Alzheimer 's Disease : The Disease

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Alzheimer’s: The Disease Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder that is found in older adults. One of the most famous American painters, Norman Rockwell, yielded to Alzheimer’s after a long and illustrious career. Interestingly enough, Rockwell’s (cited) paintings are now used sometimes in dementia therapy because of the memories and nostalgia they elicit. Can you imagine that one day the very thing you loved to do, would be helping others remember their lost memories and that you succumbed to that very same disease. This disease is a physical disease that affects the brain. There are proteins that build up in the brain to form structures called 'plaques ' and 'tangles ' that ultimately leads to loss connections of certain nerves cells and the loss of brain tissue. Alzheimer 's disease, as of yet, does not have a cure. I want to focus on the disease itself, medications for treatment, signs and symptoms and the alternatives to medicine. Also, I would like to focus on the many stages that the disease takes a person through. The earliest and most common sign of Alzheimer 's is the deterioration in memory. This memory loss affects recent memories more than long term memory. This would also lead to a short attention span and often losing interest in long conversations. Moreover, disorientation develops and those with Alzheimer 's may even get lost on their own street. The affected person also may not speak grammatically correct and talk in a child-like manner. They may substitute forgotten words for unclear descriptions or make up new words. There is no cure for Alzheimer 's disease. So far, there are only a few drugs that can slow down the effects of it. Donepezil (Aricept) [C] is the main drug for the treatment of... ... middle of paper ... ...orget about good old fashion one on one therapy with a specialist. So, in closing, when people realize that Alzheimer 's disease is a serious disease, just like Breast Cancer or even HIV, then maybe we all will start to pay attention. Our elderly are just as important in our lives as any other generation. We should not just shrug off one of our loved ones when they forget something significant and blame it on old age. It just might be the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The reason why there hasn 't been a cure upfront for this disease is because scientists try to attract grants by working on a problem that people think is more serious and controversial than Alzheimer’s disease. If there was as much attention that was paid to Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Erectile Dysfunction or even AIDS as there was in Alzheimer’s disease, then maybe there will be an answer.

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