Alzheimers: Traumatic Brain Injury and daily Personal Care Essay

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Alzheimer’s disease

Is a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s? Do you fear developing this dreadful disease and being unable to remember your own loved ones? What is Alzheimer’s disease in the first place and how does this happen?

Many people never think they would have to worry about either one of these problems. Not until a family member gets sick. That’s when someone you love very much gets stricken with this terrible disease. In that moment you know you have to learn everything you could about Alzheimer’s. What you can discover can completely change your life and what you understood about this disease.

Alzheimer’s is a brain disease that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. It usually develops slowly and gets worse over time, resulting to something very severe. This disease can permanently affect a person’s active daily of living forever. It is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities. Alzheimer’s can account for 50 to 70 percent of dementia cases. Although it usually the symptoms during the increase of age, it can also occur with people during middle adulthood, ranging from the age of 40 to 50s. The ones with the early cause of the disease are usually called younger-onset. Alzheimer’s can worsen over a number of years because it is a progressive disease. During the early stage, a mild memory loss can occur and thinking problems tends to be difficult at times. In the late stage, things become very severe during the active daily living (ADL). Diseased people lose their ability to carry a conversation, lose ability to have a regular range of motion, and also have difficulty trying to speak fluently. Although there is no cure for the disease, but there are treatments to slow the symptoms, which gives the advantage to try to improve their quality of life and also slow the worsening. In addition, it also gives the advantage of the loved ones and supporters to interact accompany more, and cope with them slowly before things get worse.

Millions of Americans now have Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. Through the facts and figures, over 5 million people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in America and as of this year in 2010, it is the 7th leading cause of death in America. (Amanda) Plus it is the 5th leading cause of death with ages 65 and older. Comparing through sex, more women than men have dementia because women live longer than men. This longer life expectancy increases in time during which women can develop the disease. As of this decade, African-Americans and Hispanics are now at a higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. They are likely to develop twice as much as whites are today because of the impact due to a huge health problem of high blood pressure and diabetes with the colored, and with that cause, it can increase the risk for Alzheimer’s. Reported in the Chicago Tribune, reporters found that Latinos tend to get the condition seven years earlier than whites.

In the Alzheimer’s Association website, there are 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease, along with doctor’s advice. The 10 warning signs include:

1. Memory changes that disrupt daily life.

2. Challenges in planning or solving problems.

3. Difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure time.

4. Confusion with time or place.

5. Trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships.

6. New problems with words in speaking or writing.

7. Misplacing things and losing the ability retrace steps.

8. Decreased or poor judgment.

9. Withdrawal from work, or social activities.

10. Changes in mood and personalities.

With these changes happening early in life or during the late adulthood, it could increase rapidly without the healthy and secure cautions and prepared lifestyle. However, with the warning signs for the disease, there is
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