Effects Of Alzheimer s Disease On The Brain - 1133 Words

Last year my maternal Aunt Kate passed away. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) about eight years earlier. My maternal grandmother also had been diagnosed with dementia before her death. Later this month I will accompany my 77-year-old mother to her neurologist appointment. While she has not been diagnosed with AD or dementia, she has been prescribed Donepezil (Aricept), one of the newer drugs that are thought to reduce the decline in memory in patients that have or might be developing dementia. I welcome opportunities to learn more about AD and the effects on the brain. The Alzheimer’s Association website, ALZ.org, is filled with a wealth of this information. Especially interesting was â€Å"Inside the Brain: An Interactive Tour.† I learned about changes the normal brain experiences from early, mild to moderate and severe stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Beginning with the three main parts of the brain, the brain stem, the cerebellum, and the cerebrum, the website gives an overview of what I had studied in Basic Anatomy and Physiology class. The cerebrum, which controls memory, thinking, emotions, and voluntary movement, is the primary part of the brain affected by AD. In order to carry out its functions, the brain requires a rich blood supply of about 20 to 25 percent of the bodies’ blood total with each heartbeat. The whole vessel network picture demonstrates how vast the blood supply to the brain is and makes it understandable that up to 50 percentShow MoreRelatedEffects Of The Brain On Alzheimer s Disease1467 Words   |  6 PagesChanges in the brain may a play role in Alzheimer’s disease Introduction â€Å"Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually the ability to carry out the simplest tasks individuals with AD may start having symptoms their mid-60s† (nih.gov). AD is a multifactorial and progressive neurodegenerative disease. â€Å"Parts of AD, for example, increased oxidative state, amyloid plaque deposition, and neurofibrillary tangle of tauRead MoreAlzheimer s Disease And Its Effects On The Brain1132 Words   |  5 PagesAlzheimer’s disease (AD) about eight years earlier. My maternal grandmother also had been diagnosed with AD before her death. Later this month I will accompany my 77-year-old mother to her neurologist appointment. While she has not been diagnosed with AD, she has been prescribed Donepezil (Aricept), one of the newer drugs that are thought to reduce the decline in memory in patients that have or might be developing dementia. I welcome opportunitie s to learn more about AD and the effects on the brainRead MoreAlzheimer s Disease And Its Effects On The Human Brain1023 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction: According to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, Alzheimer’s disease is a disorder that results in memory loss, failed cognitive and language skills, and behavioral changes from progressive and degenerative damage on the brain’s neurons (Alzheimer’s Association of America, n.d.). The disease was first identified in the early nineteen hundreds by a German physician, Alois Alzheimer (Alzheimer’s Association, n.d.). Dr. Alzheimer’s began his research on the condition after a patientRead MoreAlzheimer s Disease : A Progressive Disease1663 Words   |  7 Pages Alzheimer s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. At first, someone with Alzheimer s disease may notice mild confusion and difficulty remembering. Eventually, people with the disease may even forget important people in their lives and undergo dramatic personality changes. Alzheimer s disease is the most common cause of dementia — a group of brain disorders that cause the loss of intellectual and social skills. In Alzheimer s disease, theRead MoreAlzheimer s Disease : The Most Common Form Of Dementia1427 Words   |  6 PagesDementia, known as one of the world s current pandemics, is estimated to be the fourth most common cause of death in the developed country, second only to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular diseases and cancer. With the aging population, dementia has gradually become a serious threat to the health of the elderly people in Australia. Alzheimer s disease is the most common form of dementia. Alzheimer s disease usually occurs in a primary degenerative encephalopathy in senile and pre senior periodRead MoreA Brief Note On The Alzheimer s Disease1709 Words   |  7 PagesCamryn Pillar Alzheimer s Disease Northview High School  There is a lot of sickness in the world today. The most significant and progressive illnesses are due to malfunction in the brain. One of the most common and deadly disease is Alzheimer s disease. It’s a progressive brain disorder that damages and destroys brain cells. This leads to many health problems that have very deadly impacts, and is irriversital. Sixty one percent of patients, at the age of seventy, are expected not to make itRead MoreArt And Alzheimer s Disease846 Words   |  4 PagesArt and Alzheimer s Disease By Lois Dewitt | Submitted On July 03, 2012 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest 1 Expert Author Lois Dewitt The effects of this disease are often devastating. Plaques, which areRead MoreAlzheimer s Disease : The Mysterious Tragedy Essay1565 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract Alzheimer s Disease is a name that is not entirely uncommon. Alzheimer s is a disease that has only recently been classified as one, though it is not uncommon to mankind. Before Dr. Alzheimer officially diagnosed it has been present before under the premise of old age and dementia, as both disorders are a disruption of neural pathways related to memory and normal brain operation. Memory in this sense is not bound to the idea of experiences worth cherishing, but also incorporates loss ofRead MoreDementia And It s Types Essay1429 Words   |  6 PagesDementia and it s types Dementia is a syndrome caused by multiple progressive illnesses that affects memory, thinking, orientation, behaviour, comprehension, calculation, judgement, learning capacity, language, and loss of motivation and emotional control. The syndrome is characterized by Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with lewy bodies, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. Dementia mainly affects older people. Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. Prevalence 44.4Read MoreAlzheimer s Disease And Other Memory Disorders1101 Words   |  5 PagesKennedy Cooper Biotechnology 5th period What are scientists using to diagnose Alzheimer s Disease and other memory disorders early and why should they do so when there is still no cure for it?more Alzheimer s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. It is also the disease that took my grandfather. Since there is no cure and because of how late he was diagnosed, there was little the doctors could do for him. I personally noticed changes in my grandfather