Preview

Alzheimers Disease

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1090 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Alzheimers Disease
ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

-aka Dementia: a syndrome with progressive deterioration in intellectual functioning secondary to structural or functional changes.

- Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia -Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible form of senile dementia caused by nerve cell deterioration. -Individuals with Alzheimer's disease experience cognitive deterioration & progressive loss of ability to carry out ADL's.

-The pt experiences a steady decline in physical & mental functioning and usually requires long-term care in a specialized facility in the final stages of the illness.

Structural and Chemical changes occur in the brain with Alzheimer's. -structural atrophy and brain weight reduction -neurotransmitter abnormalities (acetylcholine, norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin)

Agnosia: failure to recognize or identify familiar objects despite intact sensory function; loss of sensory comprehension
Prosopagnosia: inability to recognize oneself & other familiar faces
Amnesia: loss of memory caused by brain degeneration
Aphasia: language disturbance in understanding and expressing spoken words; inability to speak or understand
Apraxia: inability to perform motor activities, despite intact motor function; inability to use objects correctly
Anomia: inability to find words

ETIOLOGY/ CAUSE/ INCIDENCE
-exact cause is unknown (age, gender, family history)
-more common in women
-increased after age 65 (may affect anyone older than 40)
-African Americans have increased risk
-Hispanics develop earlier than other groups
-genetics, chemical imbalances, environmental agents & immunologic changes are other theories.
HEALTH PROMOTION
- NO proven ways to prevent Alzheimers

-current research theories: 1. eating balanced diet 2. eat dark colored fruits & vegetables, soy products, sufficient amts of folate and vitamin B12, C, and E. 3. walking, swimming, regular exercise

STAGES OF ALZHEIMERS

Early (Mild) or Stage I
-1st symptoms up

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Dementia is a word used to describe a group of symptoms including memory loss, confusion , mood changes, and difficulty with day-to -day task. There are many causes of dementia wit Alzhaimer`s the most common.…

    • 4592 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sensory Impairment | Delayed interaction socially, delayed speech and language, difficulty listening in noisy environments, delayed gross and fine motor skills. | 2.1c |…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ncfe dementia awareness

    • 3590 Words
    • 15 Pages

    The Occipital Lobe: is the vision center which can cause hallucinations, difficulty in reading and writing visual agnosia and visual disturbances.…

    • 3590 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unit 40 Dementia Care

    • 858 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually even the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. In most people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms first appear after age 65. During the preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s disease, people are free of symptoms but toxic changes are taking place in the brain. Abnormal deposits of proteins form amyloid plaques and tau tangles throughout the brain, and once-healthy neurons begin to work less efficiently.…

    • 858 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dementia Care 4222-237

    • 1846 Words
    • 6 Pages

    2. The Parietal Lobe, affecting language, the inability to name specific items , read or write , special awareness, knocking into things, issues with hand eye coordination and recognition of anything familiar (words/faces).…

    • 1846 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dementia is the term used to describe a general decline in all areas of mental ability. The symptoms involve worsening in cognitive processes memory, language, thinking and so on. With important repercussions on behavior. About 50 per cent of people with dementia are suffering from Alzheimer 's disease, about 20 percent from vascular dementia caused by blockages in the supply of blood to the brain, and about 20 percent from lower body dementia characterized by tiny spherical deposits in the brain.…

    • 2331 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paper on Dementia

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dementia is a type of disorder that affects the central nervous system. It’s not a disease itself but a group of symptoms that characterize disease and conditions. It’s commonly defined as a decline in intellectual functioning that is severe enough to interfere with the ability to perform routine activities. It causes significant loss of intellectual abilities, such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. Dementia‘s a general term that also includes specific disorders like vascular dementia as well as others.…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Manifestations of Dementia

    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The definition of Dementia is “a general term for loss of memory and other mental abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life. It is caused by physical changes in the brain.” (Common Types of Dementia, 2012). The first manifestations of Dementia usually are:…

    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    | * Defects in vision * Difficulty with locating objects in environment * Difficulty with identifying colours * Hallucinations * Visual agnosia * Difficulties with reading and writing…

    • 2763 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dementia is a term used to describe a collection of signs and symptoms that happen to the brain when it is affected by the progression of certain diseases such as vascular dementia (when brain cells die due to lack of oxygen) and Alzheimer’s disease (a specific brain disease). Some of the affects these diseases have are on a person’s memory, language and communication abilities, behaviour and ability to make rational judgements.…

    • 4378 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A definition of the term ‘dementia’ is: A condition due to a disease of the brain, generally of a constant progressive quality, where there are many disturbances of higher cognitive functions. These include impairment of thinking, memory and orientation, learning ability, language judgement. The resulting disability depends on the interaction between the underlying disease process, the individual and the social and built environment.…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Alzheimers Disease.

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The following paper focuses on Alzheimer’s disease, the disease which is a devastating brain disease and is one of the most typical forms of dementia, a general term that is most commonly used for memory loss and the diminishing in mental and physical abilities. It is most frequently diagnosed in the elderly although there have been some cases of the disease affecting people of middle age. There is not one known single cause for Alzheimer 's, however, scientists believe that due to the structural and chemical changes in the brain eventually gradually destroy brain cells thus effecting reasoning, learning and memory. If it continues to advance, the result is body failure. The disease affects the body in different stages, and as the stages become higher the symptoms become worse. Though the disease is incurable there are medications that can keep symptoms under control, and help the individual maintain a regular lifestyle.…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Visual agnosias is the inability to recognise familiar objects presented visually. There are two types of visual agnosias- Apperceptive agnosia and Associative agnosia. Apperceptive agnosia is the physiological type of visual agnosia, where it is a failure of recognition due to damaged visual perception. Associative agnosia is the developmental type. It is where perceptual ability is intact, but it shows difficulty in recognising familiar objects because of a failure in accessing relevant knowledge from the person’s memory.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Unit 3 P1

    • 567 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dementia is a chronic or persistent disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury and marked by memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired reasoning. (https://www.google.co.uk/#q=definition+of+dementia, 20/1/14). Dementia is a progressive disease which means that it gets worse.…

    • 567 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    NVQ3, DEM 301

    • 6975 Words
    • 28 Pages

    Dementia is not a single disease, but rather a non-specific illness syndrome (i.e., set of signs and symptoms). Is a broad term used to describe a range of signs and symptoms consistent with damage to the brain caused by specific conditions. These signs and symptoms are associated with progressive and degenerative changes in the intellectual functioning. The brain is a complex organ and is divided up into different areas that control different functions within the body. The brain contains around 100 billion cells. In dementia some of these cells stop working properly.…

    • 6975 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Powerful Essays