Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease? - written by Scott Gillespie

Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906. Scientists have learned a great deal about Alzheimer's disease in the century since Dr. Alzheimer first drew attention to it.

The Causes and Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease

The actual cause of Alzheimer's disease is still unknown but several factors are believed to be responsible in the development of the brain disorder. The lack of neurochemical factors in the nerve cells is also one of the probable causes of this disease. The genetics and aging problems are considered to be the main causes of Alzheimer's disease. There are approximately nine out of ten thousand people affected with the Alzheimer's disease and the disease is more often in women than in men. The disease primarily occurs in older people over the age of 65. However, there is very little chance for developing the Alzheimer's disease through inherited mutated genes.

Since its discovery in the year 1906, in a span of little more than one century. the disease has become the 4th largest killer after heart disease, cancer and Tuberculosis(TB) in country like the US, the U. K, Japan And other developed countries where Average life span of an individual is above 60. Any people above 60 is vulnerable to this disease. the chances of vulnerability to the disease increases as the people above 60 keeps on gaining age higher than 60. the older the age of a person, the more vulnerable a person becomes to this disease.

The disease is more commonly known as the disease of memory loss of the elderly people or the disease of forgetfulness as the affected people begin gradually to loose from his or her memory whatever he or she has store in their brain. As a result of this an affected person forgets name even of his near and dear, friends, relatives. He or she even forgets faces even of his or her son, daughter and others known to him or her. The affected person forgets many details of his daily activities and his or her life this is why a person suffering from this disease has to depend on others for almost every kind of activities of life.

The cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer's include attention span, ability to make decisions, the ability to learn new things, memory retention, planning, perception, problem solving, being able to reason and the ability to think in terms of more than one step at a time. Daily tasks such as being able to get dressed, brush teeth, bath or take a shower, get dressed, plan the day's activities, pay bills, prepare meals, or do household or employment tasks are all symptoms related to cognitive ability of the patient. When these cognitive symptoms get progressively worse as they do with Alzheimer's the patient's ability to safely function in daily tasks declines to the point where it is essential to have a caregiver for safety and health reasons.

Behavioral symptoms are perhaps the most confusing for family members and others close to the individual because they involve the attitude of the person, gestures that the individual makes that may be completely out of character, and reactions to situations may be completely inappropriate especially while out in public. Moods will completely change and baffle friends and family members

Differentiating Among Other Forms of Dementia

Because the symptoms associated with this problem often mimic those of many forms of senile dementia, it's critical that doctors eliminate alternative possibilities before making a definitive diagnosis.