Alzheimer's disease explained

several ways. It is a progressive disease which can take several years to progress and is devastating to both the sufferer and their family and friends.
Alzheimer's disease can at first be subtle in its onset with just occasional lapses in memory and thought processes noticed by family and friends. Because Alzheimer's is usually to be found in older people, these "lapses" are usually put down to age related changes. Alternatively many older people have been misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's disease when they have only age related forgetfulness.
In the earlier stages of Alzheimer's disease, one of the classic symptoms is forgetting recent events or the names of people they know well. Solving a maths problem or puzzle becomes too difficult for them, which can lead to frustration on the part of the sufferer who may well realise there is something wrong with them.
As the disease progresses, these symptoms gradually worsen until eventually the family and friends of the sufferer realise there is something seriously wrong with the person involved. At this stage, the sufferer may still be in complete denial which makes it difficult to encourage them to seek help.
In due course the problems associated with Alzheimer's disease become so bad they affect the person's activities of daily living. This means basically they become so ill they are unable to generally care for themselves. Even something as basic as cleaning their teeth, fastening buttons or tying shoelaces becomes too difficult.
Sooner or later the person can no longer think clearly at all, they don't recognise familiar faces or names, if english is their second language they lose their ability to speak or understand it. They will also lose the ability to read and write. They often become completely uninterested in food, and carers will find it a nightmare ensuring they are kept well nourished.
Finally they will probably undergo a radical personality change where they become aggressive, speak foul language and wander away from home, but eventually will lose the ability to walk. This is at a stage where if they are still being cared for at home, the carers need to question whether it would be fairer to both themselves and the Alzheimer's sufferer for them to be cared for in a nursing home.
At the time of writing, scientists have not yet discovered what actually causes Alzheimer's disease, though there has been a lot of speculation. It is thought that there is probably a combination of factors which when combined together affect people in different ways. This would also account for why it is so difficult to find a cure.
It is thought that hereditary factors may have a part to play. It is thought by a number of scientists that genetics plays an important part in whether a person will develop Alzheimers disease or not. It has already been proved that early inset Alzheimer's disease (which occurs between the ages of 30-60) is an inherited disease. So it is a logical conclusion to reach.
Even though huge strides have been made into the study of Alzheimer's disease, there is unfortunately still a long way to go before a cure is found. Scientists still have many aspects such as environment, health and diet to study before they can reach any positive conclusions. At the moment, much of what is "known" about Alzheimer's disease is guess work.