Higher Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease example essay topic

Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, is a disease that afflicts more than 4 million older citizens in the US. Alzheimer's is a degenerative neurological disorder that leads to impairments in memory, thinking and reasoning. AD is the most common cause of dementia in older people, and mainly affects people 65 and over. Within the last few years, there have been drugs that can temporarily treat the patients, but it remains a form of dementia that is irreversible. The disease is very hard on both the person who receives the diagnosis and on his or her family and friends. Aside from medical help, those affected by the diagnosis may want to consider counseling and support groups to help them cope.

In its earliest stages, Alzheimer disease slowly robs patients of their 'higher brain functions,' including short-term memory and the ability to learn new information. As the disease progresses, patients gradually begin to experience confusion, have trouble making routine decisions, and eventually lose the ability to perform even simple self-care tasks, such as bathing and eating. The disease may also produce changes in personality, behavior, and mood, such as depression, apathy, and withdrawal or baseless fears and aggressive behavior. Alzheimer disease is a condition that causes the nerve cells in the brain to degenerate and the brain matter to shrink. It affects parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language. It can only be diagnosed by a histo pathologic examination, to check for the presence of tangles and plaques, which are primary causes of Alzheimer's.

Neurofibrillary tangles are bundles of twisted fibers that accumulate in the cell bodies of neurons. Neuritic plaques are round or oval lesions consisting of an amyloid protein core surrounded by fragments of damaged neurons. These types of lesions occur in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, the regions of the brain which control such higher intellectual functions as memory, thinking, reasoning and sensory perception. Increasing age, being female, mental retardation, and genetics are well-established risk factors of the disease. Age is the main factor of risk, because people from the ages to 75-84 are at 19% risk and people 85 and older are about 47% at risk. At all ages, women have a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease than men.

By age 93 women's risk is 13% higher than men's. The genetic tendency to the disease is based on the fact that if one identical twin develops Alzheimer's disease, the other's risk is 40% to 50%. In addition, having any close relative who develops Alzheimer's increases risk. By age 80, people with Alzheimer's disease in both parents had a 54% risk, 1.5 times the risk of Alzheimer's in people with just one affected parent, and 5 times the risk of people with two unaffected parents. People with Down syndrome or certain forms of mental retardation also have a higher risk for the disease, while individuals who have completed an education beyond 9th grade may have some protection against the illness.

In the first stage of Alzheimer's, a patient is increasingly and persistently forgetful, and may forget recent events or directions to familiar places. They have mild personality changes where they may become paranoid, very confused, or fearful. Unexplainable mood or behavior changes can occur. They often have a loss of judgment and problems with abstract thinking. They frequently misplace items, sometimes in odd places. They may forget the reason for entering a room, while later forgetting the way home Patients also experience aphasia, or difficulties finding the right word.

As the disease progresses to moderate Alzheimer's disease, the person has noticeable memory loss, have difficulty performing familiar tasks, frequently use words inappropriately and sentences can become incomprehensible. Patients will often suffer from apraxia, when they begin to lose the ability to perform normal tasks of daily living involving muscle coordination, such as cooking, shopping, or balancing a checkbook. They may also suffer from agnosia when they lose the ability to recognize and use familiar objects, such as clothing. In the final stage of severe Alzheimer's disease, the affected individual may be unable to recognize themselves or their closest family members. Their behavior may seem unreasonable or disturbed and they seem depressed, anxious, paranoid, withdrawn or aggressive. Self-care may become difficult because of the loss of the ability to prepare meals, dress, feed, and bath oneself, and carelessness for personal appearance and hygiene.

They may make small, purposeless movements and communicate only by screaming out occasionally. Ultimately, the disease may also affect a patient's ability to speak and move, causing the need for full-time care and supervision, often in a nursing home. The brain eventually forgets how to live. While Alzheimer's is incurable, medical treatments are used to give the patient the ability to function in daily life and maintain a good quality of life, as well as to slow the progression of symptoms, and treat depression or disruptive behaviors. It is important to have accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's and early recognition to provide the best possible treatment. Drugs that fight inflammation, such as indomethacin and prednisone are used to treat the disease as well as Ibuprofen, which has been recently proven to reduce the risk of the disease.

Two medications, taurine and donepezil, are used to maximize mental function and possibly slow deterioration of cognitive function. These 2 drugs are cholinesterase inhibitors. When this enzyme is blocked, acetylcholine is not broken down, and levels of acetylcholine rise in the brain. Since Alzheimer disease has been linked to low levels of acetylcholine, cholinesterase inhibitors may help improve brain function in Alzheimer patients by raising brain levels of acetylcholine. Recently scientists are working on vaccines to prevent the disease, although nothing concrete has been established. In July of 99, they reported a vaccine which appeared to reduce the brain clogging deposits that cause the disease.

Other alternatives have been used to treat the disease such as the antioxidants selegiline and vitamin E, which seem to fight the oxidative reactions that damage neurons. Studies indicate that selegiline and vitamin E slow the progression of Alzheimer disease. Estrogen is shown to improve brain function in women in the early stages of Alzheimer disease. Physical exercise, social activity, and proper nutrition are important in keeping the patient healthy as well. Any steps toward producing a calm, safe, and well-structured environment may help the patient.

Helping the patient and the family with the legal aspects, supporting the family through care giving, and assisting with decisions about long-term care placement are also crucial to help the patient. For a person with Alzheimer's cared for at home, the average to family caregivers is $12,500 per year. For people with Alzheimer's in nursing homes, the average cost is $42,000 per year per person. The average cost to care for a person with Alzheimer's from diagnosis until death is about $174,000. This makes Alzheimer's disease the nation's third most costly illness, after heart disease and cancer.

This disease although not fatal, can prove to be overwhelming and devastating, is becoming more and more evident in our society. It can cause people to move apart from the people who love them the most, and there is no way to stop it. The only thing to do is try and keep them as close and healthy to you as possible and to do the best you can to try and keep their quality of life as best as it can be.