What is Alzheimer's Disease?

What is Alzheimer's Disease? Alzheimer's is a disease that affects many people, with about five million Americans suffering from it. This will help you to identify signs, symptoms, causes and risk factors. There is also some information on the tests that are used to get a diagnosis of this disease.

Two risk factors are age and family history of Alzheimer's disease. Some things that could increase risk are previous head injuries that were serious, lower levels of formal education, and lower socioeconomic status. Those things are not proven though, and research is still ongoing.

Women are between 1.2 and 1.5 times more likely to get Alzheimer's disease than men. Only about 1% of people that are older than 60, 3% that are between 65 and 74, and by the age of 85 40% will have Alzheimer's.

Some signs are: forgetting information that was just recently learned, forgetting more often and not being able to recall the information later, hard to plan or complete everyday tasks, forgetting simple words or substituting unusual words that make speech or writing hard to understand, getting lost in their own neighborhood, where they are or how they got there, poor or decreased judgment, problems with abstract thinking, putting things in unusual places, rapid mood swings for no apparent reason, changes in their personality, becoming very passive like sitting in front of the TV for hours.

There is 3 different stages of Alzheimer's disease:
Mild symptoms which are confusion and memory loss, disorientation; getting lost in familiar surroundings, problems with routine tasks, changes in personality and judgment.

Moderate symptoms which are difficulty with activities of daily living, such as eating and bathing, anxiety, suspiciousness, agitation, sleep disturbances, wandering, pacing, difficulty recognizing family and friends.

Severe symptoms which are loss of speech, loss of appetite; weight loss, loss of bladder and bowel control, total dependence on caregiver.

It is important to seek a diagnosis as soon as possible. A medical diagnosis from a trained professional is the only way to know for sure if an individual has Alzheimer's. In some cases you might want to seek a specialist that can properly diagnose the disease. You can also contact a medical center that provides Alzheimer's care or programs, such as any of the supported by the National Institute on Aging.

Evaluation test that are commonly preformed are:
Medical history in which an interview or questionnaire is used to identify past medical problems, difficulties in daily activities, and prescription drug use.

Physical examination that includes hearing and sight tests, and blood pressure and pulse readings.

Standard laboratory tests that include blood and urine tests that measure blood count, thyroid and liver function, and other blood-based indicators of illness.

Neuropsychological testing in which doctors use a variety of tools to assess memory, problem-solving, attention, vision-motor coordination, and abstract thinking.

Brain-imaging scan that uses a CT or MRI to rule out brain tumors or blood clots in the brain as a possible reason for symptoms.

Those are some symptoms, signs, and risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. If you know someone that is showing signs of the disease make sure to get them to a doctor as soon as possible to seek help for them.