Bio 11 Josie Mahon
Alzheimer’s disease, is a very well known disease. Advancing age is the number one risk factor and anyone can get it, one in eight people over the age of sixty-five has Alzheimer’s and almost one in two people over the age of eighty-five have the disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, it’s a disorder when nerve cells in your brain degenerate and eventually die. As that happens memory loss steadily decreases and so do cognitive skills, gradually all independence the person has will be lost. Currently my family is dealing with this disease, my grandpa who is eighty eight has Alzheimer’s and recently it has gotten incredibly worse. In the following paragraphs there is information about what exactly this disease is, the effects of the disease, ten warning signs of the disease, symptons and effects, treatmeants, useful knowledge and how it affects the family.
A person who has Alzheimer’s has difficulties communicating; my Grandpa for example can’t remember stories or even sometimes what he has done that day or the previous days. Having thinking problems and reasoning issues is also a symptom of the disease; my Grandpa sometimes just can’t explain anything or gets mad at a simple comment. The disease impacts the persons work, social activity and family life, all of which my family is experiencing. The disease has a great impact on my family but it also has an impact on the people around him.
While doing research I found information on warning signs such as, memory loss that affects day to day functions, difficulty performing familiar tasks, problems with language, disorientation of the time and place, poor or decreased judgement, problems with abstract thinking, misplacing things and change in mood and behaviour. All of which my Grandpa has, for example he forgets the day and dates, people’s names like my brothers and mine, where he leaves his keys, he can’t pay his own bills and also recently he cant recall where he is. All of these warning signs are examples of the person losing their independence and also their happiness.
Alzheimer’s disease has no cure but there’s ways to manage the condition. A few examples are mental status and neuropsychological tests, blood test, MRI, PET scan or a SPECT scan, and also medications. As the disease worsens so does the quality of life, my Grandpa says he just wants to die some days. I think that’s just so sad, it shows, I think that he’s just had enough of it in a way and that I guess you could say, his time is over.
From doing all this research on this disease I think Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease for someone to have. There’s such risk for anyone to get it, from the age of sixty five, which isn’t even that old, up until the age of eighty five. The disease doesn’t even have to run in your family to get it, and if it does run in your family there’s an even larger risk of getting the disease. There is research that if a person is free of heart diseases or a related condition that the risks or lower in forming Alzheimer’s disease or other kinds of dementia. From my experience this disease affects everyone in the person’s family, like right now my family is dealing with my Grandpa and all the time it takes up in my parents days. For example, visiting him, cooking him food, calling him, doing his banking, checking his medications and thinking of future options of health care and housing. It really takes a toll on my parents, I guess in a way they are seeing him fade away. I really hope that one day there is a cure for this disease.
Sources:
www.alzheimer.ca/english/disease/warningsigns.htm
www.alzheimer.about.com/od/whatisalzheimerdisease/html
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Very good essay, you have reminded me how devastaing this disease is.
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