What Is Dementia And Alzheimer s Disease - 1311 Words

What is dementia and Alzheimer’s disease? Dementia is a disease that affects mental capabilities in which memory loss is one of the key features of this disease. Memory loss creates difficulty in completing every day tasks. Most people who suffer from the disease need assistance with their activities of daily living. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 60% to 70% of cases of dementia. It is a long lasting neurodegenerative (progressive damage of the neurological nerve cells) disease that usually starts gradually and gets worse over time. What are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s? The most common early symptom is with trouble remembering recent events (short-term memory loss). As the disease progresses, symptoms can include: problems with†¦show more content†¦They are often severe enough to interrupt the daily life of an individual with dementia. What are the stages of Alzheimer’s? There are a few different opinions as to how many stages of Alzheimer’s there are, but in general, they can broken down into seven stages: 1. No symptoms: In this stage, memory and cognitive abilities are normal. 2. Pre-clinical: The pre-clinical stage of Alzheimer’s is a relatively new description for the initial biological changes that are underway before any clinical symptoms are experienced. This stage may begin years, or even decades before symptoms such as memory loss and confusion occur. With the help of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET), and proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), researchers are able to identify the accumulation of amyloid beta proteins. This occurrence is thought to be connected to structural and functional brain changes similar to those in patients with Alzheimer’s. 3. Mild Cognitive Impairment