Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a physical illness that causes changes in brain. It is a type of dementia. It affects one’s memory, mood and behavior. A person with this disease has problems with memorizing, speaking, learning, deciding and planning. Some patients are restless and moody. It might take many years for the disease to worsen. In a specialized Alzheimer’s department of Seniorville Jablonové clients with this disease in early, middle or late stages find their second home.

Diagnosis
Many people show an interest in knowing whether they are at a risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or whether the symptoms they have noticed could mean that they already have this disease. In order to be able to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, a doctor must examine other possible causes of these symptoms. A complete medical examination helps to reveal if the symptoms were caused exactly by Alzheimer’s. There is no uniform test for diagnosing this disease.
A doctor examines a medical history (information on medicines taken daily, past or present illnesses, surgical interventions in the past, problems with mental health of a patient and of their close relatives, consumption of alcohol) and does a complet physical examination. A doctor may as well take blood and urine samples, request memory and psychological tests in order to find out how the brain functions and they might ask for a brain X-ray.

Stages of Alzheimer’s disease:

Every person develops Alzheimer’s disease differently. Not everyone has all the symptoms. Different people could develop the symptoms at different times. Since Alzheimer’s disease can last even 20 years, it is useful to know its individual stages. There are 3 basic stages of Alzheimer’s disease:

1. Light or early stage – lasts from 2 to 4 years; the majority of people in this stage are still able to perform many of their daily activities, but they might need some assistance or help with organizing.
Possible changes: problems with carrying out specific tasks that require numerous steps (following recipe instructions); getting lost even in familiar environment; spending less time doing favorite activities; feelings of sadness, depression or anxiety; isolating from social situations; problems to remember meetings, people’s names or events that have recently happened; losing or placing things; problems with finding the right words in communication.
2. Middle stage – takes from 2 to 10 years; people in this stage have more difficulties with taking care of themselves, but they are still able to perform daily routines and live a contented life.
Possible changes: need of help with taking baths, choosing clothes and getting dressed; need of reminding about eating time; change of sleeping habits, staying up late and sleeping during the day; feeling of unease or confusion, particularly late in the afternoon and in the evening; suspiciousness, anger or agitation; problems with recognizing family members; difficulties with expressing themselves and understanding others.
3. Heavy or late stage – takes from 1 to 3 years; people in this stage often necessitate complete help with everyday care.
Possible changes: help with eating; help with getting up and walking; help with using bathroom; touching or stroking things over and over again; sleeping more frequently; less conversational; not reacting to a person that takes care of the patient.

Symptoms
People with Alzheimer disease lose their short-term memory at first. They can remember episodes from their university years, but they might forget what they have eaten for breakfast.

Patients with Alzheimer can develop the following, too:

forgetting simple things (names of their family members, frequently used phone numbers, for example)
forgetting how to get to familiar places
placing things wrongly more often than usual
loss of sequence of thoughts while talking
frequent repetition of things
feelings of suspiciousness, precaution or anxiety
loss of interest in things and people that made them happy before
feelings of stress when deciding

Treatment
Reduction of the amount of neurons and synapses in the celebral cortex and the central subcortical region is typical for Alzheimer’s disease. In other words a grandiose atrophy of the zone of perceiving information, which affects important part of the brain, can be observed.
Currently, there is no effective cure for Alzheimer’s disease, although some are in the process of clinical tests. However, upon uncovering symptoms in the early stages of the disease, it is possible to evidently slow the development of this disease down by the means of currently available medicines. The sooner the treatment starts, the greater effects can be expected. There is, however, also an experimental treatment based on the transplantation of stem cells.

Care
A patient with Alzheimer’s disease needs mainly in the later stages daylong care, getting a helping hand with basic life activities, good-quality protein food, medical care, accompaniment to doctor appointments and to be provided with medicines. Physical, cultural and mental activities to the extent they can handle are also very important. A professionally trained personnel that would react to needs, reactions and specifications of our clients and that would provide them with high level health and nursing care as well as the feeling of safety that people with this disease particularly need will work at our Alzheimer’s department.

Appropriate activities

Tips how to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease to deal with short-term memory loss:

To be surrounded by familiar objects.
To mark days in a calendar.
To create a schedule of daily activities and to hang it on a visible place (including eating time, time to take medicines, excercises, sleep).
To have a reminder that would remind them about time to eat, to take medicines or about meetings.
To mark and sort medicines in a medicine organizer.
To hang reminders on, which would remind them that it is necessary to turn household appliances off and to lock the doors.
To use notes for writing down addresses and phone numbers. To make a note of their way home and other important pieces of information as well.
To hang important phone numbers on a place where they will be easily noticed.
To mark photos with the names of people who you meet regularly.
To stick notes saying what is insinde to wardrobes and drawers.
To reorganize their wardrobe, so that it would be easy to find things.

Tips how to help people with Alzheimer’s disease to stay physically healthy:

To ensure that a patient would take all the medicines according to a doctor’s prescription, also those that are not meant for Alzheimer’s disease.
To undertake medical examinations regularly.
To eat balanced food.
To exercise every day.
To rest when a patient is tired.
To drink a lesser amount of alcohol, even better none.