World Alzheimer’s Day – Faces of Damentia

Did you know! Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of Dementia (a general term used to describe group of symptoms affecting mental function)  This neurological brain disorder is named after a German physician, Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906. And till date 36 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s disease. There is one new case of dementia worldwide every seven seconds, and the number is set to rise to 65.7 million in 2030 worldwide and nearly 3.7 million people in India are suffering from dementia, and this number is set to double over the next 20 years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Alzheimer’s disease affects your memory, thinking and even judgment badly, making you forget things quickly, which further hampers your ability to carry out even the most trivial day-to-day tasks. This problem arises when the nerve cells in your brain die due to aging, which affects the transmission of signals to the brain. The nerve cells die gradually over the years, so this ailment is most commonly seen in old people.

Common Symptoms:

·         Impaired memory

·         Afflicted thinking

·         Poor judgment

·         Disorientation and confusion

·         Tendency to misplace things

·         Excessive abstract thinking

·         Trouble in carrying out day-to-day activities

·         Personality and behavioral changes

·         Difficulty in following commands

·         Language problems and impaired communication

·         Bad visual skills as well as spatial skills

·         Lack of motivation and initiative

·         Changes in sleep patterns

More about Alzheimer’s

The progression of Alzheimer’s disease is different from patient to patient. In some people, the symptoms can worsen very quickly, within a span of a few years even; but for others, the same symptoms can take up to 20 long years to develop. In the early phase of the disease, long term memory is not affected, whereas short-term memory of the patient is seen to be impaired badly. The patient is most likely to forget recent conversations, and may ask same questions over and over again that had already been asked and answered before. Also, the patient forgets common language words during conversation. After being diagnosed for Alzheimer’s, the average period of survival of the patient is from 3-9 years.

Treatment

There is no sure cure for this disease till date, and also no identified process to slow down brain nerve damage. However, Alzheimer’s disease progression rate can be slowed down by some medications. If these medications and treatment is started at the early stage of the disease, then, it will be possible for your loved one to remain independent and function normally in the day-to-day life for a much longer span of time. If your loved one has developed any of the above mentioned symptoms, then it is important that you take him/her to the doctor immediately for diagnosis.

Is your loved one becoming forgetful of things or rather feeling confused doing activities of daily living?