Alzheimer Disease
How will it affect your life?
Now that you know you have Alzheimer disease you may ask what are my symptoms and what are my treatment options.
Early symptoms may include poor judgement, trouble counting money, and even not being able to find the right words to say in a conversation. As Alzheimer worsens it will include problems such as repeating questions, personality changes, and misplacing things often. In severe cases some symptoms are getting lost, extreme confusion and impulsive behavior.
There are no treatments currently available, although there are drugs that will help ease the process and the memory loss caused by Alzheimer disease. As research advances scientists are getting close to a cure. They are an estimated 5 - 10 years away.
Another question you may ask is, "what caused this disease"?
Alzheimer's is a gene mutation that occur on chromosome 21, 14, and 1 chromosome. This disease was passed down from your parents. Since Alzheimer's is autosomal dominant it is possible to have this disease and get it from only one of your parents. It is not a virus that you can just get rid of. It causes the three chromosomes to code for the wrong protein which causes dementia usually later in life.
What steps do I need to take now?
Alzheimer's disease could not have been prevented so you must know that you did nothing wrong, it is not your fault, anybody can get Alzheimer's if their parents had it. There were nearly 5 million cases in the US alone last year. Even though children very rarely have this disease they would still need the same care as an adult would. A child or an adult would need close care with this disease. This includes frequent doctor visits and someone with them 24/7. An adult would stay in a nursing home while a child would stay with their family for the rest of their life. The long-term out look for a child or an adult does not look very good. This disease can take over quick and can kill you. Although it may seem far fetched you can still have kids in the future, although their is a likely chance that these kids would get the disease. There is a prenatal test for Alzheimer's so plan on getting that done if you are having kids.
Work Cited
"National Institute on Aging." National Institute on Aging. N.p., 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 01 May 2015.
"Help End Alzheimer's." Alzheimer's Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2015.
Alzheimer's Society." Alzheimers Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2015.
"National Center for Biotechnology Information." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 01 May 2015.