“Alzheimer’s Disease is an incurable disease that strips you from your memory and other functions used in daily life." The brain cells degenerates and dies, which result in the patient forgetting how to perform simple daily functions like eat, sleep, walk, or talk. The size of the brain of someone with Alzheimer’s will shrink because the tissue has fewer nerve cell and connections. Studies have shown that every 67 seconds someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. German Physician Alois first discovered Alzheimer’s in 1906. Alois was a scientist who devoted his time in discovering different symptoms and microscopic changes in the brain. He was given a patient that had changes in her brain tissue and had died from an unusual mental illness. Some …show more content…
She stated that her memory has gotten worse and is ruining her life. She had to quit her job and her husband was spending more time taking care of her. The neurologic exam done by the doctor shows that she has contracted buccolingual and limb apraxia. Referring back to figure 5, the patient has forgotten where to place the hands of the clock and has 15 numerals. She was then diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. The patient returned one year later to be assessed by an Alzheimer’s specialist. The results showed that her symptoms had worsened; she was constantly monitored while in the kitchen and in financial affairs. She scored a 24/30 on her Mini-Mental Status exam and her clock drawing got worse. The doctor then confirmed she was in stage 4 on the seven stage of Global Deterioration scale (seen on Figure 6). The patient returned for a final time and it was present that her situation had gotten even worse. She was forgetting to give phone messages and stopped cooking afraid of burning down the house. Her score on the Mini-Mental Status exam decreased to a 20/30 and her GDS stage is at a 5. The doctor kept records of the patient’s clinical reports, treatments, and patients management at home. He suggested that the patient writes down any drastic changes in her mental state. He also stated that in order for the diagnoses of Alzheimer’s to be made, the patient’s symptoms has to show a sign of …show more content…
These treatments have medicines that enhance the chemicals in the brain that are responsible for transferring information from one cell to another, but they don’t prevent the death of brain cells. Recently, scientists are trying a new treatment called “recruiting the immune system”. This treatment uses drugs known as “ monoclonal antibodies” which prevents “ antibodies from clumping into plaques and clear the body of beta-amyloid that forms in the brain”. They mimic and enhance the antibodies that your body naturally makes to replace the ones that have died. These Monoclonal antibodies make it easier for the immune system to fight off the drug. In the future, Scientist hope to treat Alzheimer’s with a combination of medications that will cure the disease. Similar to the ones used to fight off cancer. “Alzheimer’s and other dementias has cost the nation $226 billion dollars per year. And someone diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia will receive $9.7 billion dollars in additional health care. The search to cure Alzheimer’s is still going on
Alzheimer’s disease is named after a German doctor, Dr. Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer became aware of changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual
Certain qualities are consistently observed in the Alzheimer’s victim. These dysfunction’s, though, are not exclusive to Alzheimer’s disease. Consequently, declaring Alzheimer’s by these parameters is a matter of degree rather than an absolute. Characteristic dysfunction’s have been noted in Alzheimer’s victims, but the degree and severity of these varies from patient to patient. Thus, evaluation of the patient’s mental status must be made based on the sum, rather than a single characteristic. Memory is one of the first noticed deficiencies, beginning typically with the recent and short term memory, and progressing from there as the disease grows more severe. In addition, deterioration in language skills, attention span, praxis (performance of an action), and visuospatial skills are commonly seen. Also observed are changes in the actions and personality of the Alzheimer’s victim. These include changes in mood, motor activities, activities of daily living, socialization skills, psychotic disturbances, vegetative symptomology, and rise in anxiety levels. Again, the
I am doing a case study for Jenny Stanson, who is a 20-year-old college student who that is currently living with her grandmother. Lately, she has been noticing that her grandmother seems to be confused at times, and often forgets things she has told her. She also informed me that her grandmother is often rather short-tempered. From what jenny says, this does not seem to be her usual manner and happens only infrequently, but Jenny is concerned. She stated that someone told her that her grandmother might be suffering from early stage of Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease was discovered by Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist. The disease was initially observed in a 51-year-old woman, after her family brought her to Dr. Alzheimer with concerns about her personality and behavior. He detected many unusual symptoms, including difficulty with
In 1906, Dr. Alois Alzheimer, noticed some changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. Her symptoms were comprised of memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior. After her death, Dr. Alzheimer examined her brain and found many abnormal clumps (amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of
Alzheimer’s discovered by (ralf) “Alois Alzheimer on November 26th of 1901.” Alois Alzheimer’s identified this disease by brain cell abnormalities. Dr. Alois
Alzheimer’s disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer who noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness in 1906. Her symptoms included memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable
What is Alzheimer’s? Many believe they know exactly what it is and how it affects us, but in reality, many don’t realize how deadly it truly is. Alzheimer’s disease is said to be the most common form of dementia (Brandt). It is a disease that slowly kills thinking skills as well as memory and the ability to function properly. The deterioration and changes in the brain, however, can begin anywhere from ten to fifteen years before the signs of memory loss appear (CDC). Changes begin as, abnormal deposits of proteins form amyloid
By stage three the decline will be noticed, more often, by friends or family that spend a regular amount of time with the patient. Diagnosis may be detected upon a detailed medical interview. The most typical difficulties include recalling the right name or word and greater difficulty performing regular everyday tasks. Sometimes losing valuable objects and increasing trouble with planning or organizing will be evident. Stage four is more of a moderate cognitive decline, more noticeable upon interview with physician. Patient will be experiencing loss of recollection of recent events and more impaired ability to perform arithmetic, when it wasn’t a complicated task before. Patient may also become more temperamental and withdrawn from social activities with friends and family. With stage five cognitive decline is modereately severe with gaps in memory and thinking process. Patient will need help selecting proper clothing related to the season. Patient will also experience trouble recalling telephone number and their own address and even the high school they attended. Although he or she may still remember significant details about themselves and their family members, they seem to experience difficulty with arithmetic. Struggling with counting backwards and by groups of fours or fives, etc.. By stage six, severe decline in cognitive abilities are noticeable and patients require assistance with toiletries. More changes develop in the decline of personality and behavior.
Alzheimer’s disease was named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer by another doctor who worked with Alois. Alois discovered the illness when one of his patients displayed changes in her personality including memory loss and other things. When examining her brain at an autopsy, Dr. Alois observed damage
Various things that alzheimer’s patients do can be frustrating to caregivers when they don’t understand what is going through the patient’s head. In public, things can be overwhelming and sometimes embarrassing for a caregiver and they can become angry. Sometimes, the caregiver becomes angry and starts to be overbearing on the patient because they develop frustration. This is a point in time where caregivers frequently decide that it is a good idea to send their loved one to a facility that can better manage the disease (Callone,
Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects a lot of older people. It not only affects the person but their families, friends, and any loved ones. The disease makes them forget almost everything they have experienced in their life. The memories they have of anything can be almost nil and they will not act like themselves anymore. This disease is a hard disease for someone’s family members to cope with because the person they once knew, is all but gone. In this paper I will be explaining the definition of the Alzheimer’s disease, what comes of the disease, and what treatment options there are.
My patient, Barbara Green, has a daughter named Ivy. Ivy has come to me with concerns that her mother has not been taking any of her medication to treat her diabetes and heart disease. She says that if she does not prompt her mother to take the medication, she will forget to take it for days. Ivy is worried about her mother and describes instances when Barbara seems to be day dreaming and becomes confused. Sometimes Barbara does not know who Ivy is. That is worrisome. I am going to do some research on Alzheimer 's and dementia, and see if Barbara could be developing either or both of these illnesses. I will analyze the symptoms, compare my findings to my patients symptoms, and produce a diagnosis and treatment for my patient.
Alzheimer’s typically follows certain stages which will bring changes in the affected person’s and family’s lives. Because the disease affects each individual differently, the order in which they appear, and the duration of each stage
With more than 500 million Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the quality of their life with the disease is predictable. There are different stages of the disease that range from mild, moderate, and severe. A person with the mild form of the disease could experience finding the right word during conversations difficult, forgetting the names of new acquaintances, and difficulty planning and organizing. A severe form would cause the patient to be confused and unaware of their environment and surroundings. They would need assistance on activities of daily living, have trouble recognizing common faces, struggle to remember personal details, as well as wandering. These severe cases lead to losing the ability to communicate and in the end death. Mrs. F knew the fate of her declining health through this disease. She would progressively become incapable to control her own actions and the disease will eventually lead to death.