Alzheimer's is a form of dementia meaning that it changes the memory, behavior, and thinking of its infected. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is actually quite common, especially in older females. Other risks can include high blood pressure, and being related to someone who has AD. Being that AD can run in the family it is concluded that the disease has a genetic connection. The APOE epsilon 4 allele is a gene that it linked to AD. However, both genetics and environment have been shown to play a role in the expression of the disease, both nature and nurture. AD affects a person's memory, language, perception, emotions, personality, and cognitive skills like thinking and judgment. One can even have hallucinations because of the disease. However, Alzheimer's actually is the degeneration of the brain. When an autopsy is done, there is identification of plaque and tangles. The degeneration mainly attacks the nerve cells which can be seen in the first picture. The effected brain contains less neurons than the normal brain. The next picture contain comparisons between a normal brain and brain affected by AD.
A CT scan or MRI will usually be taken to identify if a patient has AD. The only way to know for sure if someone did have AD is to look at their brain tissue after they are dead for plaque and tangles (in the third picture).
Sadly, there is no cure for AD but much effort has went into slowing the progression of the disease and managing the symptoms as they come by pharmaceutical treatments. There also is no way to prevent AD but by staying healthy, one can decrease the likelihood that AD will affect them by this cause. The bottom pictures show some facts about AD that most people do not know. Do these figures surprise you like they did me? I had no idea it was this common. Have you known someone with Alzheimer's disease? What was their experience with the loss of memory?
