medicalx - Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease
Is it normal forgetfulness in old age?

Because these diseases are not only affected patients but also a heavy burden for their loved ones. However, many patients are not recognized and are not healthy.

With aging, people often become forgetful. Not only older people, younger people tend to forget things, especially when they are conceived, tired or under pressure. Normally, if you ever forget a friend's birthday or where you left your car keys. Thus, forgetting is otherwise inconvenient, but it does not significantly impede performance of the individual. However, if forgetting intensifies, this could be the first sign of pathological changes of dementia. Patients with dementia not to forget just where are the keys, but also why the keys used at all. Forgetting the name of a friend, or when they meet or do not recognize. I do not remember what they were doing an hour ago. Not only does the occasional thing crammed how things harvested in unusual places, for example., Newspaper harvested in the refrigerator.

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What is dementia?

Dementia is a set of symptoms and signs occurring in a patient and can result from various diseases. Dementia characterized by memory impairment, impoverished thinking and effect of daily activities. Affected the memorization and recall new information (forgetfulness), reduced the ability of orientation, comprehension, numeracy, oral expression and assessment, reduced the ability to control emotions and social behavior. With the advancement of dementia patients is becoming increasingly independent and require extra care. In dementia this is not a drop of pre-existing intellectual and memory abilities (ie cognitive skills).

Dementia can cause more than a hundred different diseases, the most common cause is Alzheimer's disease, which causes almost 60% of all dementias. Quite common is also dementia due to cerebral vascular disease, but rarely caused by hormonal disorders, tumors or infections.
What is Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. It is a disease which is incomplete in explaining the method causes changes in the brain. In the brains of patients shall be disposed of certain substances, which leads to gradual death of brain cells (neurons). Reducing the number of neurons in the patient outwardly manifested by a decline in cognitive abilities, or. as progressive dementia. Therefore, talk about Alzheimer's dementia.

The first sign of Alzheimer's dementia

Alzheimer's disease usually begins slowly, imperceptibly, and then a gradual and fairly steady progress. The first sign of Alzheimer's dementia is the loss of short-term memory. Although the patient can correctly tell where he lived and worked decades ago, when it reports or easily specify your date of birth of children may not remember what was eaten before the half hour for lunch. Patients lose interest in work or other activities which were until then they are interesting, giving a sense that the logs. Do not show so much more interest in developments in the area, or for social gatherings.

Graduation problems

With progression of the disease, the problems escalate.

    * Begin to forget the basic, simple things like. names of friends and relatives, frequently used phone numbers or addresses.
    * I do not remember more about how to get to the store or back home, so often lost. Because they forget where they put their things, they become suspicious or irritated, relatives are often accused of theft.
    * Due to the escalation of problems with memory decline and other capabilities are increasing the tension, despondency or feelings of inferiority. Gradually reduces the ability of understanding and appreciation. During an interview weight find a word or discharged, difficult to follow long and complex conversation.
    * No longer able to independently regulate the financial affairs or to travel alone. Need more control and more incentives for activities that are eager and able to continue.
    * Memorized social concessions begin brakes, disclose confidential things indifferent are to errors and limitations, which were previously embarrassed.
    * Speed is crying or distressed, but they soon settle down, as if nothing had happened.

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Problems with Alzheimer's dementia affecting not only patients

Later, do not recognize or nearest relatives, or identify completely unknown person as acquaintances from the past. They talk with virtual persons or with their own image they see in the mirror. Do not Find more even in their own home. Most often they do not know the correct date in, nor where they are. Still need constant supervision because they can leave a lit gas or drink cleaning products that are available to them, thinking that they are edible. Monitoring is also needed during the night, they are often of insomnia.

Problems associated with Alzheimer's dementia is therefore not only affect patients, but also a heavy burden for family members or other persons caring for the patient. Although most domestic environment in which they spent most of his life, it is often necessary to provide accommodation in an institution where they can be properly looked after.
Who can be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease?

The number of patients with Alzheimer's dementia is growing rapidly, especially with an aging population. It also increases the amount of research on this disease, however, is not yet known what causes Alzheimer's dementia. It is also not completely clear why some people suffer from Alzheimer's, others do not. The most important factor in the occurrence of Alzheimer's dementia is age. Alzheimer's disease affects mostly older than 65 years, before the 50th year, the disease is very rarely shown. It is suffering from 5 to 10% of all older than 65 years, with increasing age, the proportion of people with dementia is growing rapidly - between 80 to 90 years old is nearly 15% of patients with this form of dementia. It is also important inheritance. People who have a patient with Alzheimer's dementia among relatives, have a greater chance of being themselves suffering from the disease. Important role to play at this game a lot of unknown factors. Therefore it is impossible to predict in whom the disease will occur and by whom Sun
How the disease treated?

Alzheimer's disease is not curable, because despite treatment the disease process progresses. Notwithstanding this, the treatment of this disease with drugs extremely important for alleviating the consequences of the disease. Treatment can significantly improve the functioning of the patient, and slow the progression of signs of disease. Medicines to improve thinking and memory of the patient, daily tasks become easier, there are fewer patient behavioral disorders. All this also relieves the family members who spend less time to care for patients with Alzheimer's dementia, patients may stay longer in the home environment.
What drugs are available?

Drugs against Alzheimer's disease are available for less than 10 years. The most important medicines belong to a group of inhibitors of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. By inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase increase the concentration of acetylcholine, which is one of the carriers of impulses between nerve cells in the brain and is important for cognitive abilities. The amount of acetylcholine It is in Alzheimer's disease over the loss of nerve cells is reduced by increased drug concentration of acetylcholine to improve cognitive abilities. Medicines indirectly improve a number of other signs of dementia, for example. behavior and daily functioning of the patient. However, since the disease process progresses despite treatment, the improvement of the treatment with drugs is transient and lasts for about one year. Later dementia progresses, medication, this progress slowed.

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In addition to the treatment of cognitive abilities affected by inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase, it is also important to treat the additional symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia, for example. anxiety, depression, sleep disorders.
It is important to see a doctor!

If you have problems similar to those described, or by anyone of your loved ones is a very important visit to the doctor. Also, only mild memory problems mention the doctor at the next review. Only your doctor can evaluate is whether the problems the disease and any disease that may be the cause. Your doctor will ask about diseases and surgery in the past, any mental health problems and the medicines they are taking. Task will complete physical examination and some blood tests, urine, heart and presoju some other investigation. To assist in the disruption of memory may also use various psychological tests, for example. clock drawing test (Figure).

Test clock drawing. Please contact me to draw a clock with numbers and indicators so that it showed ten minutes past eleven. The clock on the left was drawn by a healthy person, am on the right of a patient with dementia.

It is important to ascertain the problem, because treatment of various diseases that cause dementia, completely different. In particular, Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause must be discovered as soon as possible, since the drug is most effective in the initial stage of the disease.