Alzheimer's disease is a common cause of irreversible brain deficiency (dementia), a disease that affects older people, whose symptoms vary from one patient to another and from one day to another in the same patient, which progresses slowly. The time can fluctuate between two to 20 years, depending on the age and other health factors of the individual, acetylcholine and other chemicals in the brain play a role in Alzheimer's disease.
Dementia is a general term to indicate the malfunction of the brain characterized by the loss of intellectual functions, there is a constant and slow decline, but a rapid deterioration can also occur. Eventually, people will lose all their physical and mental abilities to take care of themselves.
The memory of recent events and the ability to learn begins to suffer a progressive deficiency. Forgetting things more frequently is often considered "normal" in an older person. Missing appointments, forgetting to pay bills, not recognizing people you know and feeling lost in familiar places are not normal signs, when memory deficits interfere with daily life, it is a sign that something is wrong.
Symptoms may include repetitive questioning, irritability, strong reactions to events, staying awake at night, wandering, restlessness, inactivity, hostility, suspicion, risky actions, resistance to bathing, and trouble eating. It is common to have difficulty with routine functions such as tying shoes or operating utensils. When the disease has progressed, the person may have difficulties with functions such as walking, dressing, eating, and bathing, and may suffer from incontinence.
Communication difficulties may occur. The person may not have the ability to follow directions, to find the necessary word, to participate in conversations, or to understand written material. Safety issues related to driving, leaving the stove on, locking the door, and staying out of the house become serious matters of concern. Other issues related to poor judgment could include less critical behavioral issues, such as choosing clothes that are not appropriate for the weather or occasion.
As the disease progresses, Alzheimer's victims experience obvious disability. The person may feel disoriented, in other words, not knowing where they are, or what day it is. The person may be unable to recognize someone they are familiar with or places they are familiar with.
Alzheimer's disease patients show abrupt mood swings and can become aggressive and angry. Some of this erratic behavior is caused by chemical changes in the brain. But it can certainly also be attributed to the terrible and real experience of losing consciousness and understanding of your surroundings, causing fear and frustration that you can no longer express verbally. It is important that the caregiver controls the environment, keeping distractions and noise to a minimum, and speaking clearly.
Many Alzheimer's disease patients are highly sensitive to the implicit emotions of caregivers and react negatively to signs of condescension, anger, and frustration.Some patients become very gentle, retaining the ability to laugh at themselves even after their verbal abilities have disappeared, others do not seem unhappy but in a mystical or drug-like state as the past and future slip away. Anxiety and frustration can be relieved by watching movies or videos of family members and events in the patient's past.
There is no single personality of Alzheimer's disease, in the same way that there is no single human personality. Each patient should be treated as the individual that he or she remains even after the social being has disappeared. As soon as Alzheimer's disease is diagnosed, the patient should be prohibited from driving. Another potentially dangerous trait is the tendency of Alzheimer's disease patients to wander.
Being in a place where people and environment are unknown, not knowing if it is day or night, living situations that seem alien and not recognizing one's own identity, are just some symptoms of people with Alzheimer's. The person with this dementia experiences confusion in time and space, changes in personality, difficulty finding words, finishing ideas or thoughts, and following instructions. They happen because the neurons (nerve cells) that control memory and thinking deteriorate, that is, they present changes that damage brain tissue, which interrupts the passage of messages through them.
Alzheimer's is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a gradual decline in cognitive function, as well as altered abilities and abnormal behavior. Dementia occurs predominantly in the second half of life, often after 65 years of age; some experts think that it is "the price that society has to pay" for our higher life expectancy and, therefore, the term "dementia" activates fear mechanisms.
The most common known symptom is confusion. This particular behavior leads to becoming a “stranger” to others and making interactions unpredictable. Confusion can also occur "acutely", that is, suddenly and limited in time, for example, triggered by a hospital stay, or directly after cardiac surgery, suffering mainly from impaired memory and orientation, concentration limitations, in ideas and judgments, personality changes and, later, perceptual disorders, language and gait; in the final stage, various other bodily functions such as swallowing and excretion processes are also affected.
Most people forget names or appointments sometimes. If this happens more frequently and unexplained states of confusion also occur, it may be an indication of the decline in memory function. People who are very busy, at times, become abstracted and disconnected from the world around them and forget a pot on the stove. People with dementia would possibly not only forget the pot on the stove but would forget until they were cooking.
Most people sometimes have a hard time finding the right words. People with dementia are often unable to remember simple words and instead use inappropriate filler terms, making it difficult to understand what they are saying. Many people sometimes forget, for example, what day of the week it is or can be lost in unfamiliar places or environments. People with dementia may be on their own street where they live and not know where they are, how they got there and how to get home again.
People do not always choose the most appropriate clothes for the prevailing climate. People with dementia sometimes wear totally inappropriate clothing. For example, they wear a bathrobe to go shopping or several tops one on top of the other on a hot summer day. From time to time, most of us forget where we leave our keys or wallet. People with dementia, however, can put objects in completely inappropriate places, such as the iron in the refrigerator or the clock in the sugar bowl. Afterwards, they don't even remember where they put things.
As we age, most people's personalities change a bit. Dementia sufferers can experience very pronounced personality changes, either suddenly or slowly but progressively in the long term. Someone who is generally friendly, for example, may unexpectedly become angry, jealous, or shy.
