With an aging global population, it is not surprising the focus of attention has been placed squarely on the shoulders of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is a disease that gradually causes a deterioration in the memory with diagnosis accuracy between 87 and 94 percent.
Alois Alzheimer a German physician first discovered the disease back in 1906 but it has only really been in the world’s focus for just over 30 years. According to studies, it is advancing age that is the greatest risk to developing Alzheimer’s disease. Part of the problem in the early stages of Alzheimer’s is the patient’s reluctance to admit to anyone or themselves that they are experiencing problems.
At the moment all forms of dementia treatment are pretty much the same and that includes Alzheimer’s disease. Stalling the progression and possibly improving the condition is about the best that can currently be achieved with drugs but no definitive treatment has yet been discovered. They have been shown to help the average Alzheimer’s disease sufferer cognitive abilities by up to six months.
Patients with mild to severe Alzheimer’s who are already receiving Donepezil are now given Memantine as an alternative. Fortunately, Memantine has few side effects as 80 percent of the drug is passed in urine unchanged and so far it is the only drug that has proved to be of real benefit to patients with moderate to severe symptoms.
The industrialized world’s elderly population is now living longer and as such Alzheimer’s disease has become a serious problem, it is now the fourth largest killer in America. Although contracting the disease is a tragedy, the cost of treatment and care for sufferers is causing economic vibrations. Last year the National Institute on Aging spent half of its annual budget on research into age related disease, they are now testing over three hundred compounds at any one time. Exhaustive study of holistic cancer cures, alternative therapies and successful case studies.
One of the few factors that you can change to alter your risk of developing dementia is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Studies have also indicated that a number of Alzheimer’s patients have reduced their rate of decline by staying healthy and happy. At the moment, the disease is still primarily effecting the elderly but there have been incidences of people contracting it before the age of 60.
