Alzheimer's
disease is the commonest cause of dementia, or dementing illness,
in Western Society. In its worst and most progressive form it
is the total loss of what a person is, of their thoughts and
personality. It usually comes on in middle age or later. The
first symptom is generally some loss of short-term memory followed
by a deterioration in intelligence performance and slowness
of thought. There will also be behavioural difficulties. What
can start off with the inability to remember one's telephone
number may end up with not recognising, or acknowledging, one's
beloved spouse of 40 years, or the children who were nearest
to one's heart. It is this apparent death of the person as an
individual whilst their shape and appearance still exists, that
is the most heartbreaking for the family and loved ones. Alzheimer's
disease seems to be caused by a breakdown in the pathways, the
circuits, in the brain. There is some family tendency. Because
it is a condition so feared, people become very anxious when
they experience the minor lapses of memory that normally accompany
ageing, thinking them to be a warning of the onset of the disease.
Similarly, people who are depressed, particularly if seriously
so, can mimic most of the features of dementia, though their
illness is usually, completely treatable. The cause for this
apparent, or pseudo, dementia is sometimes called "distraction" in that the mind of the depressed person can be filled with so many troubled thoughts that he can't think straight. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, that dementia is investigated so that causes which are eminently treatable such as depression, hypothyroidism ( see Thyroid problems), even some brain tumours, can be excluded. The next most common dementing illness to Alzheimer's disease is that caused by a series of mini-strokes in the brain, multi-infarct dementia. This process, once found, may be halted by the use of anticoagulant medication, to thin the blood, making further damage less likely, stabilising the person's condition, and perhaps, even leading to improvement. Other, rarer, though, sadly, also untreatable causes of dementia are Huntingdon's chorea and C.J.D (Creutzfeldts Jakob's disease).
In the past little could be done for the family of patients with Alzheimer's disease, except to give support and sympathy, and nothing for the sufferers themselves, apart from eventual placement in a special unit when their carers became unable to cope. Nowadays occupational therapists etc., treating Alzheimer's sufferers, tend to concentrate on those parts of the thought process that are still working and are often able to illuminate parts of the personality, thought processes and memory that are still held. There are now, beginning to appear, medications that seem , at least, to be able to keep the condition in check and slow down deterioration. It is hoped that before long similar products will be available that will actually show true improvement.
|
