Alzheimer’s Disease

Alois Alzheimer is a German neurologist who in 1906 after studying closely a case of a woman
named Auguste D discovered the Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This disease manifests in a form of
dementia and makes a person to lose ability to reason and think. The disease destroys the
connection of nerves throughout the brain causing damage of the person’s memory. When more
and more parts of the brains are affected, they begin to shrink and as time goes by significant
volume of brain loss is observed, a condition called atrophy. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) mostly
occurs to either middle aged or older people. I gathered interest on this discussion so as to
generate knowledge and gather information to try and help to diagnose this disease.
Just as the other parts of the body, human brain ages. The effect of this is slow thinking and
finding it difficult to remember things. When the brain is affected, one conditional problem
experienced is functional fixedness (where one is unable to realize any other use of an object
rather than the regular function). Imagine that you are in a room and you want to drive a nail into
the wall. The regular tool to use for this work is a hammer. Unsuccessfully you spend a lot of
time searching the house but couldn’t find it. Someone comes in finds you out of despair and
suggests you use a piece of metal to drive the nail. Someone may ask, why didn’t you think of
using the piece of metal to do the work instead? Some psychologists argue that people with this
condition often have functional fixedness which prevents them from thinking of an alternative
way to do things. Towards the stages of Alzheimer’s disease, victim is faced with mild
forgetfulness, confusion and short-term memory loss
Its scientifically proven that different memory system are affected by the disease;
-Episodic memory is a memory in the system and is used to consciously remember a certain
episode in a person's life. Among all major memories systems, episodic is the most clinical one.
Any disruption to this memory causes early symptoms of the disease. Episodic memory is also
used to remember more critical events e.g., taking medication. For example, getting married,
graduating in school etc. This type of memory can be damaged if cell damage associated with
Alzheimer's disease affects the prefrontal cortex of the brain, close to the lobes. You can slow
down the worsening of this type of memory by trying to remember loved ones, this is one of the
most important events in life.
-Semantic memory is a repository of conceptual and practical knowledge that may not be
intended for any other memory. Its mostly called the common knowledge memory of an
individual and comprises of common facts that a person know. For example, color of the sky,
names of famous people etc.
-Procedural memory is the ability to learn, develop cognitive and behavioral skills, and use them
automatically. It’s the ability to maintain skills and perfume various tasks. People mostly
affected by Alzheimer disease, may not constantly perform task they previously performed
without being assisted.
-Short term memory is the ability to retain new information obtained. This will be affected
mainly at the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. It affects the ability to quickly find a selection
of newly learned information. Victims forgets where tools and objects are placed and are forced
to use reminders and diary to fit their routine.
-Simple classical conditioning involves the pairing of different stimuli, an unconditional and a
conditional stimulus. After connecting together, repeatedly until the unwanted reaction is not
related to the conditioned stimulus can only be triggered by the unconditioned stimulus.
In a scientific study of Alzheimer’s disease patients, scientists have found that some part of the
memory are severely impaired while others are preserved. For instance, semantic memory will
be disrupted in Alzheimer’s disease patient, exhibiting difficulties in giving the names of items.
Studies show that various forms of classical conditioning can be reduced in patients with
Alzheimer disease, including fear conditioning, amygdala-dependent conditioning, and eye blink
conditioning, which can be used to support involvement of the entorhinal cortex, hippocampus,
and other organs.
Alzheimer’s disease tends to progress slowly becomes worse over time and finally affects nearly
every part of the brain, making memory, solving problem, judgement, movement to be affected
negatively. The disease progresses through five stages; During the first stage, preclinical phase,
no symptoms are apparent and the disease can only be identified through research settings. This
phase of Alzheimer’s disease last for years without any notice of change. Use of genetic test to
patients at early stage of Alzheimer’s disease can be beneficial to those individuals who are
willing to be treated. The second stage is mild cognitive impairment. The thinking ability and
patient’s memory have some mild changes which doesn’t necessarily affect their day-to-day
activities. People in this stage have problem of estimating amount of time on a task and may be
having difficulties on making sound decisions. Earlier recognition of these symptoms may be
helpful to the patient as he can start early medication. The third stage is mild dementia. At this
stage the patient is showing most of the signs like; memory loss from recent events, unsound
judgements, difficulty with problem solving, getting lost and misplacing their things. At the
fourth stage, moderate dementia, people change to be more and more forgetful and becomes
confused. At this stage patients need assistance to help with their chores and selfcare. People at
this stage experience even greater memory loss, change behavior and personality while some
may be restless and aggressive. During the last stage of the disease, called severe dementia, the
patient’s physical capabilities and movement of the patient are affected and mental health also
deteriorates. In this stage patients, are unable to communicate frequently, becomes weak
physically and therefore requires daily assistance for self-care task.
Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease patient can be challenging, but getting accurate information and
help will help you understand what to expect and what to do. Different recommendation may be
existing for a person who want to diagnose the disease. Experts agree that this is the best way to
plan for Alzheimer's disease before dementia symptoms appear and by touch. First of all, a
person should understand the risk associated with the disease and the treatment itself. Some
treatments are too dangerous and may be taken at patient’s risk as they might even cause death.
After Alzheimer’s disease diagnose patient is required to; learn more about the disease so as
when it peaks, he/she will know what to expect. Regular medical check is also advised to keep
the patient in good form as some of the symptoms can be beaten at the checkup. Patients
diagnosed should seek help and assistance for their day-to-day activities. Patients can also use
memory aid tools to make sure that their schedule is intact like reminders, diaries and calendars.
Doctors recommend that the patient suffering from the disease should adhere to healthy practices
like staying healthy, always be home safe with a caretaker, minimize hard work and instead do
some body exercise. Legal advisors recommend their clients to seek long term, legal and
financial care plan. Patient may prepare a will or even adjust one’s health funds to cater for
hospital bills. My take in this discussion is that Alzheimer’s disease patients should be aligned
with caregivers to help them schedule their work wisely, give simple instruction, limit their
distraction, provide them with limited choices for performing duties and help the patient eat
healthy.
Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative disease that ultimately affects a person's brain and affect
the ability to think independently. People with Alzheimer's disease should be treated with
kindness and caution, knowing that they can still enjoy life. Physical and chemical restrictions
apply only as a last resort. There are many proven options for these ways, which are the
cornerstones of personalized care. This information may be of use to patients of Alzheimer’s
disease as well as their family members affected by their condition. Researchers should dig hard
to establish how people should ensure better lives to people with this disease. They should also
look for better forms of treatment using the modern technology.

REFERENCES
Blennow K., de Leon MJ., Zetterberg H. Alzheimer's disease. Lancet. 2006;368:387–403.
Gerrish A., Russo G., Richards A., et al The role of variation at A beta PP, PSEN1, PSEN2, and
MAPT in late onset Alzheimer's disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2012;28:377–387.