Term Paper On Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer’s the Killer Disease
Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease that destroys a person’s mind and eventually their body. Alzheimer’s Association said, “Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading death in America. Recent studies say it’s becoming the third way people over the age of sixty-five tend to pass away from”. This illness is sweeping the United States and are killing our older citizens. This disease is spreading around the United States and many people do not understand all the symptoms. Society should be more aware of this growing epidemic. People in America need to understand what Alzheimer’s disease is and who it affects every single day.
This epidemic was first talked about in 1904. It was founded by a German doctor by the name
Alzheimer’s a form of Dementia. “It accounts for sixty to eighty percent of dementia cases” (Alzheimer’s Association). This disease is a progressive disease. Which means that it gets worse over time. Alzheimer’s has three various stages that people can go through. The first one is what they call Mild Alzheimer’s disease. This stage is where they start to experience memory loss and different brain troubles. This is where people start to forget the minor things, ask the same questions over again, getting lost and their personality starts to change. The second stage is the Moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Memory loss starts to get worse. They get more confused with people and start causing problems with remembering people. It changes their brain that effects their control over language and the ability to accomplish ordinary tasks; for example, putting clothes on. Severe Alzheimer’s is the very last stage. The Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral Center talks about the Severe stage, “Plagues and tangles spread throughout the brain, and brain tissue shrinks significantly”. This stage requires people with this disease are completely dependent on a caretaker. In the end, the body starts to cease to stop working properly. Anyone can start to develop the first stage of Alzheimer’s and start treatments to slow down the effects of the
In a study in August 5th, 2015 in an article written by Tarja H Villmakka showed us that caregivers live in the same household with their patient. The caregivers or the family must take care of this person twenty-four hours a day without a break. It can cause financial hardships, emotional problems and physical strain on the caregiver. One example of financial hardships is buying all the medicine to help the behavior problems or to slow down the symptoms. It can also include all the different doctor appointments that individual who has the disease. The emotional aspect is watching a person slowly lose themselves. To watch that person slowly stop remembering their family and to slowly have declining health. Another aspect is to have the responsibility of taking care of that person and their well-being. Taking care of an Alzheimer patient takes physical strain on your body. There will be situations of helping them out of bed, or picking them up when they fall, and monitoring them all hours of the day. There are many ways that other people’s lives are affected by one person getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. But people start to create different myths about