LEARN ABOUT THE ALZHEIMER
Hello friends, I'm going to talk about a disease that is becoming more frequent; "Alzheimer's" is first described as a neurodegenerative disease in 1906 by the German psychiatrist and neurologist Alois Alzheimer, from whom the pathology is named. The first person to be diagnosed was Auguste Deter, patient of Alois Alzheimer in 1901. Deter was a 50-year-old woman who suffered from a degenerative disease, progressive dementia, and the study of her disease and its follow-up was what made Alzheimer's define few years later the disease.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common primary dementia. It usually presents a progressive course and characteristically affects different cognitive and behavioral functions. Perhaps the cardinal symptom and with more frequent of debut are the failures of memory, but later the affectation of other cognitive and behavioral areas that will define the dementia will be observed.
Initially, a person with Alzheimer's disease may experience mild confusion and problems remembering things. Over time, people with this disease may forget important people for them and suffer drastic changes in personality.
Alzheimer's disease is the most frequent cause of dementia, a group of brain disorders that causes the loss of intellectual and social skills. In Alzheimer's disease, brain cells deteriorate and die, causing a decrease in the capacity of memory and mental function.
It is difficult to determine who is going to develop Alzheimer's disease, since it is a complex alteration, of unknown cause, in which, apparently, multiple factors intervene. These are some of the elements that can increase the chances of suffering from this pathology:
-Age: usually affects people over 60-65 years, but there have also been cases among children under 40. The average age of diagnosis is 80, since it is considered that Alzheimer's disease is a disease favored by the age.
-Sex: women suffer more often, probably, because they live longer.
-Breeds: affects all races equally.
-Family inheritance: family Alzheimer's disease, a variant of the pathology that is genetically transmitted, accounts for 1 percent of all cases. However, it is estimated that 40 percent of patients with Alzheimer's have a family history.
-Genetic factor: several mutations in the gene of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), or in that of presenilins 1 and 2. It could also be associated with mutations in the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene. This protein is involved in the transport and elimination of cholesterol. According to research, nicastrin would activate the production of beta amyloid.
-Environmental factors: Tobacco has been shown as a clear risk factor for the pathology, as well as fat diets. On the other hand, belonging to a large family also seems to influence the risk of Alzheimer's.
Symptom
Initially, small and imperceptible memory losses arise, but with the passage of time, this deficiency becomes increasingly noticeable and incapacitating for the affected, who will have problems to perform daily and simple tasks, and also, other more intellectual, such as speaking, understanding, reading, or writing.
Neurological symptoms
Alzheimer's disease affects memory in its different types. These are the deteriorations suffered:
-Short-term memory loss: inability to retain new information.
-Long-term memory loss: inability to remember personal information such as birthdays or profession.
-Alteration in reasoning ability.
-Aphasia: loss of vocabulary or incomprehension of common words.
-Apraxia: lack of control over one's muscles, for example, inability to button a shirt.
- Loss of spatial capacity: disorientation, even in known places.
-Changes of character: irritability, confusion, apathy, decay, lack of initiative and spontaneity.
Stadiums
Depending on the stage in which the patient is, the following stages are given:
-Mild Stage: The damage of the disease still goes unnoticed, both for the patient and for the relatives. The patient forgets small things, such as where he has placed the keys, or has some difficulty in finding a word. At this stage you can still work or drive a car, although you may start to experience lack of spontaneity, initiative and certain depressive features. The ability to judge is reduced and has difficulty solving new situations and organizing activities. Signs of apathy and isolation and mood swings may appear.
Moderate Stage: The disease is already evident to family and friends. The patient has difficulty performing tasks such as making a purchase, following a television program, or planning a dinner. It is no longer just a memory loss, but also a capacity for reasoning and understanding. At this stage, the deterioration progresses fairly quickly and those affected may get lost in familiar places. They are also visibly apathetic and depressed.
-Grave Stage: All areas related to the cognitive function of the patient are affected. Loses the ability to speak correctly, or repeats unconnected phrases over and over again. He can not recognize his family and friends; they do not even recognize themselves in a mirror. The disorientation is constant. Serious patients forget to walk and sit and, in general, lose control over their organic functions. Forget about recent and distant events. They remain immobile hours without activity, and generally can not walk. They stop being autonomous individuals and they need to be fed and cared for. They scream, cry or laugh for no reason and do not understand when they speak to them. In its most severe stage, rigidities and contractures in flexion appear, they remain mute and may present swallowing disorders. Many of them end up in a vegetative state.
There are also other types of more extensive classifications that take into account other types of variables to determine the stage of the disease in which the patient is:
FAST (Functional Assesment Staging): it is a division in seven phases, depending on the functional repercussions.
GDS (Global Deterioration Scale): also divides the patient's state into seven phases, but based on cognitive deficits.
CDR (Clinical Dementia Rating): it is used mainly in research. There are five phases based on six variables: memory, orientation, judgment, social life, household functioning and self-care.
Diagnosis
Between 30 and 40 percent of Alzheimer's cases could be undiagnosed, of which 80 percent belong to a mild stage.
The disease is diagnosed with data collected about the patient's problems of memory and learning, to carry on daily life. and asking relatives or people who live with the alleged patient. Blood and urine tests rule out other possible diseases that would cause dementia and, in some cases, it is also necessary to analyze fluid from the spinal cord.
Tests and exams
Among the most used tests to observe the changes that this disease produces in the brain, the most important thing is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (known by its English acronym, PET) and a combination of both. With MRI, the shape and structure of the brain is visualized. With PET, the first changes in brain tissue can be detected, even before visible symptoms appear (such as memory impairment).
To detect if a person has cognitive impairment, a screening or cognitive screening test is performed. It is a series of tests that try to determine if a person's cognitive abilities have been affected in some way.
They are simple tests, which do not imply large costs, and whose rapidity in realization allows to obtain a result quickly. Some of these tests are:
-Eurotest: involves the manipulation of euro coins to study memory or the ability to manage money.
Minimum Neuropsychological Exploration in Dementia: consists of seven tests with different purposes.
Memory Impairment Screen: for verbal memory.
-Seven minutes test: it is a test that allows diagnosing Alzheimer's disease in the early stages and in patients of all ages, measuring the temporal orientation, the patient's ability to remember and learn, the fluency of the language and his ability to make a drawing.
Treatments
Alzheimer's disease is a pathology of slow evolution. Since the first symptoms appear until a more serious stage begins, years can pass, depending on each person, between 5 and 20. At the moment there is no treatment that reverses the process of degeneration that this disease involves. However, there are some drugs that can delay the progression of the disease at certain stages of the disease.
For the psychotic symptoms that usually appear when dementia is moderate, neuroleptic drugs can be administered, although they are only recommended in extreme cases since they also affect other neuronal systems.
The vaccine, AN-1792, is based on a synthetic form of amyloid beta protein, a protein that makes up the plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and stimulates the immune system to eliminate the already formed plaques and prevent the appearance of new ones. .
It is also important the disposition that must have those people in charge of the care of the patient. Caring for someone with Alzheimer's can be complicated due to mood swings or memory problems, but if you adopt the right attitude the treatment can be made more bearable. The Brain Foundation and the Spanish Foundation for Neurological Diseases offer some advice such as the following:
The patient should be treated according to their age, and not try to hide information from them.
- Do not give orders or demands, trying to keep a positive tone always.
-To speak clearly and explain things in a relaxed and as extensive as possible so that the patient can understand what he is trying to say or explain.
-Try that the patient has its own independence and help as much as possible, without canceling their actions.
Healthy habits that help prevent Alzheimer's
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If we take care of our heart we take care of our brain. One of the risk factors at the time of suffering Alzheimer's are cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.
Eliminate tobacco. Tobacco is the origin or enhancer of so many diseases that should be eradicated from our lives in a fulminating way.
Physical exercise. There are studies that show that being physically active reduces the appearance of dementias at a general level and specifically Alzheimer's. Walk at a good pace at least 30 minutes a day.
Food. Introduce apples, citrus fruits, pumpkins, carrots, strawberries, grapes, tomatoes, legumes and fish into your diet.
Brain exercise. Just as we should have a good physical exercise routine we have to keep it with our brain. It will serve to avoid, or at least delay, the appearance of.
Socialize. Being with other people and interacting with them makes our brain active and alert. Makes me keep working for what helps us to prevent this disease.
Protect our head. It seems that there is a relationship between suffering a severe head injury with loss of consciousness and the risk of Alzheimer's disease tomorrow. So let's not expose this area of our body to that risk. Protect it in the right way when necessary.
So far there is no exact way to predict whether a person will develop a disease such as Alzheimer's. It is very important to take into account the risk factors, since they can be key in the early detection of this disease. So far it is not possible to affirm that its evolution can be stopped, but to detect it in time can help a lot to improve the quality of life of the patient.