Alzheimer’s Disease causes a person to gradually lose his memory. It is usually triggered due to the overproduction of amyloid peptides (form a cluster around the neurons and disrupt cell-to-cell communication), resulting in loss of neurons. It majorly disrupts neuronal connections, leading an individual to the dysfunction of the brain.
One of the major causes of this disease (Alzheimer) explained by the experts is the lifestyle of an individual, the environmental factors or it may even be triggered by genetic history in an individual’s family.
A brain developing Alzheimer becomes prone to atrophy (shrinking of the brain). Disease tends to shrink the brain of a suffering person and eventually takes away his skills to carry out the simplest day-to-day tasks.
What Does Alzheimer’s Do To A Person?
Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease that affects the brain and results in progressive memory loss, cognitive decline, and changes in behavior. It can rob individuals of their ability to remember recent events or even recognize familiar people or places.
Also Read: What are the causes of Alzheimer’s Disease?
As the disease progresses, it can cause difficulty with everyday activities such as eating, bathing and dressing. In its most severe stages Alzheimer’s may leave an individual unable to care for themselves without assistance from a caregiver or family member.
Who suffers with Alzheimer’s?
Older people with an age number of 60 and onwards, are at higher risk of developing this disease than younger ones. Alzheimer may initially start developing in a person with an age number of 40 to 45 years with imperceptible symptoms.
Also Read: What is Alzheimer’s?
However, study shows that women get more affected with Alzheimer’s than men due to their stronger immune system which may lead them to over production of amyloid peptide in their brains, causing disease.
How long do Alzhimer’s patients live?
People with severe dementia may live for about 9 years or so, however, the chances are that the people with mild symptoms may live longer than 19 years.
Does Alzheimer’s run in families?
Yes! Unfortunately if you had dealt with an Alzheimer patient in your family then there is a chance that you might develop it as well but not for sure because there is only one percent chance that a person might develop it due to specific genetics.
Do Alzheimer patients know they have it?
Yes! The patients with mild symptoms can notice that they forget things and may also feel frustrated about it. The symptoms of Alzheimer’s do not just appear immediately like a regular disease. Experts say, the symptoms of Alzheimer might get your attention after 5 to 10 years of its development.
What are the stages of Alzheimers?
The four stages of Alzheimer’s disease include; Preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, Mild dementia, Moderate dementia, and Severe dementia due to Alzheimer disease.
1. Preclinical Alzheimer Disease:
The very early stage of Alzheimer is often mistaken for aging or stress because a person does not develop severe behavioral changes at this stage, however, it is an initial stage where brain cells actually start dying.
2. Mild Dementia due to Alzheimer Disease:
Mild Dementia is a diagnostic stage of Alzheimer as it appears with clear symptoms in a person. A person at this stage often finds himself disoriented even at most familiar locations. He misplaces things and forgets about them.
3. Moderate Dementia due to Alzheimer Disease:
At this stage, alzheimer patients become more reliant on others’ help. It becomes hard for them to even remember the day of the week, season of the year, their familiar locations, their family and close friends as well.
They become more forgetful with their personal details such as; phone number, address, and names of their dear ones.
4. Severe Dementia due to Alzheimer Disease:
This is the final and most brutal stage in which disease just overtakes the entire human brain. It completely declines brain functioning as well as physical movements. It leaves the person unable to walk, talk or hold onto things or even their heads, without any assistance.
It just slowly and gradually freezes muscles and the person is left abnormal by the final stage of Alzheimer’s disease. The coherent communication also gets declined and the patient can no longer communicate in a way that makes sense to others or could easily be understood.
Can Alzheimer’s be prevented?
Yes, it can be prevented by changing your day-to-day habits with healthy habits. Such as early morning walks in fresh air. Eating fresh vegetables and fruits over packet food. Paying visits to doctors for regular check ups etc.