All you need to know about Alzheimer’s
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Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions.
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It is thought to be caused by the abnormal build-up of proteins in and around brain cells. One of the proteins involved is called amyloid, deposits of which form plaques around brain cells. The other protein is called tau, deposits of which form tangles within brain cells.
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The symptoms for Alzheimer’s can be grouped in four categories. Cognitive, behavioral, psychological, and mood.
Cognitive symptoms include, mental decline, difficulty thinking and understanding, confusion in the evening hours, delusion, disorientation, forgetfulness, making things up, mental confusion, difficulty concentrating, inability to create new memories, inability to do simple math, and inability to recognize common things.
Behavioral symptoms include aggression, agitation, difficulty with self care, irritability, meaningless repetition of own words, personality changes, restlessness, lack of restraint, and wandering and getting lost.
Psychological symptoms include depression, hallucination, and paranoia.
Mood symptoms include, anger, apathy, general discontent, loneliness, or mood swings.
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As Alzheimer's worsens, people experience greater memory loss and other cognitive difficulties.
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No cure exists but medications and management strategies may temporarily improve symptoms.
Extra Information
Alzheimer’s is a very common disease with more than 3 million U.S. cases per year.
More than half of all individuals with Alzheimer's do not know they have it.
A neuroanatomist, Alois Alzheimer, discovered Alzheimer’s on November 3, 1906.
Women are more likely to get Alzheimer’s than men.
Musical memories are often preserved in Alzheimer's disease because key brain areas linked to musical memory are relatively undamaged by the disease.