What is Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder that severely impairs certain mental functions and interferes with the patient’s daily life. It is the most common form of dementia among the elderly.
The disease has different stages:
- Mild stage: The disease still goes unnoticed because the patient suffers minor forgetfulness. Signs of apathy, isolation and mood changes may appear.
- Moderate stage: The disease is evident, as the patient has difficulty performing daily activities such as shopping or planning a dinner. In addition to memory loss, there is a lack of reasoning and comprehension skills.
- Severe stage: All areas related to the patient’s cognitive function are affected. The patient loses the ability to speak and to recognize the people around him, in fact he is in a state of constant disorientation.
What are the symptoms?
At the beginning of the disease, the patient shows small memory losses such as difficulty in remembering recent things or names of people. These symptoms worsen to the point of being unable to recognize close relatives and present reasoning problems, difficulty in speaking, reading and writing.
The main neurological symptoms are:
- Inability to retain new information.
- Inability to remember personal information such as birthday or profession.
- Alteration in the capacity of reasoning.
- Aphasia
- Apraxia
- Loss of spatial ability
- Character changes
Causes of Alzheimer’s disease or why it occurs
Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the degeneration of the connections between brain cells and the consequent alterations in cognitive functions. These are alterations of unknown cause, in which several factors seem to be involved. Some of these factors are:
- Age: it usually affects people over 60-65 years of age.
- Sex: women suffer more frequently.
- Family heredity: it is estimated that 40% of Alzheimer’s patients have a family history.
- Genetic factor: various mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) or presenilin 1 and 2 genes.
- Environmental factors
What is the treatment?
No treatment can stop Alzheimer’s disease, but some drugs can help delay the disease and its symptoms. It is important that patients are properly cared for in an environment where they can take charge of their care and the administration of treatment.