Alzheimer's disease is one that affects the mind, body and soul of its victim. By its middle and final stages, this disease has taken the dignity, control, and hope from its victim. It leaves the person unable to do little, if anything, for themselves.
Worse, the disease is so cruel that it gives fleeting vague flashes of memory to the person, just enough so that the person can almost remember what they were like before this killer took them. In some cases the victims actually live in their own memory, cannot move forward or remember any new information, just their past. This disease doesn't only affect the victim of the disease itself, but the loved ones watching their loved ones suffer and lose themselves to the ideas.
Alzheimer's disease was first discovered by a German doctor named Alois Alzheimer. The doctor discovered the disease when he was performing an autopsy on a woman who died of a mysterious, unknown form of mental illness. When Alzheimer studied the brain of the woman, he was shocked to find the presence of abnormal lumps of plaque and twisted fibers present in her brain that were unlike anything he'd ever seen before. These two odd parts of the woman's anatomy proved to be the basis for Alzheimer's disease, with the lumps becoming known as neuritic plaques and the fibers are the way that doctors could confirm the presence of Alzheimer's disease.
Unfortunately, these symptoms could only be seen via an autopsy performed after a patient's death. One discovery that changed our knowledge of Alzheimer's disease is when Familial Alzheimer's disease was discovered. This subset of the disease occurs in approximately ten percent of all patients with Alzheimer's, and it is a particularly aggressive form of the disease. It occurs early in almost every case, with most becoming afflicted with the disease before the age of sixty-five. One of the most unfortunate aspects of Familial Alzheimer's disease is the fact that it can be passed down genetically from parent to child.
If one parent has Familial Alzheimer's the child's risk of getting the disease rests at an even fifty-fifty. Familial Alzheimer's, is the only type of disease that can be traced to a genetic abnormality; late-onset Alzheimer's may appear randomly without just cause.
Physically, what happens is that a small peptide called B-amyloid accumulates in the brain. This begins as many as ten to twenty years before the first symptom appears. Normally, everyone has these peptides, floating, around in the bloodstream and spinal fluid but in an Alzheimer's patient, the B-amyloid molecules clump together form a loose mesh that becomes increasingly a more dense mesh of filaments that locate themselves among the delicate nerve endings of the brain. They are called senile plaques. The other change in the brain has to do with the neurofibrillary tangle. These tangles form when a highly resistant protein becomes concentrated in the nerve cells. The nerve cells eventually choke as the tangle crowds out the cell's contents. The parts of the brain most affected by the tangles are those that affect memory and emotion.
In the early stage, individuals experience short-term memory loss. They may be unusually forgetful. They have a hard time concentrating or coming up with the right word to express what they feel. They may make poor choices or show impaired judgment. They may have difficulty adapting to changes in routines. At the same time, they may experience vague personality changes. They may seem sadder, quieter, or more negative than usual. They may be easily angered. The individual and family members may have the feeling that "something is not right," yet the individual may be able to do most things with a small amount of help.
As the disease progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult for the person to handle basic daily tasks such as paying bills, using the telephone or shopping. The affected individual may try to hide the problem by writing reminders and detailed descriptions of how to do routine tasks. The family may begin to notice changes in personal grooming. Individuals may forget to brush their teeth, put on deodorant, or to wash their hair.
Distant family members sometimes first become aware of a dementia problem when they discover telephone or utilities have been disconnected due to lack of payment. Depression is one of the more common symptoms in the early stage. The depressed individual may exhibit sadness and a more negative attitude toward life. The individual may sleep too much or too little or experience an unusual weight loss. You may notice an increased consumption of alcohol. The depression may be accompanied by a withdrawal from church or social functions and excuses not to participate in family activities.
