Alzheimers

Alzheimer’s disease was discovered in 1906, by a German physician named Alois Alzheimer (Alzheimer’s Association). Dr. Alzheimer was given a patient that had been previously diagnosed as senile. He found it strange for this woman to have dementia at the young age of fifty-one. He monitored her condition from 1901 until she died in 1906. When she died he was given permission from her family to perform an autopsy on her body (Altman 14). During the examination of her brain he saw a dramatic shrinkage in the size of it (Alzheimer’s Association). He took a piece of tissue from the cerebral cortex of the brain to examine under a microscope. He found bundles of dead nerve fibers throughout the tissue. Dr. Alzheimer concluded that he had found a new disease (Altman 16). After Dr. Alzheimer published his findings in 1907, Emil Kraepelin, a psychiatrist famous for naming brain disorders, named this newly discovered disease after Dr. Alzheimer (Alzheimer’s Association).

The five main symptoms of Alzheimer’s are: task-related difficulties, language problems, disorientation, misplacing objects, and moodiness (Altman 44). Alzheimer’s patients have difficulty completing the simplest of daily tasks. They often lose track of how to put the steps together to cook a meal, do laundry, or even make a phone call (Alzheimer’s Association). The second symptom, language problems, often begins with forgetting names. Their language becomes more increasingly difficult to understand as the disease progresses. They tend to forget proper names of things and replace them with a jumbled bunch of words. The third and most horrifying symptom is disorientation. Patients with Alzheimer’s often forget where they are and where they live. In many cases these patients have been lost for days at a time without help getting back home. Sometimes, they never return home. The fourth symptom, misplacing objects, is common to most normal people; however, Alzheimer’s patients hide things in unusual places (Altman 44). For example, they might put the television remote in the kitchen cabinet instead of on the coffee table. The fifth most common symptom of Alzheimer’s is a change in mood or behavior. As the Alzheimer’s patient becomes unable to cope with life his/her moods will change (Altman 44). For instance, a person who is usually cheerful may become a chronic complainer. In the later stages of the disease, patients often become combative and abusive.

There are many risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Age is the greatest known risk factor. The disease usually develops around age sixty-five. The chance for getting the disease doubles about every five years after the age of sixty-five. After the age of eighty-five the risk for getting Alzheimer’s is about fifty percent. Another common risk factor is family history. Studies show that the risk for Alzheimer’s increases if a parent, brother, or sister had the disease. There are also risk factors you may be influenced. It has been proven that there is a link between head injuries and Alzheimer’s. Protecting yourself from a head injury may be the key to growing old without developing Alzheimer’s. Living a healthy life will also help protect you from the disease. Alzheimer’s has been linked to patients who had high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and high cholesterol (Alzheimer’s Association).

The seven stages of Alzheimer’s disease were developed by Barry Reisburg, M.D., Clinical Director of the New York University School of Medicine’s Silberstein Aging and Dementia Research Center. These seven stages can last anywhere from three to twenty years. Stage one is the normal function stage. This stage usually happens before the patient is ever diagnosed. Stage two is quite mild. A lot of times this stage is related to normal aging. The symptoms are: memory lapses, forgetting names, and misplacing common objects. Stage three is usually when a patient is diagnosed. This stage is where loved ones begin to notice a decline. Symptoms of stage three include: word finding problems, the inability to remember names, performance issues, the inability to comprehend material that is read, losing valuable objects, and a decline in the ability to organize. Moderate cognitive decline comes in stage four. During this stage a patient may have decreased knowledge of recent events, the inability to perform simple arithmetic, the inability to manage finances, reduced memory of personal history, and the patient may seem withdrawn in social situations. Stage five is considered the mid-stage of the disease. During this stage a patient can’t recall