Sitting next to my grandpa having a conversation about motorcycles and how he used to

have a Honda Goldwing that my grandma and he used to take on road trips where they

would travel all over the country. Then five to ten minutes later word for word he says

the exact same thing about how they used to take road trips on his motorcycle all over the

country. This is something that happens with my grandpa on the regular, it began roughly

three or four years ago when he was diagnosed with the early stages of Dementia and has

progressively gotten worse. He has the most common form of dementia, which many of

us refer to as Alzheimer’s Disease. I’m sure each of us in here today has someone in our

family that suffers from this disease or someone that we know of that suffers from it.

Today I will tell you a little about what Alzheimer’s Disease is, the stages of it, and the

treatment for Alzheimer’s.

As stated at MedicalNewsToday.com on July 31, 2009 in a article by Christian Nordvist

“Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurologic disease of the brain leading to the

irreversible loss of neurons and the loss of intellectual abilities, including memory and

reasoning, which become severe enough to impede social or occupational functioning.” It

is commonly referred to as just Alzheimer’s or AD. Many people just think it is memory

loss for old people, and confuse it with getting old. Which is partially true but

Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging so do not confuse the two. There are two types

of AD early onset and late onset. At Health.NYTimes.com accessed on June 11, 2012

Author unlisted, “In early onset AD, symptoms first appear before age 60. Early onset

AD is much less common than late onset. However, it tends to progress rapidly. Early

onset disease can run in families. Several genes have been identified.” Then “late onset

AD, the most common form of the disease, develops in people age 60 and older. Late

onset AD may run in some families, but the role of genes is less clear.” One of the

common ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s is with a brain scan taken with a Positron

Emission Tomography (PET) often known as a PET scan. Here we have an image of two

brains one normal and one with Alzheimer’s. The dark black and blue areas in on the

right indicate reduced brain activity. As the disease progresses through the different

stages one would begin to see more dark areas like this and less bright yellow.

Different doctors use different framework for the stages, some use 3, others use 5, but the

most common would be the Seven Stage Global Deterioration Scale also known as the

Reisberg Scale. During the first stage there isn’t any impairment, doctors can’t notice any

differences and everything seems normal. In stage two it is thought of as normal

forgetfulness, mainly because many people over 65 begin having concentration issues

and forgetting things. The third stage begins to have him or her try and cover up their

problems. It may begin to affect home and work like. Depression may also come into

play. In stage four accurate diagnoses is possible, one will still deny problems, problems

will increase such as having trouble driving, cooking, and forgetting recent events. The

fifth stage is more severe; at this point one isn’t able to live independently. Increased

supervision is required; Inability to remember contact info and even person history such

as birthdate, place of birth, and family. The sixth stage is a very rough one. People lose

the ability to dress, feed, and use the restroom by themselves. Hallucination becomes

evident and close family members become foreign. The last and final stage is seven,

where one may lose the ability to set or walk. Around the clock supervision is needed.

Those are the seven stages of Alzheimer’s. It isn’t easy to watch a family member go

through the different stages of this disease; and as they climb closer to the seventh stage it

takes a tough emotional toll on those close to them. Unfortunately this disease isn’t a

curable one and it gradually gets worse over time. But, fortunately there are treatment

options.

There are four main focuses with treating Alzheimer’s: Slow the progression of the

disease (although this is difficult to do), Manage behavior problems/confusion/sleep

problems/agitation, Modify the home environment, and support family members and

other caregivers. Slowing the progression of the disease isn’t that effective of a option.

As stated at health.nytimes.com on October 4, 2010 Author Unlisted, “Most drugs used

to treat Alzheimer’s are aimed at slowing the rate at which symptoms become worse. The

benefit from these drugs is often small, and patients and their families may not always

notice much of the change”. The slowing of it and the managing of different behaviors is

done so with medications and supplements. The modifying of the home environment is

done so to make the person with the disease more comfortable. It is done so to help make

things seem as close to normal as possible; so that when they start to lose more and more

memory it will hopefully not be as bad. The last form of treatment is support for family

members and caregivers. As previously stated Alzheimer’s doesn’t only have an effect on

the person with the disease but also people close to them. That is why support group for

those people is needed. As stated at agingcare.org accessed on June 10, 2012 Author

Unlisted “Support groups provide vital links to other caregivers and an opportunity to

learn more about Alzheimer’s disease and ways to cope. Support groups usually consist

of family members who provide a caring, non-judgmental support network.” Those are

the listed treatment options for the disease.

I have covered told you about what Alzheimer’s Disease is, the seven stages of

Alzheimer’s, and the different treatment options for people with Alzheimer’s and their

family & caregivers. Hopefully if anyone in your family is diagnosed with this disease or

currently is now, you will understand a little more about the disease that affects so many

people.