Alzheimer's Disease
What is Alzheimer's Disease?
Alzheimer's disease is a condition associated with presenile dementia which is defined as a clinical syndrome characterized by a loss of previously acquired intellectual function in the absence of impairment of consciousness. It has a strong familial disposition.The key features of this type of dementia are loss of general intelligence such as impairment of abstract thinking, judgment and problem solving ability. Thinking is slow and inflexible and the ability of logical reasoning is reduced .Minor degrees of forgetfulness are often the first signs of the disease noticed, events of the recent past cannot be recalled and new names are forgotten, patients can't find their way around in new and eventually familiar surroundings, declining memory may lead to secondary hallucinations. For example the people who forget where they have placed personal possessions may think they are being robbed.
There is also a decline in personal manners and social awareness, behavior becomes rude, tactless and generally insensitive to the feelings of other people, which can lead to episodes of aggression and sexual indiscretion etc. eventually there is deterioration in personal hygiene. Urinary and faecal incontinence is also common in late stages. There is a general decline in interest the patients may sit idle for hours without doing anything. Anxiety, depression and irritability are marked. Rapid mood swings and emotional liability is common, but in late stages the patients seem to be unresponsive of emotional stimuli around them. This disease is a result of degenerative process occurring in brain tissues. Progress of disease is different among individuals.
Alzheimer's Disease Symptoms
Alzheimer's disease may start with slight memory loss and confusion, but it eventually leads to irreversible mental impairment that destroys a person's ability to remember, reason, learn and imagine.Memory loss
Everyone has occasional lapses in memory. It's normal to forget where you put your car keys or to blank on the names of people whom you rarely see. But the memory problems associated with Alzheimer's disease persist and worsen. People with Alzheimer's may:
Repeat things
Often forget conversations or appointments
Routinely misplace things, often putting them in illogical locations
Eventually forget the names of family members and everyday objects
Problems with abstract thinking
People with Alzheimer's may initially have trouble balancing their checkbook, a problem that progresses to trouble recognizing and dealing with numbers.
Difficulty finding the right word
It may be a challenge for those with Alzheimer's to find the right words to express thoughts or even follow conversations. Eventually, reading and writing also are affected.
Disorientation
People with Alzheimer's disease often lose their sense of time and dates, and may find themselves lost in familiar surroundings.
Loss of judgment
Solving everyday problems, such as knowing what to do if food on the stove is burning, becomes increasingly difficult, eventually impossible. Alzheimer's is characterized by greater difficulty in doing things that require planning, decision making and judgment.
Difficulty performing familiar tasks
Once-routine tasks that require sequential steps, such as cooking, become a struggle as the disease progresses. Eventually, people with advanced Alzheimer's may forget how to do even the most basic things.
