Alzheimers?
Thursday, June 24th, 2010 at
9:03 pm
kelsey asked:
What are some of the symptoms, treatment, and what is the life expectancy of someone who suffers from Alzheimers?
Tagged with: Alzheimers • Life Expectancy
Filed under: Alzheimers
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Alzheimers is pretty close symptomwise to dimentia. Forgetfulness, etc.
There really is no big treatment, unfortunately.
My great grandpa lived until his mid 80s with Alzheimers.
I am afraid Alzheimer is a very complex syndrome. There is no treatment. People with alzheimer do not die of alzheimer rather than infection caused from their inability to function as normal humans (eg stay hyginecaly clean, eat properly) and from accidents.
Alzheimer starts with light symptoms and it can end up with the subject beeing completely isolated from the outside world.
If the body is healthy, a person could live a long time. Eventually, the brain will stop sending signals to the vital organs and they will stop functioning.
Here’s info from the National Institutes of Health regarding symptoms and treatment options:
Alzheimer Disease Symptoms
Alzheimer disease begins with a mild, slowly worsening memory loss. Many older people fear that they have Alzheimer disease because they can’t find their eyeglasses or remember someone’s name.
These very common problems are most often due to a much less serious condition involving slowing of mental processes with age.
Medical professionals call some of these cases benign senescent forgetfulness, age-related memory loss, or minimal cognitive impairment.
While these conditions are a nuisance, they do not significantly impair a person’s ability to learn new information, solve problems, or carry out everyday activities, as Alzheimer disease does.
Early warning signs of Alzheimer disease include memory problems such as the following:
Difficulty recognizing familiar people or things (not just forgetting a name)
Trouble remembering recent events or activities
Inability to solve simple arithmetic problems
Problems finding the right word for a familiar thing
Difficulty performing familiar tasks
As the disease progresses, however, the symptoms become more serious. They may include the following:
Inability to carry out everyday activities, often called activities of daily living, without help – Bathing, dressing, grooming, feeding, using the toilet
Inability to think clearly or solve problems
Difficulties understanding or learning new information
Problems with communication – Speaking, reading, writing
Increasing disorientation and confusion even in familiar surroundings
Greater risk of falls and accidents due to poor judgment and confusion
In the later stages of the disease, the symptoms are severe and devastating:
Complete loss of short- and long-term memory – May be unable to recognize even close relatives and friends
Complete dependence on others for activities of daily living
Severe disorientation – May walk away from home and get lost
Behavior or personality changes – May become anxious, hostile, or aggressive
Loss of mobility – May be unable to walk or move from place to place without help
Impairment of other movements such as swallowing – Increases risk of malnutrition, choking, and aspiration (inhaling foods and beverages, saliva, or mucus into lungs)
These symptoms typically develop over a period of years. The disease progresses at different rates in different people.
Emotional problems such as depression and anxiety are common in older people. These problems can leave elderly people feeling confused or forgetful. Because these emotional problems are reversible in many people, it is important that they be distinguished from Alzheimer disease and other brain disorders.
Alzheimer Disease Treatment
There is no cure for Alzheimer disease. Treatment focuses on relieving and slowing down the progress of the symptoms, behavior changes, and complications.
An individual with AD should always be under medical care. Much of the day-to-day care, however, is handled by family caregivers. Medical care should focus on optimizing the individual’s health, safety, and quality of life while helping family members cope with the many challenges of caring for a loved one with AD. Treatment most often consists of medications and nondrug treatments such as behavior therapy.
Self-Care at Home
Many individuals with Alzheimer disease in the early and intermediate stages are able to live independently.
With regular checks by a local relative or friend, they are able to live for some time without constant supervision.
Those who have difficulty with activities of daily living require at least part-time help from a family caregiver or home health aide.
Visiting nurses can make sure that these individuals take their medications as directed.
Housekeeping help is available for those who cannot keep up with household chores.
Other affected individuals require closer supervision or more constant care.
Round-the-clock help in the home is available, but it is expensive and out of reach for many.
Individuals who require this level of care may need to move from their home to the home of a family caregiver or to an assisted living facility.
These options give the individual the greatest possible independence and quality of life for as long as possible.
For those persons who are able to remain at home or retain some degree of independent living, it is very important that the surroundings be familiar and safe.
The individual must be comfortable and safe if he or she is to continue to function independently.
Changes may be needed in the home to make it safer.
The balance between safety and independence must be assessed often. If the person’s situation changes, changes in living situation may be needed.
Individuals with Alzheimer disease should remain physically, mentally, and socially active as long as they are able.
Daily physical exercise helps maximize body and mind functions and maintains a healthy weight. This can be as simple as a daily walk.
The individual should engage in as much mental activity as he or she can handle. It is believed that mental activity can slow the progression of the disease. Puzzles, games, reading, and safe hobbies and crafts are good choices. These activities should ideally be interactive. They should be of an appropriate level of difficulty that the person does not become overly frustrated.
Social interaction is stimulating and enjoyable for most people with early or intermediate stages of Alzheimer disease. Most senior centers or community centers have scheduled activities that are suitable for those with dementia.
A balanced diet that includes low-fat protein foods and plenty of fruits and vegetables will help maintain a healthy weight and prevent malnutrition and constipation. An individual with AD should not smoke, both for health and safety reasons.
Medical Treatment
Even though Alzheimer disease is not reversible, treatment can slow the progression of symptoms in some people. Relieving symptoms can improve function significantly. Some of the important treatment strategies in dementia are described here.
Nondrug treatments
Behavior disorders such as agitation and aggression may improve with various interventions. Some interventions focus on helping the individual adjust or control his or her behavior. Others focus on helping caregivers and other family members change the person’s behavior. These approaches sometimes work better when combined with drug treatment.
Drug treatment
The symptoms of Alzheimer disease can sometimes be relieved, at least temporarily, by medication. Many different types of medications have been or are being tried in dementia. The medications that have worked the best so far are the cholinesterase inhibitors.
Cholinesterase is an enzyme that breaks down a chemical in the brain called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine acts as an important messaging system in the brain. Brain acetylcholine level is low in most people with Alzheimer disease.
Cholinesterase inhibitors, by stopping the breakdown of this neurotransmitter, increase the amount of acetylcholine in the brain and improve brain function.
These drugs not only improve or stabilize cognitive functions, they may also have positive effects on behavior and activities of daily living.
They are not a cure, but they do slow down the rate of decline in some people. In many people the effect is modest, and in others, the effect is not noticeable.
The effects are temporary, since these drugs do not change the underlying cause of the dementia.
Another drug, memantine, is showing promise in Alzheimer disease. This new drug works by blocking brain damage caused by another brain chemical called glutamate.
Certain drugs are being used on a trial basis in people with Alzheimer disease. Experts think these drugs might help based on what we know from research about Alzheimer disease. None of these drugs have yet achieved widespread acceptance as treatment for the disease.
Anti-inflammatory drugs are being tried on the premise that inflammation is one cause of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.
The antioxidant tocopherol (vitamin E) is believed by some to counteract damage in brain cells, which may have a role in causing Alzheimer disease or its progression.
Hormone replacement therapy has been given to some women who have been through menopause and have Alzheimer disease, but this approach has been questioned by many experts. The rationale is that the loss of estrogen at menopause takes away one line of protection from the disease.
Other drugs are used to treat specific symptoms or behavior changes.
Mood swings and emotional outbursts may improve with antidepressant or mood stabilizing drugs.
Agitation, anger, and disruptive or psychotic behavior are often relieved by antipsychotic medication or mood stabilizers.
Alzheimer disease is considered to be a terminal disease. The actual cause of death usually is a physical illness such as pneumonia. Such illnesses can be debilitating in a person who is already weakened by the effects of aging and the disease. On average, a person with Alzheimer disease will live 8-10 years after the disease is diagnosed. Some people live for as long as 20 years with good nursing care.