Essential Tidbits Physicians Want Patients to Know About Alzheimer's

Alzheimer’s disease is slowly becoming widespread, as both its incidence and prevalence progressively climb through the years. The chronic neurodegenerative disease, which is caused by the aggressive destruction of neural connections, as well as the neurons themselves, starts out slowly in its predementia phase, and picks up speed towards the end of the person’s life, causing a wide variety of behavioral and cognitive symptoms such as aggressiveness, greatly diminished cognitive capacity and memory, perseverance of certain repetitive behavioral patterns, sleep disorders, and complete disorientation, to name a few.

Those who suffer from this disease end up relying on others to care for them, as they quickly lose the capacity to do so for themselves. Furthermore, as the disease progresses, the person becomes more challenging to care for, as aggressiveness, irritability, and paranoid behaviors become commonplace. Ironically enough, the final phases of the disease are the ones in which the individual requires the most help, as he or she can frequently forget how to perform even the most basic tasks, such as brushing their teeth, combing their hair, or even have trouble with walking from one place to the other.

Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s is slowly climbing in numbers; at least 5 million people in the United States are struggling with the disease, a figure which is expected to rise to about 50 million in 2050 if a cure or a way to counteract its effects are not discovered by then. For these and many other reasons, Alzheimer’s affects not only those who develop the condition but also those who must provide care to them. If the number of Alzheimer’s patients are expected to rise to 50 million in just under half a century, then odds are that there will be a similar number of caregivers.

Here, we will provide several nuggets of knowledge that might prove helpful in the caregiver’s struggle to look after their loved ones who suffer from Alzheimer’s. This information will help caregivers and even patients who first received their diagnosis, learn the most essential pieces of information to help them cope with the obstacles they face with this neurodegenerative disease.

Alzheimer’s is unique to each individual

Just like other diseases such as lupus or chicken pox, Alzheimer’s is unique to each person that suffers from it; no two individuals will ever experience it in the same manner, which makes preparing to provide care to these individuals a challenging task. In terms of signs or symptoms, no two cases are alike, according to Daniel Cohen, MD, the director of cognitive neurology of the Sentara Medical Group, as well as the chairman of the Virginia Medical School. Cohen maintains that some cases may deteriorate slowly, while some might degenerate to the point where they lose most of their faculties at an accelerated pace. He urges caregivers to lend appropriate aid to the patients while staying vigilant in case the disease seems to progress too fast and to reach out for assistance in a timely manner if this happens.