Alzheimer’s Disease

Alois Alzheimer. A German psychiatrist and neuropathologist was the first man to identify the horrible mental illness, knew as “presenile dementia.” This was later to be identified by his colleague Emil Kraepelin to the more commonly known name of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, it is a degenerative and terminal disease which most prominently effects the age group of people over 65 years old, although this is not the case with the less seen type of Alzheimer’s disease known as “early-onset Alzheimer’s.”  
 
To get your mind to grip with this horrible disease, here are the some of the 2010 facts the Alzheimer’s Association published. 
 
In America 
 
- 5.3 million people have Alzheimer’s. 
- It is the 7th leading cause of death. 
- Alzheimer’s disease account for costs annually of 172 billion dollars. 
- There are 10.9 million unpaid caregivers. 
 
These facts are just from America. It is a global widespread disease that sees many cases worldwide. 
 
In Alzheimer’s disease, the information transfer at positions in the brain called synapses (neurons with long branching extensions connected to trillions of points, the connection is called a synapse) begins to deteriorate, the eventual decline leads to the cell dying. This is seen in advanced cases with drastic shrinkage from the cell loss, and widespread debris from dead and dying neurons. 
 
Alzheimer’s disease is a case of dementia, and dementia is characterized by the loss and decline in memory and other cognitive abilities. Dementia is caused by various conditions which penultimately lead to damaged brain cells. For it to be classified as dementia there must be a decline in memory and in at least one other of the following  
 
cognitive abilities 
 
- Ability to generate speech coherently or understand spoken/written language. 
- Ability to recognize objects, assuming intact sensory function. 
- Ability to execute motor functions, assuming intact motor abilities, sensory function and grasp of a required task. 
- Ability to think abstractly, make judgements, plan and carry out complex tasks. 
 
These decline in cognitive abilities must be severe enough to interrupt with normal daily life and activities. It is only when this decay in senses, abilities and coherency becomes so bad that it is affecting how your life is lived that the inabilities can be defined as dementia or in the tighter category of Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia, however it’s recognized by its hallmark abnormalities like protein fragment beta-amyloid (plaques) deposits being present and twisted strands of the protein tau (tangles). 
 
The prevention or slowing of Alzheimer’s is still unknown. There is still no drug that will stop or slow the deterioration of brain cells in Alzheimer’s disease, but drug administration has approved five drugs that temporarily slow worsening of the symptoms for about six to 12 months on average for about half the individuals who take the drugs. 
 
Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating disease which affects millions worldwide. Caregivers are held burdened to this disease and the patients are crucially affected permanently. A sad disease that affects people and thus the communities close to them. This disease is not getting easier in the time to come so all we can hope for is medication and ultimately a cure for this saddening disease.