The Most Common Form of Dementia
Thought to be uncommon until the 1960’s, we began to realize that signs of functions and memory loss were not signs of normal aging but Alzheimers.
Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia, a brain disorder, affects ability to carry out daily activities. Involves the parts of the brain that controls thought, memory and language.
In fact, Alzheimer's disease affects about 4.5 million men and women in the United States.
The incidence of Alzheimer's disease increases with age, and is very rare among people younger than 60.
It affects up to 50 percent of people older than 85, and the risk increases with age.
For example, for every 5-year age group beyond 65, the percentage of people with Alzheimer's disease doubles.
Although the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are often confused with the changes that take place in normal aging, it's important to remember that Alzheimer's disease is not a normal part of aging.
Doctors and scientists are making steady progress but the cause is still unknown. They do know, however, that genetics may play a role. One gene has been linked to the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, and some research has shown that having high cholesterol or high blood pressure may also increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
AD is named after a German doctor. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. He found abnormal clumps (now called amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers (now called neurofibrillary tangles). Today, these plaques and tangles in the brain are considered hallmarks of AD.
A Closer Look at Alzheimer's Disease: The Brain
Doctors know that certain abnormal changes happen in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.
Think of the brain as a communications network, made up of billions of neurons, or nerve cells. These cells send electrical messages to one another across gaps, or synapses, where information and instructions are processed by other parts of the brain.
In people with Alzheimer's disease, changes to these nerves cause the communication pathways to break down and become permanently disconnected. As a result, certain aspects of brain function that control memory, behavior, personality, and other bodily functions, can be lost.
Because of these changes, people may behave in unusual ways. Or they may forget information that used to be second nature, like how to drive, how to behave in public, or how to get dressed.
In the severe stages, people with Alzheimer's disease cannot recognize family and friends.
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive illness, which means the disease, and its symptoms, worsens over time.
On average, AD patients live from 8 to 10 years after they are diagnosed, though the disease can last for as many as 20 years.
About 3% of men and women ages 65 to 74 have AD, and nearly 50% of those age 85 and older may have the disease.
Alzheimer's Disease: Progressing through Three Stages
In people with Alzheimer's disease, changes in the brain may begin 10 to 20 years before any visible signs or symptoms appear.
Some regions of the brain may begin to shrink, resulting in memory loss, the first visible sign of Alzheimer's disease.
Over time, Alzheimer's disease progresses through three main stages: mild, moderate, and severe.
These stages are characterized by a collection of signs and symptoms and behaviors the people with Alzheimer's disease experience.3
Stage I: Mild Alzheimer's disease
People with mild Alzheimer's disease often seem healthy, but they are actually having trouble making sense of the world around them. It often takes time for an observer to realize that something is wrong because the initial symptoms are often confused with changes that take place in normal aging. Signs and symptoms of mild Alzheimer's disease can include:
• Memory loss and changes in expressive speech
• Confusion about the location of familiar places
• Taking longer to finish routine, daily tasks
• Difficulty with simple math problems and related issues like handling money, paying bills, or balancing a checkbook
• Poor judgment which leads to bad decisions
• Mood and personality changes
• Increased anxiety
Stage II: Moderate Alzheimer's disease
In moderate Alzheimer's disease, the damaging processes occurring in the brain worsen and spread to other areas that control language, reasoning, sensory processing, and thought.
In this stage, signs and symptoms become more pronounced and behavioral problems can occur. Signs and symptoms of moderate Alzheimer's disease can include:
-Increased memory loss
-Shortened attention span
-Difficulty recognizing friends and family
-Problems with language, including speech, reading, comprehension, and writing
-Difficulty organizing thoughts
-Inability to learn new things or cope with unexpected situations
-Restlessness, agitation, anxiety, tearfulness, and wandering, especially in the late afternoon or evening (sometimes called sundowning)
-Repetitive statements or movements
-Hallucinations, delusions, suspiciousness, or paranoia
-Loss of impulse control (for example, sloppy table manners, undressing at inappropriate times or inappropriate places, vulgar language)
Stage III: Severe Alzheimer's disease
In the last stage of Alzheimer's disease, damage to the brain's nerve cells is widespread. At this point, full-time care is typically required. For friends, family, and caregivers, this can be the most difficult stage. All sense of self seems to vanish. People with severe Alzheimer's disease may be bedridden for long periods of time, and they often die from other illnesses, such as pneumonia. Signs of severe Alzheimer's disease may include:
-Complete loss of language and memory
-Weight loss
-Seizures, skin infections, and difficulty swallowing
-Groaning, moaning, or grunting
-Increased sleeping
-Lack of bladder and bowel control
-Loss of physical coordination
-People with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease may benefit from treatment with Namenda® (memantine HCl), the first and only medication approved to treat moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease.
-Namenda works in an entirely different way than currently available medications, and offers an important advance in the category of Alzheimer's disease treatment.
Getting a Diagnosis
People who begin to feel that something may be wrong will often visit their primary care physician or family doctor for a consultation and/or diagnosis. If the family doctor suspects dementia, he or she may refer the person to a neurologist or geriatric psychiatrist who specializes in diagnosing and treating different types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.
Diagnostic Tests and Tools
Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is most often made in the moderate stage. To diagnose Alzheimer's disease, doctors use a series of tests and tools that evaluate physical, behavioral, and emotional response because there is no single scale that can definitely diagnose Alzheimer's disease by itself.
Signs of Probable AD
The information learned from these tests helps determine whether a person has Alzheimer's disease, with an accuracy rate of about 90 percent.