Looking at Alzheimer's disease

anything much about. Its only ever when someone who is close to them is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease they realise the true extent of this particularly cruel disease.
Alzheimers disease is a particularly nasty form of dementia. Dementia is a brain disorder which affects people to varying degrees. It depends on the type of dementia they have and how progressive it is as to how they will be affected by it.
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive illness which seriously affects a person's ability to carry out their activities of daily living. Characterised initially by memory loss, it gradually progresses to where the person becomes a literal shell of their former self. (It's not called the living death for nothing)!
Alzheimer's disease affects the part of the brain which involves the thought processes, memory and language, and though there is continuing investigations into Alzheimer's disease by pharmaceutical agencies, scientists and doctors etc there is unfortunately no cure at the time of writing this article.
Many people assume Alzheimer's disease to be a disease which only older people will contract, but though older people definitely make up the major part of the sufferers, younger people can also develop Alzheimer's disease. A person is more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease after the age of 60, with about 5% of those in the age bracket 65-74 affected. It should be remembered however that developing Alzheimer's disease is not a normal part of the aging process and should never be treated as such.
Until quite recently, Alzheimer's disease could only be diagnosed 100% post mortem. Diagnosis was usually accomplished by a series of mental ability tests which the patient had to undergo to establish the condition of their mind. This often led to mis-diagnosis. However with the advent of scanners and other specialised x-ray equipment if Alzheimers disease is suspected, then the patient can be referred for investigations and a definite diagnosis can now be made.
One of the main characteristics of Alzheimers disease is abnormal clumps known as amyloid plaques which are found in the brain tissue of sufferers. They also have tangled bundles of fibres in their brain which are called neurofibrillary tangles.
Other changes in the brain which scientists have recently discovered are the death and/or disruption of nerve cells in the areas of the brain which are essential for the person's ability to remember and their thought processes.
There is some speculation that specific chemicals needed to carry messages backwards and forwards in the brain are lacking and if this is so, it could be the clue to why Alzheimer's disease develops in the first place.
Only time and further research will tell if these speculations are correct.

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