Alzheimer's
By: Ronan Scocozza, B2,March 15, 2015
What is Alzheimer's?
The medical term that doctors and scientist use for this disease is "Senile Dementia". The name that people use in their every day lives is Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that causes a slow declines in memory, thinking, and reasoning skills.
What causes Alzheimer's?
Alzheimer's is caused by brain cell death. It is a neurodegenerative disease, which means there is progressive brain cell death that happens over a course of time. The total brain size shrinks with Alzheimer's which means it looses things like memories and social cues.
Who gets Alzheimer's?
Alzheimer's doesn't just affect senior citizens, it can happen to anyone even under the age of 65 which is called early-onset. 5% of all Alzheimer patients all have early-onset. Alzheimer's get travel through out the jeans of a family, just because someone in your family tree didn't have alzheimer's doesn't mean you won't get it. The same thing goes for the opposite people, just because someone in your family had senile dementia does not mean you will get it, it just means you are more likely too than someone who doesn't. The age, gender, or nationality have to affect in getting this disease it can happen to anyone at anytime in their lifetime.
What are Some Symptoms of Alzheimer's?
- Memory loss is one of the most known and most recognized symptom.
- Having difficulty completing regular day tasks around the home.
- Confusion with time's or place's.
- Trouble understanding visual images.
- Misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace your steps.
- The inability to make good choices and having bad judgment.
How is Alzheimer's Diagnosed?
There is no specific way to diagnose Alzheimers, there are many different ways to find out if someone has Alzheimer's. These are some of the best and most accurate tests run.
- A look through someones medical history.
- A mental status test.
- A physical and neurological exam.
- Tests (such as blood tests and brain imaging) to rule out other causes of dementia-like symptoms
What are the Treatments and Cure for Alzheimer's?
Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer's. But drug and non-drug treatments may help with both cognitive and behavioral symptoms. But researchers are looking for new treatments to alter the course of the disease and improve the quality of life for people with dementia.
Is Alzheimer's Fatal?
Alzheimer's disease has no survivors. It destroys brain cells and causes memory changes, erratic behaviors and loss of body functions. It slowly and painfully takes away a person's identity, ability to connect with others, think, eat, talk, walk and find his or her way home. So yes, I strongly believe that in the long run Alzheimer's can end up being fatal.
What is the Future of Alzheimer's?
Right now there is nothing we can do to stop people from developing this disease. Since there is no cure right now in todays modern medicine and science people will keep on suffering through the disease. If we keep on track the way we are today by 2025, 16 million people world wide are estimated to have Senile Dementia, also known as Alzheimer's.
10 Facts about Alzheimer's
- Like I said before the medical term for the disease is "Senile Dementia".
- More the 5 million Americans get Alzheimers.
- Every 67 seconds a person develops Alzheimers.
- Alzheimer's disease is the 6th leading cause of death.
- Around 500,000 people die each year from this.
- 1 in 3 seniors die of Alzheimer's or a different type of dementia.
- Nearly 2/3 of Alzheimer's patients are women.
- In 2014 the cost of Alzheimer's was around $214 billon
9. Out of 5 million people 3.2 million people are women and 1.8 million are men
10. By 2050 there is an estimate that shows that there will be 16 million people who will get Alzheimer's
5 Ways to Prevent Alzheimer's
There is no clear cut answer on a way to prevent Alzheimers but some scientist and doctors say that some good ways to try are
- Become and stay physically active.
- Eat a healthy balanced diet.
- Do drills so exercise the brain often.
- Try to maintain good cardiovascular health.
- Some scientists and doctors also say that drinking coconut oil is a good way to try because the oil makes the body release more insulin which is good for your body.
Citations
"Help End Alzheimer's." Alzheimer's Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.