could talk to was her caregiver that lived across the street. Quality sleep and healthy eating also contribute to prevention. "Alzheimer's is sometimes described as "diabetes of the brain", and a growing body of research suggests a strong link between metabolic disorders and the signal processing systems." Not getting enough sleep can lower your immune system and so can eating unhealthy foods. The final two are stress management and mental stimulation. In the ground breaking NIH ACTIVE study, older adults who receive as few as ten sessions of mental training not only improved their cognitive functioning in daily activities in the months after training, but continues to show long-lasting improvements ten years later." This could be solving a puzzle or learning something new. It allows your brain to fire those nerves so they don't slow down and begin to die.
Alzheimer's is a very serious disease. There is a lot of research for it going on right now. 90% of the information researchers have they discovered it in the past fifteen years. Hopefully, in the next twenty years we will have a cure for Alzheimer's disease.