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Which Statement About Alzheimer’s Disease Is True

What To Do If You Suspect Alzheimers Disease

Eating to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

Getting checked by your healthcare provider can help determine if the symptoms you are experiencing are related to Alzheimers disease, or a more treatable conditions such as a vitamin deficiency or a side effect from medication. Early and accurate diagnosis also provides opportunities for you and your family to consider financial planning, develop advance directives, enroll in clinical trials, and anticipate care needs.

How Do You Know What Stage Of Alzheimer’s Disease A Loved One Is In

The stages of Alzheimers disease presented in this post offer a reasonable framework from which to observe symptoms and understand the progression of the disease. Since there is no medical consensus for Alzheimers stages, as there is with cancer, it is important for caregivers to be aware of the individual symptoms and situation that their patient or loved one is experiencing. While healthcare providers may refer to a patients condition as late or early stage, any specific stage is less important than the context and understanding of what this means for care going forward.

Symptoms Of Alzheimer’s Disease

In the early stages the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease can be very subtle. However, it often begins with lapses in memory and difficulty in finding the right words for everyday objects.

Other symptoms may include:

  • Persistent and frequent memory difficulties, especially of recent events
  • Vagueness in everyday conversation
  • Apparent loss of enthusiasm for previously enjoyed activities
  • Taking longer to do routine tasks
  • Forgetting well-known people or places
  • Inability to process questions and instructions
  • Deterioration of social skills
  • Emotional unpredictability

Symptoms vary and the disease progresses at a different pace according to the individual and the areas of the brain affected. A person’s abilities may fluctuate from day to day, or even within the one day, becoming worse in times of stress, fatigue or ill-health.

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Knowledge Regarding Alzheimers Disease Among College Students Of Kathmandu Nepal

Maginsh Dahal

1Department of Public Health, Nobel College, Pokhara University, Nepal

2Department of Public Health, Asian College for Advance Studies, Purbanchal University, Nepal

Abstract

1. Introduction

Alzheimers disease is defined as the degenerative disease of the brain resulting in progressive memory loss, impaired thinking, deterioration, and changes in personality and mood . It includes deterioration of language, comprehension, memory, and thinking and learning capability . The term Alzheimer was first coined by a German physician, Alios Alzheimer, in 1915 . The WHO mentioned Alzheimers disease as the most common cause of dementia however, not all dementia is a result of Alzheimers . Alzheimers is becoming a growing burden and the leading cause of disability among older people, and there is no cure for it . It is set to be the biggest killer among the growing elderly population .

Alzheimers disease worsens over time . It is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years . In its early stages, memory loss is mild, but with late-stage Alzheimers disease, individuals lose the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to their environment . Those with Alzheimers disease live an average of eight years after their symptoms become noticeable to others, but survival can range from 4 to 20 years, depending on age and other health conditions .

2. Materials and Methods

3. Results

Variables
Variables

4. Discussion

References

Alzheimer’s Disease Is A Type Of Dementia

Conclusion for alzheimers disease essay bi

Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia, which is a term used to describe a range of symptoms that affect a person’s memory, thinking, and reasoning to the point they interfere with daily tasks. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for up to 80% of cases of dementia. In mild dementia, the loss of cognitive skills only slightly affects a person’s daily life, while in severe dementia a person is no longer able to function independently and becomes totally reliant on others for care.

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What Are The Odds You’ll Get Alzheimer’s If You Live To 85

Alzheimer’s isnât a normal part of aging. It’s true that most people who get it are over 65. Your risk doubles every 5 years after 65. Nearly half of 85-year-olds don’t have it. And it can start young. Among those with younger-onset Alzheimer’s, a rare inherited form, symptoms start as early as 30 to 50.

What Causes Dementia With Lewy Bodies

Lewy bodies are named after the German doctor who first identified them. They are tiny deposits of a protein that appear in nerve cells in the brain. Researchers don’t have a full understanding of why Lewy bodies appear, or exactly how they contribute to dementia. However, this is linked to two factors:

  • low levels of important chemicals that carry messages between nerve cells
  • a loss of connections between nerve cells, which then die.

Lewy bodies are the cause of DLB and Parkinson’s disease. They are two of several diseases caused by Lewy bodies that affect the brain and nervous system and get worse over time. These are sometimes called Lewy body disorders.

The way someone is affected by DLB will depend partly on where the Lewy bodies are in the brain:

  • Lewy bodies at the base of the brain are closely linked to problems with movement . These are the main feature of Parkinson’s disease.
  • Lewy bodies in the outer layers of the brain are linked to problems with mental abilities , which is a feature of DLB.

People with a Lewy body disorder can have problems with movement and changes in mental abilities at the same time.

A person with Parkinson’s disease is at high risk of going on to develop dementia as their condition progresses. Dementia may be more likely in a person who has developed Parkinson’s later in life or who has been living with it for several years.

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Stage : Mild Cognitive Impairment

Mild cognitive impairment often occurs before the more severe decline of dementia. Some 1218% of people aged 60 years or older have MCI, but not all will develop dementia. According to the National Institute on Aging, around 1020% of people over the age of 65 with MCI will develop dementia within any 1-year period.

A person with MCI may notice subtle changes in their thinking and ability to remember things. They may have a sense of brain fog and find it hard to recollect recent events. These issues are not severe enough to cause problems with day-to-day life or usual activities, but loved ones may start to notice changes.

Many people become more forgetful with age or take longer to think of a word or remember a name. However, significant challenges with these tasks could be a sign of MCI.

Symptoms of MCI include:

What To Do Next After Learning What Stage Of Alzheimer’s Disease Your Loved One Is In

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As mentioned, learning about the stage of Alzheimers disease that a loved one is experiencing helps provide perspective and context. This knowledge makes it easier to have conversations with doctors about the patients condition and how to approach future treatment options. Understanding the later stages of the disease also helps when planning for lifestyle changes, new equipment, and other items that may be needed. One of the other major benefits in understanding the overall progression of Alzheimers disease is preparing for future living arrangements, such a memory care community, that could become a preferred option during later stages of the disease. Because the cost of dementia care is high, families should begin planning as soon as possible following a diagnosis.

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Which Method Is Best

Our study shows that the presence of beta-amyloid in the brain and changes in concentrations of beta-amyloid and tau in the spinal fluid can be detected early in the course of the disease, but they do not seem to have any correlation with later memory loss. In contrast, the presence of tau in the brain measured by PET turned out to be linked to a rapid decline of episodic memory the memory of everyday events.

Episodic memory is often affected at an early stage of the disease, and our study suggests that looking for tau using PET scans is the best way to predict early stage Alzheimers.

Our results are based on brain imaging and spinal fluid analyses in a group of 282 participants comprising people with mild cognitive impairment, people with Alzheimers disease and healthy people .

Among these, 213 participants were also monitored for three years with tests of short-term memory related to daily events. PET scans showed that 16% of the participants had a buildup of tau. This was associated with them having more rapid memory decline than participants without tau accumulation, regardless of the beta-amyloid accumulation in the brain.

Tau accumulation in the brain was also more accurate than tau measured in spinal fluid at detecting a short-term memory decline. In other words, the tau spinal fluid test was negative in some cases, while the tau PET scan was positive for the same subject. This confirms that lumbar puncture and imaging methods are not always comparable.

Frontotemporal Dementia With Parkinsonism

One form of familial FTD, also known as frontotemporal dementia with Parkinsonism-17 , is caused by genetic changes in the gene for tau protein, located on chromosome 17. No other risk factors for this condition are known.

FTDP-17 is rare and accounts for only three per cent of all cases of dementia. Symptoms progressively get worse over time and usually appear between the ages of 40 and 60. The condition affects both thinking and behavioural skills and movements such as rigidity, lack of facial expression and problems with balance .

It can be distressing to be told that you have a genetic disorder or are at risk of having one. Genetic counselling provides the person and their family with information about a genetic disorder and its likely impact on their lives. This can assist a person with FTDP-17 to make informed medical and personal decisions about how to manage their condition and the challenges it presents to their health and wellbeing. Prenatal genetic counselling is also available for parents to help them decide about a pregnancy that may be at risk of FTDP-17.

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What Is Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimers disease is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. In most people with the disease those with the late-onset type symptoms first appear in their mid-60s. Early-onset Alzheimers occurs between a persons 30s and mid-60s and is very rare. Alzheimers disease is the most common cause of dementia among older adults.

The disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. Her symptoms included memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior. After she died, he examined her brain and found many abnormal clumps and tangled bundles of fibers .

These plaques and tangles in the brain are still considered some of the main features of Alzheimers disease. Another feature is the loss of connections between nerve cells in the brain. Neurons transmit messages between different parts of the brain, and from the brain to muscles and organs in the body. Many other complex brain changes are thought to play a role in Alzheimers, too.

This damage initially appears to take place in the hippocampus, the part of the brain essential in forming memories. As neurons die, additional parts of the brain are affected. By the final stage of Alzheimers, damage is widespread, and brain tissue has shrunk significantly.

What Are The Symptoms Of Early

Chemistry Archive

For most people with early-onset Alzheimer disease, the symptoms closely mirror those of other forms of Alzheimer disease.

Early symptoms:

  • Withdrawal from work and social situations

  • Changes in mood and personality

Later symptoms:

  • Severe mood swings and behavior changes

  • Deepening confusion about time, place, and life events

  • Suspicions about friends, family, or caregivers

  • Trouble speaking, swallowing, or walking

  • Severe memory loss

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The Effects Of Alzheimers On The Brain

Damage to the brain begins years before symptoms appear. Abnormal protein deposits form plaques and tangles in the brain of someone with Alzheimers disease. Connections between cells are lost, and they begin to die. In advanced cases, the brain shows significant shrinkage.

Its impossible to diagnose Alzheimers with complete accuracy while a person is alive. The diagnosis can only be confirmed when the brain is examined under a microscope during an autopsy. However, specialists are able to make the correct diagnosis up to 90 percent of the time.

The symptoms of Alzheimers and dementia can overlap, but there can be some differences.

Both conditions can cause:

  • behavioral changes
  • difficulty speaking, swallowing, or walking in advanced stages of the disease

Some types of dementia will share some of these symptoms, but they include or exclude other symptoms that can help make a differential diagnosis. Lewy body dementia , for example, has many of the same later symptoms as Alzheimers. However, people with LBD but are more likely to experience initial symptoms such as visual hallucinations, difficulties with balance, and sleep disturbances.

People with dementia due to Parkinsons or Huntingtons disease are more likely to experience involuntary movement in the early stages of the disease.

Treatment for dementia will depend on the exact cause and type of dementia, but many treatments for dementia and Alzheimers will overlap.

Stage : Moderate Dementia

When a person has moderate dementia due to Alzheimers disease, they become increasingly confused and forgetful. They may need help with daily tasks and with looking after themselves. This is the longest stage and often lasts around 24 years.

Symptoms of moderate dementia due to Alzheimers disease include:

  • losing track of the location and forgetting the way, even in familiar places
  • wandering in search of surroundings that feel more familiar
  • failing to recall the day of the week or the season
  • confusing family members and close friends or mistaking strangers for family
  • forgetting personal information, such as their address
  • repeating favorite memories or making up stories to fill memory gaps
  • needing help deciding what to wear for the weather or season
  • needing assistance with bathing and grooming
  • occasionally losing control of the bladder or bowel
  • becoming unduly suspicious of friends and family
  • seeing or hearing things that are not there
  • becoming restless or agitated
  • having physical outbursts, which may be aggressive

As Alzheimers progresses, a person may start to feel more restless toward evening and have difficulty sleeping. This is sometimes called sundowners syndrome.

During this stage, physical and mental functioning continue to decline.

If a person has severe dementia during the later stages of Alzheimers disease, they might:

Other common causes of death among people with Alzheimers disease include dehydration, malnutrition, and other infections.

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What Protects The Brain More

Experts donât know if doing mental work can prevent Alzheimer’s. But it may help build brainpower that helps you hold off memory loss. It’s better to learn new things than to fall into old habits. It’s also better to work out your brain every day.

Also key to protecting brain health: Daily exercise and a busy social life.

How Does Alzheimer’s Disease Progress

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The rate of progression of the disease varies from person to person.

However, the disease does lead eventually to complete dependence and finally death, usually from another illness such as pneumonia. A person may live from three to twenty years with Alzheimer’s disease, with the average being seven to ten years.

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When Does Alzheimer’s Start

Repeating yourself, getting lost, and showing fuzzy thinking skills all show up after the process of Alzheimer’s has already begun in the brain. Researchers believe the disease may start to cause physical changes years or decades before symptoms appear.

It’s normal to forget a meeting. It’s a warning sign if you forget many or forget big events or where you are. Normal is misplacing your keys. Not normal is putting the keys somewhere odd, like the oven, or accusing your spouse of stealing them.

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Stage : Mild Dementia

The mild dementia stage is the point at which doctors typically diagnose Alzheimers disease. If people use a three-stage description of Alzheimers disease, this will be the early stage.

Problems with memory and thinking may become more noticeable to friends and family and also begin to affect daily life.

Symptoms of mild dementia due to Alzheimers disease include:

  • having difficulty remembering newly learned information
  • asking the same question repeatedly
  • having trouble solving problems and completing tasks
  • exhibiting reduced motivation to complete tasks
  • experiencing a lapse in judgment
  • becoming withdrawn or uncharacteristically irritable or angry
  • having difficulty finding the correct words to describe an object or idea
  • getting lost or misplacing items

How Long Can A Person Live With Alzheimers Disease

SOO True!!

The time from diagnosis to death varies as little as three or four years if the person is older than 80 when diagnosed, to as long as 10 or more years if the person is younger.

Alzheimers disease is currently ranked as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, but recent estimates indicate that the disorder may rank third, just behind heart disease and cancer, as a cause of death for older people.

Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimers disease, though there has been significant progress in recent years in developing and testing new treatments. Several medicines have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat people with Alzheimers.

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