Pathophysiology Of Dementia And Alzheimer's Disease

Dementia is a term used to describe a collection of signs and symptoms that happen to the brain when it is affected by the progression of certain diseases such as vascular dementia (when brain cells die due to lack of oxygen) and Alzheimer’s disease (a specific brain disease). Some of the affects these diseases have are on a person’s memory, language and communication abilities, behaviour and ability to make rational judgements.

Dementia is a broad term used to describe the symptoms that occur when the brain is affected by specific diseases and conditions.Dementia is a progressive disease and the symptoms will get gradually worse.

Dementia is a term used to describe the symptoms of a number of illnesses which effect the function of the brain. It is an umbrella term describing the progressive decline in a person’s cognitive ability. The type and severity of symptoms varies with each type of dementia and is usually has a gradual onset, is progressive and irreversible. (1)

Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that accounts for sixty to seventy percent of Dementia cases. It is characterized by the development of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the loss of connection between neurons in the brain and the death of nerve cells. There are two types of Alzheimer’s Early on-set Alzheimer’s which occur from the ages of thirty to sixty is very rare and makes up less than five percent of the cases of Alzheimer’s . The second type is Late on-set Alzheimer’s which is the most common type and it is found in those of ages sixty and up. The progression of Alzheimer’s is a lengthy progress from the time of diagnosis the average life expectancy is three to nine years. In the early stages people have difficulty with short term memory loss as the disease progresses symptoms include difficulties with language, disorientation, mood swings, loss of motivation, loss of self-care and behavioral issues. As Alzheimer’s progresses a person slowly withdraws from family life and society due to the jumbled state of their memory. On a physical level the body’s physical function slowly degenerates and eventually leads to death.

Alzheimer’s disease is the progressive loss of memory and mental functions. The disease affects memory, thought control, language, and other cognitive functions. The disease typically appears with old age and is often found age 60. Alzheimer’s causes the brain to develop clumps and tangles fibers in the brain tissue along with the loss of neuron connections. Throughout the brain, proteins are abnormally distributed and they form tangled bundles of fibers and amyloid plaques. Some neurons fail to function properly and lose their connections, which are necessary for the transmission of messages to the body. The hippocampus is the key brain structure in the formation of memories and often experiences the first signs of damage.

As defined in our textbook(Psychology, pg.264) Alzheimer’s disease is “A progressive disease that destroys the brain’s neurons, gradually impairing memory, thinking, language, and other cognitive functions, resulting in the complete inability to care for oneself; the most common cause of dementia( progressive deterioration and impairment of memory, reasoning, and other cognitive functions as a result of disease, injury, or substance abuse.). AC accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases.(alz.org) Throughout my sources I have seen that the common age for AC to set in is between 60-75. However, up to 5 percent of people with the disease have early onset

Dementia is the general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer 's. Alzheimer 's disease literally eats and attacks the human brain (Overview). It is a progressive disease that causes the brain cells to degenerate and die, which causes memory loss and affects other important mental

The onset of AD is subtle, and symptoms may develop very slowly over a period of several years. The three stages of Alzheimer’s are as follows: preclinical, a period when amyloid plaques are accumulating, and nerve cell changes are occurring, but in this stage, there are no clinical symptoms; mild cognitive impairment, a time when memory problems are noticed but not

“Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually the ability to carry out the simplest tasks individuals with AD may start having symptoms their mid-60s” (nih.gov). AD is a multifactorial and progressive neurodegenerative disease. “Parts of AD, for example, increased oxidative state, amyloid plaque deposition, and neurofibrillary tangle of tau protein in the central cortex the limbic system of the brain, have been related with Alzheimer 's disease. The disease was once thought to be a natural part of aging; it is an extremely incapacitating type of mental dementia. Albeit, some dementia

Although some kinds of memory loss are very normal in the aging process, the changes that are caused by aging are not that extreme enough to conflict with it. A number of certain diseases and conditions can cause dementia. These conditions and diseases consist of Parkinson’s disease, strokes, brain tumors, blood clots and Multiple Sclerosis, but the most common disease to cause this is Alzheimer’s disease (Crystal, 2009).

A neurodegenerative disease is when the central nervous system progressively deteriorates thus causing nervous system dysfunction. Neurodegenerative conditions are characterised by the change in the neurone function within the brain cells. Alzheimers disease(AD) can be classified as a neurodegenerative disorder, (Griffin & W.S.T 2006). The pathology of alzheimer’s disease has been described as a person having neural plaques within the brain, they are made up of high levels of protein β-amyloid, and this causes neurofibrillary tangles and cholinergic nerve degeneration. Early onset of AD presents symptoms of forgetfulness and anxiety which can in later years produce a total dependency on ones carer and lead to having no awareness on the

According to Kerr, (2007) AD is largely related to the degeneration of brain weight because plaques and neuro- fibre tangles form, causing inflammation, disrupting neuronal transmission and killing brain tissues. AD is a progressive disease which harms the temporal and parietal brain lobes. This causes memory loss, deterioration of visual spatial skill, complexity in communication, judgement and recognition which in long term, results in death of brain cells (Alzheimer’s Association, 2011).

1.5Each person experiences dementia in different ways, and there is no set in stone timescales when the condition will deteriorate. Fluctuation of needs and abilities can fluctuate to the person’s mood, they may have done an activity for several years therefore feel confident about this until they are out of their familiar routine and surroundings so their confusion will grow, making their symptoms more obvious.

Another clue may be the effects the aging process has on the brain as it is harming the neurons in the brain causing the disease (NIA, 2012). Regardless of the cause, AD is a life altering disease in every aspect of the victim’s life.

There are many disease processes that culminate in the onset of dementia; the most common of which is Alzheimer’s disease. The syndrome is frequently associated with a progressive decline in brain function and the associated physical and mental abilities, including memory, language and cognitive function.