The Disease Of Alzheimer 's Disease

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Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in America. It kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Alzheimer’s accounts for 70-80% of dementia cases. By the age of 65, 1 in 9 people are diagnosed and by the age of 85, 1 in 3 people will have the disease. According to the Alzheimer Association, 5 million people in American have Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s starts to form 20 years prior to being diagnosed. Learning about Alzheimer’s can help families understand how Alzheimer’s is more than just memory loss, it is an incurable mental disease. Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a group of diseases that may cause the brain to fail. The most common one is Alzheimer’s followed closely behind by Parkinson’s. Alzheimer’s was discovered in 1906 by Dr. Alois Alzheimer, who discovered changes in the brain of a woman who died of an unusual mental. Her symptoms included memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior. Doctor’s now look at brain scans to see abnormal changes in the brain. Doctors may ask questions both to the patient and a family member of the patient, such as, over-all health, past medical problems, ability to carry out daily activities, and changes in behavior and personality. They also might conduct tests of memory, problem solving, attention, counting, and language Figure 1: Left side is a normal brain, middle is mild Alzheimer’s, and right is severe Alzheimer’s. (Yang) According to

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