Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, as it damages mental and social skills, impairing daily functioning in normal life. Alzheimer's disease is a degeneration of healthy brain cells that leads to a continuous decline in memory and in mental and intellectual abilities.
Alzheimer's disease is not a normal stage of aging, but the risk of developing it increases with age, as about 5% of people aged 65-74 suffer from Alzheimer's disease, while the proportion of people with Alzheimer's disease among people aged 85 years and overreaches About 50%.
Although Alzheimer's is an incurable disease, some treatments may improve the quality of life for those who suffer from it. Alzheimer's patients and the people who care for them need the support of family and friends to succeed in fighting Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's disease symptoms
Alzheimer's disease may destroy the patient's ability to remember, as in the first stage of Alzheimer's appears slight memory loss and disorientation and confusion, which eventually leads to permanent irreparable damage to the patient's mental abilities, as well as his ability to remember and logical thinking learning and imagining.
Everyone finds it difficult to remember some things, as it is normal to forget where you put your car keys or the names of people you rarely meet.
They repeat the same sentences and words.
They forget conversations or appointments.
- They put things in the wrong place, and in places that don't make sense at all.
- They forget the names of their family members and the names of things they use every day.
Thinking problems.
Alzheimer's patients may not be able to maintain their financial balance in the early stages of the disease, a problem that may develop into difficulty in knowing and identifying numbers and dealing with them.
Difficulty finding the right or appropriate word.
Impaired ability to read and write.
Problems with locating.
Loss of sense of time, so Alzheimer's patients may get lost in familiar territory.
Loss of judgment and position.
Difficulties in solving everyday problems, such as: knowing how to act in the event of food burning in the oven, with time it becomes more difficult and eventually becomes impossible.
Extreme difficulty in carrying out tasks and actions that require planning, decision-making, judgment, and taking a position.
Difficulty in carrying out usual and known tasks and actions.
Routine tasks that involve a few stages or steps, such as cooking, are very difficult to do, and people with advanced Alzheimer's disease eventually forget how to do the most basic things.
Alzheimer's patients display personality changes, such as:
- Volatile mood.
- Lack of security in others.
- Increased stubbornness.
- Social introversion.
- depression.
- the fear.
- aggressiveness
Alzheimer's disease causes and risk factors
Alzheimer's is not the result of one factor alone. Scientists believe that Alzheimer's disease is caused by a combination of genetic and other factors related to lifestyle and the surrounding environment. It is very difficult to understand the causes and factors of Alzheimer's, but its effect on brain cells is clear as it affects and eliminates brain cells.
There are two common types of neuronal damage in Alzheimer's patients:
- A buildup of a normally harmless protein called amyloid-beta can damage the communication process between brain cells.
- The internal structure of brain cells depends on the normal functioning of a protein called tau. In Alzheimer's patients, changes occur in tau protein fibers that cause them to twist and warp. Many researchers believe that this phenomenon may cause great and dangerous damage to neurons and even eliminate them.
Alzheimer's risk factors
Alzheimer's risk factors include:
1. Age
Alzheimer's disease usually appears over the age of 65 years but can appear in very rare cases before the age of 40 years.
The prevalence of the disease among people aged 65-74 years is less than 5%, and among those aged 85 years and over the elderly, the prevalence of Alzheimer's is about 50%.
2. Genetic factors
If the family has patients with Alzheimer's disease, the probability of the first-degree family members developing the disease is slightly higher, as the genetic mechanisms for the transmission of Alzheimer's disease between members of the same family have not yet been fully identified, but scientists note a few genetic mutations that increase the risk of infection in families specific.
3. Gender
Women are more likely than men to develop Alzheimer's disease, and one reason for this is that women live longer.
4. Minor cognitive defects
People with mild cognitive defects have more serious memory problems but are not serious enough to be defined as dementia. Many people with these defects develop Alzheimer's disease at some point.
5. General health status
Factors that increase the risk of heart disease also increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, including:
hypertension.
Hyper cholesterol in the blood.
Unbalanced diabetes.
6. Maintain physical fitness
Must also be attendance fitness high should also train the brain, where the preservation of mental activity throughout life, especially in advanced age reduces the risk of developing 's a disease.
7. Educational and cultural level
The more we use our brain, the more areas of contact and connection are created between neurons, which form a larger reserve in old age.
Alzheimer's disease complications
In the advanced stage of Alzheimer's disease, patients lose the ability to take care of themselves, and this fact may result in other medical problems, such as:
1. Pneumonia
Alzheimer's disease may cause unawareness and inhalation of some harmful substances into the air passages and lungs, which may lead to inflammation of the lungs.
2. Infections
Because of the inability to control urine output, it is sometimes necessary to use a catheter, which increases the risk of infections in the urinary tract. These infections, if not properly treated, may lead to more serious infections, and may eventually lead to death.
3. Fall injuries
Alzheimer's patients who suffer from confusion and disorientation are more likely to fall, and this may lead to fractures. In addition, falls are a common cause of serious head injuries, such as bleeding in the brain.
Alzheimer's disease diagnosis
Doctors can accurately diagnose 90% of Alzheimer's disease cases. To distinguish Alzheimer's disease from other causes of memory loss, doctors usually rely on the following tests:
- Laboratory tests.
- Neuropsychology tests.
- Brain scan tests.
By looking at brain scan images, doctors can notice and identify abnormal or abnormal results, such as blood clots, bleeding, or tumors, which may be signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and positron emission tomography can be used to detect less active areas of the brain, and from images which may be done as follows:
- Magnetic resonance imaging.
- Computed Tomography.
- Positron emission tomography.
- Alzheimer's disease treatment
Neurologists sometimes prescribe medications to reduce the symptoms that often accompany Alzheimer's disease, including:
- inability to sleep
- getting lost.
- anxiety.
- Insomnia.
- Depression.
But some medications are hareeffective in slowing mental decline caused by Alzheimer's disease: Cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, and Namenda.
Alzheimer's disease prevention
Human trials of vaccines against Alzheimer's disease were halted a few years ago; Because some of the trial participants who got the vaccine developed acute encephalitis.
However, the risk of Alzheimer's disease can be reduced, just as we reduce the risk of heart disease, and many factors that increase the risk of heart disease may increase the risk of Alzheimer's, and the main factors are high blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels.
Also, maintaining physical, mental, and social activity would reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Alternative therapies
Alzheimer's disease cannot be cured with herbs.
Alzheimer's disease,Alzheimer's,Alzheimer's disease,Alzheimer's disease (disease or medical condition),what is Alzheimer's disease,symptoms of Alzheimer's disease,Alzheimers,Alzheimer disease,disease,familial Alzheimer's disease, how to prevent Alzheimers disease,Alzheimer's disease cure,Alzheimer's disease drugs,Alzheimer's disease,Alzheimers disease -,Alzheimer's disease,prevent Alzheimer's disease,sporadic Alzheimer's disease,Alzheimer's disease research
Comments
Post a Comment