This is Alzheimer’s Disease…A Photo Story by Carie Thompson is licensed under CC by 2.0
Alzheimer’s Disease is a serious condition in older patients that people in the medical field have to deal with each day. This disease deals with memory loss which can be a struggle for the patients, their families, and their physicians. I wanted more light to be shined on this subject since, I am looking towards a career in Nursing. I realize I will have to deal with this in my lifetime, so I went to The Alzheimer’s Association to learn more about the subject.
Going into the Alzheimer’s Association, I asked myself three major questions:
- What is Alzheimer’s Disease?
- What are the Effects of this Disease on the brain?
- Are There Cures for Alzheimer’s Disease?
What is Alzheimer’s Disease?
The Alzheimer’s Association defines Alzheimer’s Disease as a form of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior. It hasn’t been studied much in history, but in the last fifteen years, researchers have discovered up to ninety percent of the information they now have on Alzheimer’s Disease. It has been a bigger concern for the medical field because it is the sixth leading cause for deaths in the United States. Alzheimer’s Disease is a disease that slowly worsens overtime. Patients can go through this form of dementia for up to 20 years.
What Does It Do to the Brain?
Alzheimer’s Disease is believed to be something that normally happens to people when they get older, but that is not true. The Alzheimer’s Association states the disease can effect people as young as 40 years old. Alzheimer’s Disease is a disease that causes nerve cell death, which causes the brain to shrivel. Dead nerve cells and plaques (abnormal proteins) can cluster and block signals going throughout the brain. The brain doesn’t function properly anymore due to the damage, which causes the disease carriers to start having memory loss, thinking problems, and speech difficulties. The brain can’t function properly anymore due to its new deformed size.
Are There Cures?
As of today, there is no cure of Alzheimer’s Disease, but researchers are doing everything they can to help slow the process and find the cure. Medications such as cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine have been created to help slow down memory loss and confusion problems. There are also treatments that don’t involve medication. Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease don’t participate well in new environments. A new place can trigger symptoms of the disease. Keeping the patients in familiar settings and routines slows the progression of the disease. Also, calm and comforting environments helps keep the patients relaxed and not stressed, which slows the progression of the disease. Alzheimer’s Disease can still be slowed down, even if there is no complete cure.
Alzheimer’s Disease affects many families in the United States. Becoming prepared to deal with the situation is important. Gaining knowledge about Alzheimer’s Disease can help comfort the person going through the tough time by preparing the caregivers with the ability to slow the disease progression.
Discovering the Nursing Field 
I have always said this disease has to be worse than cancer. At least with cancer, you know what is coming for the most part. I cannot imagine going through this or being the caretaker. You love the person, you do not want to put them in a nursing home, but taking care of that person in the end stages without help is almost impossible. Thank God for Hospice. Imagine the hurt you would feel if the person you had spent your life with couldn’t remember who you were anymore. Imagine how frustrated the Alzheimer patient feels. It would be like being blind folded, put in the car driven who knows where and left there. I would not want to live with this disease. We have talked about Alzheimer’s in Psychology class. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) is found in the nervous system, the diminished production of this chemical in the body has been linked to Alzheimer’s. Beta amyloid precursor protein also goes wonkie, producing large clumps of cells that trigger inflammation and deterioration of nerve cells. Several ares of the hippocampus, the frontal and temporal lobes deteriorate. Information retrieved from Psychsmart. Thanks for the article. I love all articles that bring awareness to things people want to ignore and/or hide.
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I couldn’t imagine having Alzheimer’s. I deal with patients under these conditions regularly and no matter how well trained you think you are or how knowledgable you are of the disease I always feel like I am unable to help them. I feel helpless myself, I can’t imagine how they must feel. It is a big step being able to adequately care and communicate with patients with these conditions. Most of the patients I encounter are a result of a fall or something ‘just not being right’ in the eyes of their nursing home care giver. So when they are brought to us, it is even more difficult to figure out what may or may not be wrong with them because we don’t know what ‘normal’ is. It usually results in them being poked and prodded and having multiple scans and X-rays all so they can either be admitted or returned to the nursing home because our ER physician is unable to find anything wrong. I personally sometimes wonder if inside they wonder why we are talking to them or responding to their statements the way we do; if inside they are actually answering correctly but it doesn’t come out that way. My grandmother is in early stages of alzheimer’s; she falls a lot, can’t remember very well, and worst of all she mixes things up in her own mind and swears that they are true. Your post is very informing, and I would think that many potential medical field workers would find it very helpful. Hopefully in the future with all the research they are doing someone will be able to find a cure for the disease.
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