Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease steals the ability to reason, remember, and imagine. The causes of the diseases aren't well understood, and over four million people in the U.S. have it (www.alzheimer's.com). There isn't any reliable cure, and no way to surely prevent it.

Alzheimer's disease is different from everyday forgetfulness. When people have the disease people no longer recognize themselves or the world around them. They forget what they are doing or where they are. Alzheimer's disease is marked by clumps and knots of brain cells. It affects over ten percent of people over the age of sixty- five and half over age eighty-five. Studies show that more women than men acquire Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's disease progresses slowly; it takes between three to eighteen years to advance from the earliest symptoms to death. The average duration of someone who lives with it is eight years (www.alzheimer's.com). You don't die from Alzheimer's disease, but from a secondary illness such as pneumonia.

Some risk factors are increasing age, family history (if someone in your family has or had it, your chances of getting it are higher) genetics and Down syndrome.

Nerve cells are usually arranged in an orderly manner, but when someone has Alzheimer's disease, they become unorganized and stop functioning. After the person lives with it for a while, a part of the brain dies. Many people suffering with Alzheimer's disease have healthy bodies, except for their minds.

The first stage of Alzheimer's disease is marked by forgetfulness, especially for recent events. Often times those with Alzheimer's are in denial and their families collude in this denial. They may have personality changes, increased stubbornness, restlessness, and poor judgment. In the second stage the person will experience greater difficulty in doing activities that require planning or decisions. Eventually they won't be able to do everyday independently tasks such as eating, bathing, etc. They lose interest in the way the look. In the last stage, they are unable to recognize themselves. The brain forgets how to live and it is dysfunctional. People with severe Alzheimer's disease speech declines to about one half dozen words, they also won't be able to hold their head up, take a shower etc. Doctors can't be one hundred percent sure someone has Alzheimer's disease until the person is dead.

There are few treatments for Alzheimer's disease, and there is not yet a cure. Scientists think that treatments will come in the not too distant future and it will be a curable illness such as diabetes, but there are not any breakthroughs.

Alzheimer's disease has become much more universal than it was a few decades ago. In the nineteen sixties it was an extraordinary, uncommon disorder. But now, it's the leading cause of age-related dementia. About one in every ten Americans sixty-five and older has the disease. From the ages sixty-five to seventy five, Alzheimer's disease affects three percent of the U.S.'s population. In the ages seventy- six to eighty four, it affects nineteen percent of the U.S. population. Alzheimer's disease affects forty percent of people over the age of eighty- five (www.alzheimer's.com).

Scientists don't know what causes Alzheimer's disease, so there is no sure way to prevent the onset of it. Some well-established risk factors are: increasing age, family history, genetics, Down syndrome, being female, and environmental factors. Of all of these risk factors increasing age is the major factor. If identical twins are born and one develops Alzheimer's disease the other's risk is about forty to fifty percent of getting it. Head injuries, heart disease, strokes, and high blood pressure make the risk factor of Alzheimer's disease highly greatened. Studies show women who take estrogen after menopause have a much lower rate of the disease. Also women who take estrogen with the disease have less severe symptoms. Estrogen doesn't help men at all. Some controversial risk factors are low educational level and history of seizures (www.alzheimer's.com).

In the future, nicotine might be a cure to Alzheimer's disease. Nicotine is proven to boost mental functioning in people with the disease, the only obstacle is that it is addictive.

Alzheimer's disease is a disease that is fatal. And it will keep being that way until someone finds a cure.