disease is indeed a tough battle.
During the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, patients tend to be spontaneous
and less energetic. These are symptoms of the disease during the mild condition. Patients
experience slight memory loss and mood swings. It also becomes difficult for them to
learn and react to things. Many people with Alzheimer’s during this stage do not have
issues with remembering familiar faces. They favor being in places they can recognize
but often become protective with other people. Individuals often experience a lot of
confusion, which causes them to have trouble with coordination and judgment. They also
have communication and understanding issues. This becomes a problem because if the
person was working, it may cause difficultly with doing their job. In addition to the
memory loss, having Alzheimer’s restricts a person to doing everyday activities. For
example, “many people with mild Alzheimer’s disease may still be driving. They should
be encouraged not to drive. If they insist, they should be evaluated by a driver
rehabilitation specialist to assess their driving risks” (Cummings 2). Although they
should not be driving, they can receive therapy to help improve their ability to drive and
increase their safety. With the mild condition of Alzheimer’s Disease, most often,
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patients are aware of their disability. Because of this awareness, the denial defense
mechanism comes into play, and they act as if they have no disability. This is because
they are often scared to reveal that they have a disease and leads to them having less
conversations with people.
The second stage of Alzheimer’s Disease is the moderate stage. People in this
stage of Alzheimer’s begin to need assistance. For example, “Some patients begin to
wear the same clothing day after day unless reminded to change.” (Reisberg 4) Because
of this a caregiver would need to give counseling to the patient on what clothes to wear.
Patients are also no longer able to manage themselves in their communities. They usually
need assistance from a caregiver in providing everyday essentials such as water and food.
The caregiver also aids in assuring that important things such as paying utility and
finance bills. Those suffering from the moderate stage of Alzheimer’s may have paranoia
toward strangers. If the patients are not properly supervised with support, they may often
become suspicious or become angry. Intellectually, Alzheimer’s patients “cannot recall
such major events and aspects of their current lives as the name of the current president,
the weather conditions of the day, or their correct current address” (Reisberg 5). Patients
can sometimes remember valuable memories of their current life but others are left
forgotten. For example, an individual may experience difficulty with remembering what
high school or college they attended and graduated from.
The final stage of Alzheimer’s Disease is a fight for survival. When the disease
reaches the severe stage, patients require an enormous amount of assistance with literally
almost everything they do. During the primal stage of severe Alzheimer’s Disease,
patients experience speech impediments. “The person’s speech ability becomes limited to
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about half dozen words, and eventually, intelligible vocabulary decreases to a single
word” (Cummings 4). Once they are completely unable to speak, their ability to walk
slowly deteriorates. With the proper treatment, their walking abilities can be sustained for
a numerous amount of years. Since Alzheimer’s is progressive, if the patient does survive
the severe symptoms of this stage, it only gets worse. In addition to their inability to
walk, they start to lose complete control over their bodily functions. “Patients will fall
over when seated unless there are arm rests to hold the patient up in the chair”
(Cummings 4). Another bodily function that becomes deteriorated is their ability to smile.
Just as the disease grows throughout an individuals brain, symptoms can get as bad as
forgetting how to hold up one’s head. These symptoms are really severe and show the
true suffering this disease can do to an individual. Caregivers are required to be around
almost all the time because the patient could just fall and cause even more damage. Now,
if a patient survives this part of the severe stage, the worse has yet to come. For the final
phase of the severe stage, with the correct treatment and life support system, patients can
survive for a few more years. What severe Alzheimer’s survivor patients have to deal
with is their “physical rigidity. Evident rigidity upon examination of the passive range of
motion of major joints, such as the elbow, is present in the great majority of patients”
(Cummings 6). A joint disfiguration that causes excruciating pain with just small
movements is known as a contracture. This nearly limits an individual to movements at
all.
With all these symptoms and conditions being said, although there is no cure,
there are treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease to prolong the patients life. One way to treat
Alzheimer’s is through the usage of drugs. Drugs are used to slow down the growing
effect of the disease on an individual’s brain. “Cholinesterase inhibitors are approved by
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the FDA to treat the symptoms of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Cholinesterase
inhibitors block the action of acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme responsible for the
destruction of acetylcholine” (Cummings 5). The brain uses nerve cells to communicate
with each other known as neurotransmitters. Acetylcholine is one of those
neurotransmitters. A deficit of acetylcholine flowing through the brain results to the
cause of Alzheimer’s Disease. By restricting the enzyme destroying all the acetylcholine,
more acetylcholine can be developed in the brain, thus improving a patients memory.
There are also treatments for the more severe conditions of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Memantine is a drug used to aid in the suffering of severe Alzheimer’s. What it does, is it
prevents “the neurotransmitter glutamate from activating NMDA receptors on nerve
cells” (Cummings 5). Those who have been treated with Memantine from the moderate to
severe stages of Alzheimer’s have been observered to have improved performances with
everyday functions.
Another prescription drug known as Namenda, is also used to treat the later stages
of Alzheimer’s Disease. It works differently than other drugs. Namenda protects the brain
by balancing the glutamate inside of the brain. Gluamate, on the other hand, plays an
essential role with learning and memory. The brain releases an excessive amount of
glutamate, which also plays a role with memory loss. What Namenda does, is it aids in
keeping the glutamate flow consistent. It is the only Alzheimer’s drug that functions this
way and can result in improved mental actions and physical performances with everyday
life.
In conclusion, Alzheimer’s Disease is very commonly known for the memory loss
issue. Also when you think of Alzheimer’s Disease, you think of memory loss. But
digging deeper within the subject, allows one to realize that it can become far more
severe than just memory loss and that it is a very serious disease. Many people have been
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and many take it differently. Although it does cause
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conflict with things you do everyday and can be a pain in the back, with the proper drug
medication and treatments, an Alzheimer’s patient can live a happy and content life.
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Works Cited
Cummings, JL. "Stages and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease." Cleveland Clinic. 1 July
2004. Web. 1 May 2012.
Nazario, Brunilda. "Alzheimer's Disease Treatment: Medications and Therapies."
WebMD. WebMD, 10 Oct. 2011. Web. 02 May 2012.
Nordqvist, Christian. "What Is Alzheimer's Disease? What Causes Alzheimer's Disease?"
Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 31 July 2009. Web. 02 May
Reisberg, Barry. "Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation." Fisher Center
Foundation. Web. 1 May 2012.
Simon, Harvey. "Related Content." Alzheimer's Disease. Massachusetts General Hospital,
24 June 2009. Web. 02 May 2012.
