Information About Alzheimers
When the topic of dementia is brought up, the discussion will invariably turn towards Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia are often forgotten. The current figures show that of people aged 65 and over 10 percent are suffering from Alzheimer’s.
It was first discovered in 1906 by Alois Alzheimer, a German physician. According to studies, it is advancing age that is the greatest risk to developing Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, the person experiencing the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s will know something is wrong but won’t admit it to others or even to themselves.
At the moment all forms of dementia treatment are pretty much the same and that includes Alzheimer’s disease. There is no definitive treatment at present, but some drugs improve the symptoms or stall their progression. Most Alzheimer’s disease sufferers will be prescribed one of the following drugs Donepezil, Tacrine, and Rivastigmine.
A new drug, Memantine is helping to slow down the deterioration process during the later stages and is a derivative of the well known anti-influenza drug Amantadine. The side effects of using Memantine are low, and it’s the first drug shown to have an effect on the symptoms of moderate to severe cases.
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. Over 300 different compounds are already at various stages of development for its treatment.
The only way to improve the risk of not developing dementia is to adjust the way you live and adopt a healthier lifestyle. In fact researchers believe the happier and healthier someone is with Alzheimer’s, the slower his or her decline. This disease is still almost exclusively and aging condition and incidences of younger victims are rare.
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