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Few
diseases scare us as much as Alzheimer's does. Alzheimer's disease robs
the victim of memory and thinking, and the sense of self, leaving
behind a shell of a body. The world is poised on the brink of an
epidemic of Alzheimers as many countries face an aging population.
Alzheimer’s
is a very serious brain disease that attacks the parts of the brain
responsible for the creation of memory and for thinking.
As the
disease progresses, more and more parts of the brain become affected.
The patient loses the ability to live independently, and the sense of
self and identity disappears. Eventually the patient dies.
Alzheimer’s is not the only disease that causes dementia, but it is probably the best known to the general public.
When
Alzheimer’s strikes someone, we watch as the person afflicted slowly
fades away in front of us, and eventually disappears to a place where
they can’t be reached.
We may personally know people, who have
been afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease. We may have visited a nursing
home where many of the elderly residents sat staring blankly and
unaware. We shuddered inwardly, thinking, “I hope that never happens to
me.”
Part of the reason we fear this disease so much is because
it is so mysterious. We don’t know what causes Alzheimer’s. We don’t
know how to cure it. We don’t even have a surefire test to diagnose
Alzheimer’s while the victim is still alive.
The incidence of
Alzheimer’s disease tends to get higher as the population ages. In the
age group 6FREE-7FREE, approximately four per cent of the population may be
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. In the age group of 8FREE years or older, about
FREE0% of the population has Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s
disease is a growing problem all over the world because the population
in most countries is growing older and older on average. In many
countries, more and more people are surviving to the age where the
incidence of the disease becomes more common.
At the present
time, up to four million North Americans are believed to be affected by
Alzheimer’s disease. In twenty years, that number may go up to ten
million. India has the some of the lowest rates of Alzheimer’s in the
world, but scientists don’t know why the rate of the disease in India is
so low.
Alzheimer’s disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer
who studied and described this disease in Germany in the early years of
the twentieth century. Dr. Alzheimer was the first to discover and
analyze the massive destruction of brain cells in a middle-aged woman
who had been stricken with dementia and eventually died from it.
When
Dr. Alzheimer studied this woman’s brain after she died, he noticed
that her brain was filled with microscopic plaques and tangles. These
plaques and tangles had killed her brain cells.
The disease
starts out with small lapses in the ability to make and retrieve
short-term memories. With this comes a decline in the ability to reason
and the ability to concentrate. The person affected may forget the names
of familiar objects, or get lost in a familiar place. Personality
changes may become apparent.
This decline in mental processing
happens because of the destruction of brain cells that are needed to
form and retrieve memories. At the same time, there is a progressive
decline in the brain’s supply of neurotransmitters required to carry
messages from one brain cell to another.
In the initial stages, it is very hard to differentiate Alzheimer’s disease from other types of memory loss.
As
the disease progresses, more and more brain cells die. Memory test
scores may decline by 10 to 1FREE% each year. Eventually, the patient will
have difficulty performing the simplest actions required for daily
living. The vocabulary dwindles to a few dozen words, then disappears
altogether. Friends and family will not be recognized. The “self” fades
away.
In the final stages, the patient will be completely unable
to look after herself, unable to feed, walk or control the bladder and
bowel. Death often occurs from pneumonia or infection.
Alzheimer’s
may strike people in their twenties, but is very rare in that age
group. It becomes increasingly common with advanced aging. As women tend
to live longer than men by several years, they are more likely to live
long enough to be afflicted with Alzheimer’s.
From the initial
diagnosis to the time of death may be a period of seven to twenty years.
The toll of the disease on the family and on society is very high.
Unless
a cure is found soon, the costs of institutionalizing those millions
who will fall victim to Alzheimer’s in the coming decades will consume
many billions of dollars.
The toll on the families of those
afflicted is very high. For the person who is afflicted with this
disease, the loss of memory, of thinking ability, of the personal sense
of self is the greatest tragedy of all.
About the Author:
This article was written by Royane Real, author of “How You Can Be
Smarter – Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More
Creative” If you want to learn about how to look after your brain and
get better performance out of it, download it today at http://www.royanereal.com
Source: www.isnare.com
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