Caring for Alzheimer's patients

Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia that is quite common in the community. Alzheimer's usually occurs in people over 65 years old, but can appear at a younger age.

Causes of Alzheimer's

The disease was first discovered in 1906 by German neurologist AloisAlzheimer'sHe showed that the disease was neurodegenerative, incurable, and potentially fatal.

Therefore, this disease was named after him, Alzheimer's. Shortly after, it was thought that Alzheimer's appeared due to a decrease in the synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (called the Acetylcholic theory).

However, this hypothesis has recently lost much support, because the drugs used to treat acetylcholine deficiency are not really effective in patients. Instead, other effects related to the acetylcholine neurotransmitter system have been proposed, such as the accumulation of large amounts of amyloid, leading to progressive neuroinflammation. This is the amyloid hypothesis.

This hypothesis suggests that Alzheimer’s is caused by the accumulation of amyloid beta (Abeta), the underlying cause of the disease. At the same time, mutations in the APOE4 gene (a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s) cause excessive accumulation of amyloid in the brain before the symptoms of Alzheimer’s appear. However, to date, science still does not know exactly what causes and progresses Alzheimer’s. Research shows that the disease is associated with plaques and tangles in the brain.

Current treatments only help to reduce a small part of the symptoms of the disease, there is no treatment that can prevent or slow the progression of the disease. Scientists have determined that Alzheimer's is a very complex disease and is influenced by many different factors, including genetic factors and about 0.1% is due to dominant genetic inheritance and often begins before the age of 65.

Or there are some diseases that can increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease such as high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking or constant stress. It is also thought that environmental factors can also affect the appearance of Alzheimer's, because people have found aluminum deposits in the brain in some Alzheimer's patients.

However, statistics show that most cases of Alzheimer's disease are random. Today, neuroscientists believe that the appearance of Alzheimer's disease is due to the gradual loss of neurons and synapses in the cerebral cortex and some subcortical areas. The gradual loss of these central nervous organizations will lead to degeneration of the temporal lobe, parietal lobe, part of the frontal lobe and cingulate gyrus, leading to irreversible memory loss.

The conclusions are based on the results of computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Thus, Alzheimer's is a primary degenerative brain disease, the cause of which is unclear, clinically manifested by a state of progressive, irreversible dementia, which usually begins mainly in the elderly (over 65 years old).

Symptoms of Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's disease usually occurs in people over 65 years old, but sometimes (rarely) it is also seen in patients under 40. Although in different ages, the clinical symptoms are similar, which is memory loss that is difficult to recover. However, according to statistics, the rate of Alzheimer's increases with age, about 1 - 2% at age 65, about 5% at age 80 and above. And at age 90, up to 50% of them have more or less symptoms of Alzheimer's. Women are affected more than men, partly because women live longer than men.

The disease initially manifests as forgetfulness, most clearly forgetting the names of family members that one meets every day, sometimes remembering, sometimes forgetting, gradually forgetting completely (wife, husband, children, grandchildren...) and finally one can forget one's own name. The manifestation of forgetfulness is also shown in many daily events such as forgetting belongings, wallets, glasses or calling friends and relatives right after calling them back.

Gradually, over the years, memory loss is very typical and gets worse, even "I ate, but didn't tell you yet", forgetting the date, not knowing the way home when going out. Language disorders also begin to appear, difficulty in pronunciation or just finished speaking but not understanding what was said. Normal motor movements are disturbed such as not being able to put on clothes or having difficulty putting them on, shaking hands, difficulty walking greatly affecting daily personal work (personal hygiene, eating) and frequent cramps. Cognitive disorders appear more and more, gradually losing the ability to do simple calculations.

In some patients there may be symptoms.depression(about 25%) but unstable (sometimes present, sometimes absent) and about 10% of patients have psychotic symptoms (paranoia). If there are conditions for a computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, there will be images of diffuse brain atrophy, degeneration of the temporal lobe, parietal lobe and part of the frontal lobe. The consequence of Alzheimer's is degeneration of muscle mass, especially motor muscles, leading to the patient being bedridden and losing all ability to take care of themselves, even eating and drinking. Alzheimer's patients often have complications from external factors such as: infection of ulcers due to prolonged lying down or pneumonia...

Alzheimer's Care

Until now, there is no specific medicine to completely treat Alzheimer's and there is no effective measure to prevent the appearance or prevent the progression of the disease most effectively. Therefore, using medicine to support as well as caring for the patient at home is extremely important. To prevent Alzheimer's, it is necessary to create a reasonable lifestyle and diet for the elderly. The elderly need to actively participate in physical exercise such as walking, swimming, playing sports (badminton, chess...) and participating in clubs for the elderly. Every day, you should read books, newspapers, stories or watch TV, listen to the radio... to exercise your brain.

Because Alzheimer's patients have limited food intake, the family needs to support the patient to eat enough quantity and the diet needs to be nutritious, for example, foods need to be crushed or chopped to facilitate the patient to eat, easy to chew, easy to swallow, easy to digest. Oral hygiene and personal hygiene are needed to avoid other diseases that aggravate Alzheimer's disease. It is necessary to treat associated diseases such as: high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes. Abstain from alcohol and do not smoke.

According to Health & Life - NT