The article titled “Half of Alzheimer 's cases misdiagnosed” made it evidently clear that Alzheimer’s disease is a disease we have yet to fully understand or treat. Not only is there a lack of information about this disease, it is common for the similar side effects of dementia to be confused with Alzheimer’s disease. To clarify what dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is, I will provide an authentic definition of each. To begin, I will state that there are different forms of dementia. According to a site that specializes in providing information about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, states that “Dementia is a general term for loss of memory and other mental abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life. It is caused by physical changes in the brain.” (Alzheimer’s Association) Whereas Alzheimer’s is a “Type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior.” (Alzheimer’s Association) Generally speaking, one could imagine …show more content…
With Alzheimer’s being the “6th leading cause of death in the United States” and deaths from Alzheimer’s disease increasing by 89% - Why is this still an issue? (Alzheimer’s Association) My educated guess would be that if you or no one you personally know has been impacted by any form of dementia, you are unlikely to be concerned about what the difference of the two are. Even when a person attends college, if their major does not require courses, such as Brain and Behavior, they are unlikely to be educated on these terms. To test my hypothesis, I questioned a few of my family members and friends about what they knew about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. To my surprise, it was difficult for all of those that I questioned to give me a clear response. It should be known that those who I questioned raged in age from 22-83 years old and some had attended college or obtained a
It provides the opportunity for prompt evaluation of the patient and possibly administer tests and treatments for reversing and determining the causes of memory loss. In addition, early diagnosis provides time for patients and families to prepare for the future and most importantly it maximizes the patients opportunity to contribute to their own care planning process. As previously stated, the diagnosis of dementia most commonly takes place in the primary care setting. During primary care visits with older or elderly people the interactions tend to be brief and patients often present multiple health conditions that they are experiencing. It can be challenging for the physician to pin point those intersecting health concerns with Alzheimer’s if they are not properly trained to do so.
There are different types of dementia and are described as follows: Fig 1.2 (a) different types of dementia with their percentages There are different types of dementia are Alzheimer’s, vascular, mixed, dementia with lewy’s body and frontotemporal dementia etc. and there are other types of dementia too such as AIDS dementia, Parkinson’s dementia etc. The Alzheimer’s is most common form of dementia. Let us describe the each of them in detail: Alzheimer’s dementia: Fig 1.2(b) area of brain affected and cross-section that is seen from the front in Alzheimer’s dementia.
People with Dementia Do Not Understand What Is Going on around
The brain is a fragile organ, with decay to the brain can lead to decay in memory. Alzheimer’s is form of dementia, and causes difficulty in learning and retaining new information in the brain. This is caused by loss of cells in the cell connections of the brain. Anterograde amnesia is the inability to create new memories, although memories before the amnesia are still intact. This is caused by damage to the hippocampus or the temporal lobe of the brain.
Along with the patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, support groups can greatly assist their families. In several support groups, patients that are in the early stages of Alzheimer 's disease benefit. The support groups can help to maintain their quality of life and decrease the amount of behavioral treatment that they may require. Other groups help patients with the physical performance and their memory impairment. The support groups usually help the families prepare for the decline of the patient 's mental thinking abilities from the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (“World Alzheimer
Case 3 was selected for this discussion. CC: "Annual physical exam" History of Present Illness (HPI): 23-year-old Native American male comes in to see you because he has been having anxiety and wants something to help him. He has been smoking "pot" and says he drinks to help him too. He tells you he is afraid that he will not get into Heaven if he continues in this lifestyle. Discussion: Native Americans have numerous of tribes across the United States.
Dementia should be viewed as a disability as the symptoms affect the individuals’ ability to be responsible for their everyday needs for example taking medication, remembering to eat and drink. Dementia also affects a persons’ capacity which can be a risk to their safety. Symptoms of dementia can be a big risk to the person as it affects memory so the person with dementia could forget vital things like turning an over off, not locking doors. Balance can also be affected so falls, slips and trips are quite common which means aids need to be put into place to try and prevent the risk of falls, slips, trips and other risks like leaving the oven on or not taking medication. Not having the capacity or ability to act responsibly for their health and safety is viewed as
I. Just imagine waking up one morning and not knowing or remembering anything you did yesterday or the past years of your life? Well that’s what people who have dementia go through. They cannot remember who their kids are or anyone around them. II. Dementia effects your memory and a person’s ability to achieve a normal everyday task and activities.
Introduction Alzheimer’s is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and gets worse over time. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events or short memory loss. As the disease advances, symptoms can include difficulty with language, disorientation, mood swing and behavior problems. As a person 's condition progressed, they often withdraw from friends and family. Slowly, bodily functions deteriorated and eventually death occurs.
However, an early diagnosis could bring up health care and ethical problems. The article “The Pros and Cons of a Person Knowing they have Alzheimer's,” indicates that if medical professionals know a person has the disease, they may not treat the person for other medical issues. The question is still there for whether or not doctors, will treat people with Alzheimer’s the same as any other patient. Unfortunately, an early diagnosis could bring up many health care and ethical questions. Such as who will take care of them when they no longer can, what type of treatment they will receive, or who will handle their financial
To start, we must understand what is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer. Alois Alzheimer was born on June 14, 1864 in Germany. At the beginning of 1906, Dr. Alzheimer noticed some changes in the brain tissue of a woman who died of a mental illness. The symptoms of this woman were, language problems, memory loss and sometimes unpredictable behavior.
His examination of his patients with AD revealed their brains to be composed largely of amyloid-β peptide and hyperphosphorylated tau protein, a protein that stabilizes the microtubules of neurons. (10) Since 1907, evidence accumulated from ensuing experiments strongly suggests that the initiating event in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is related to abnormal processing of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide, ultimately leading to formation of Aβ plaques in the brain. The amyloid cascade hypothesis has become the most widely accepted explanation for Alzheimer’s. The hypothesis states that the depositing of the amyloid-β peptide in the brain is a crucial step leading to Alzheimer's disease. (5)
Alzheimer Awareness 1901 was the first recorded Alzheimer case. A woman named Auguste Deter was under the care of Dr. Alois Alzheimer; however he was not able to figure out what was wrong until Auguste had died in 1906. Samuel Cohen, a researcher looking into a drug to cure or at the very least slow down the process of Alzheimer’s, noted that even if Alois and Auguste were alive now they would not be able to help her with modern medicine. The lack of research on the disease affects 40 million people today and in the future when the baby boomers state to become older it will affect approximately 150 million people.
This is an important issue in society today because there is no cure for Alzheimer 's disease, and as of today it cannot be prevented or slowed, and by 2025, an estimated 7.1 million people who are 65 and older will be diagnosed with Alzheimer 's disease. In Canada, there were 747,000 people affected by this disease, and it is estimated that this costs the healthcare system approximately $33 billion dollars per year in both direct and indirect costs (from medical bills and lost earnings)[2]. Worldwide,
The term dementia has not been used uniformly in the historical