Education on Alzheimer's

What is Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease that starts slowly and gets worse over time. This progressive disease destroys memory and other important mental functions. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia.

What causes Alzheimer's?

The exact cause of this disease is not well understood but certain risk factors have been identified. Approximately 70% of the risk is believed to be genetic with many genes usually involved. Other risk factors include a history of head injuries, depression, or hypertension. The causes probably include a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. (Source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alzheimers-disease/ and https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/159442.php and https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet)

What are the symptoms of Alzheimer's?

As mentioned, Alzheimer's is a progressive disease and the symptoms develop slowly over many years and become severe. The disease affects multiple brain functions and the first sign of Alzheimer's is memory loss. At first, the memory problems will be minor, for example, forgetting recent conversations or names of places and objects. As the condition worsens the symptoms become more serious, such as:

• Confusion
• Disorientation and getting lost in familiar places
• Problems with speech and language
• Problems moving around without assistance or performing self-care tasks
• Personality changes, such as becoming aggressive, demanding and suspicious of others
• Hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that are not there) and delusions (believing things that are untrue)
• Low mood or anxiety

(Source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alzheimers-disease/ and https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet)

Treatment of Alzheimer's

The complexity of the disease has made it difficult to discover a treatment course to cure it. The current approach is to focus on helping people with the disease to maintain mental function and manage the behavioral changes. The aim of the current approach is to slow down the memory loss.

Research continues and the hope is that in the future therapies can be developed that target specific genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanism so that the underlying cause of the disease can be prevented.

Early detection of Alzheimer's can give you and your family the best chance to plan and prepare for the future and receive the treatment available. It is important to get a diagnosis early so that you and your family receive the available support. If you're worried about your memory or that of someone close to you it's best to get a second opinion from your GP.